Auto-Expanding Storage Array Reconfiguration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Storage systems face capacity limitations, leading to performance degradation as data accumulates, necessitating frequent additions of disk drives to maintain efficiency.
Innovation Solution
An auto-expanding cache memory system that detects additional storage devices and reconfigures the array format from 'n' to 'n+m' by converting data segments with 'x' elements into 'x+m' elements, optimizing storage capacity and availability through RAID configurations such as RAID 5 or mirroring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If additional disk drives are added to enhance storage capacity, then storage capacity is improved, but device complexity and reconfiguration overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic array reconfiguration that automatically adapts the RAID configuration when storage devices are added. The system transitions from a static n-device array to a dynamic n+m device array, where m represents additional devices. The controller automatically detects device additions and reconfigures the array format without manual intervention, allowing the storage system to evolve its capacity while maintaining operational continuity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the array configuration parameters automatically when devices are added. The array format transitions from n-device to n+m-device configuration, and data segments are reorganized from x elements to x+m elements. This parameter change enables capacity expansion while maintaining data accessibility through format conversion rather than complete reformatting.
2Quantity of substance
If disk arrays are filled with data to maximize capacity utilization, then storage efficiency is improved, but performance degrades due to seek time and latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data into organized units called data segments with defined elements that can be efficiently managed across multiple devices. By structuring data in segments that align with the underlying RAID configuration, the system optimizes both storage density and access patterns. This segmentation allows for efficient data distribution across devices while maintaining quick access through organized segment retrieval.
3Reliability
If RAID configurations are used to maintain high availability, then system reliability is improved, but write performance deteriorates due to the RAID5 write penalty
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial reconfiguration by converting only the necessary portion of data segments when devices are added, rather than performing excessive full-array reformatting. When expanding from n to n+m devices, the system converts data segments from x elements to x+m elements, performing only the minimal necessary transformation to enable capacity expansion while maintaining write performance characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method and computer program product for detecting an additional storage device within an “n” device array. The “n” device array is configured to store “n” device array formatted data. The “n” device array is reconfigured into an “n+m” device array. The “n” device array formatted data is written to the “n+m” device array in an “n+m” device array format. Reconfiguring the “n” device array may include converting the “n” device array formatted data into “n+m” device array formatted data. The “n+m” device array may comprise two storage devices including a mirrored storage device, or may include at least three storage devices including a coded target storage device such as a parity storage device. The coded target storage device may be a distributed coded target as in a RAID array.