Global Memory NVRAM Journaling for Storage Failover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage systems face performance bottlenecks and high costs due to the use of journaling devices for failover and recovery operations, which can take significant time and require additional hardware support.
Innovation Solution
The system utilizes global memory to provide non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) capabilities, allowing a guest operating system to access and utilize this memory for journaling operations, distributed across multiple storage devices and processing resources, thereby eliminating the need for additional hardware support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If journaling devices are used for failover and recovery operations, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase due to additional hardware requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the journaling function with existing global memory resources that are already part of the storage system. Instead of adding separate journaling hardware, the system merges the journaling capability into the global memory structure, allowing the same memory to serve both as operational memory and as journaling storage for failover and recovery operations
Solution Approach 2:
The global memory is designed to perform multiple functions: it serves as operational memory for the storage system and simultaneously as journaling memory for failover and recovery operations. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for dedicated journaling hardware while maintaining reliability requirements
2Reliability
If journaling devices are used for failover and recovery operations, then reliability is improved, but loss of time increases due to significant recovery time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by continuously maintaining journal data in the global memory during normal operations. Since the journal information is already prepared and stored in fast global memory before any failure occurs, the recovery process can immediately access this pre-prepared data without time-consuming operations, significantly reducing failover and recovery time
3Reliability
If journaling devices are used for failover and recovery operations, then reliability is improved, but productivity decreases due to performance bottlenecks
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the journaling function into the global memory structure, the system eliminates the performance bottleneck caused by separate journaling hardware. Transactions can access journal data in the same fast global memory used for operational data, maintaining high transaction speeds while still providing reliable failover and recovery capability
Data Source
AI summary
Global memory of a storage system may be used to provide NVRAM capabilities to guest operating systems accessing the storage system. The non-volatility of NVRAM (i.e. that retains its information when power is turned off) provides that an NVRAM device provided by global memory may be used as a journaling device to track storage operations and facilitate recovery and/or failover processing in a storage system without needing to add additional hardware and/or other installed devices. Use of the global memory according to the system described herein to provide an NVRAM device, that may function as a journaling device, provides for the speeding up of transactions, thereby improving metadata intensive operations performance and reducing recovery time and/or failover time of a storage system without adding additional hardware support.