Block Storage Gap Management via Segregated Size Lists
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing block storage management methods, such as free space bitmaps, become inefficient when disks are nearly full, requiring inefficient traversal to find gaps of specific sizes for optimal storage allocation.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method that segregates disk gap indices by differentiated sizes, maintaining separate lists for each size class, and dynamically moving gap indices between memory and disk storage based on list length triggers, allowing for rapid identification and management of gaps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a free space bitmap approach is used to manage gaps in block storage, then the system works well when the disk is nearly empty, but becomes inefficient when the disk is nearly full
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the gap management system into multiple collections, where each collection is dedicated to a specific gap size range. This segmentation allows the system to directly access gaps of particular sizes without traversing the entire free space bitmap, thereby improving efficiency when the disk is nearly full while maintaining manageability through organized structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of gap identification from a uniform bitmap traversal approach to a size-specific collection approach. By maintaining separate collections for different gap sizes and using trigger criteria based on collection length, the system dynamically adapts the search strategy to the current disk state, improving performance across different disk fullness conditions
2Speed
If separate collections for differentiated gap sizes are maintained in memory, then gap identification speed improves, but memory burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic management of gap index collections by monitoring collection lengths against trigger criteria. When a collection grows beyond the threshold, the system writes the collection to disk storage and clears it from memory. This dynamic approach allows the system to maintain fast gap identification speed when memory is sufficient while automatically reducing memory burden when collections grow large
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces disk storage as an intermediary for gap index collections. Instead of keeping all gap indices permanently in memory, the system uses disk storage as temporary holding when collections exceed memory capacity. This intermediary approach enables the system to achieve both fast access (when data is in memory) and low memory usage (when data is moved to disk)
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure enables management of block storage more efficiently than with traditional free space bitmap approaches. An exemplary method includes segregating disk gap indices by differentiated gap sizes; maintaining a set of lists for segregated sizes, such that each list identifies gaps of a common size; comparing a length of a list with trigger criteria, and based at least on the length of the list meeting the criteria, writing at least a portion of the list into a disk gap. Writing gap locations into gaps in disk storage reduces memory burdens, and the gap data can later be extracted when the list becomes short. These processes can be performed iteratively. The prior need for traversing a free space bitmap to find a gap of a particular size is eliminated; the new method permits more rapid location of a particular size gap by selecting an element of the proper list.