Logical Map Segmentation for Linked Clone Read Performance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Linked clones in virtualization systems experience performance degradation due to the linear growth of search penalties when retrieving data, leading to slow read performance or limited availability, as all clones in a tree must be searched until the correct one is found.
Innovation Solution
Generating a child clone with a logical map comprising a local logical extent and an inherited logical extent, allowing data to be rapidly located within the child clone or its ancestors, reducing the number of I/O operations needed to find the data, thereby minimizing search latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If linked clones share storage space to conserve storage resources, then storage efficiency is improved, but read performance deteriorates due to linear search penalties across all clones
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the search space by creating separate logical maps for each clone that contain only that clone's data regions. Instead of searching all clones linearly, the system divides the search into individual clone-specific segments, allowing direct access to the relevant clone's data without examining other clones.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-building logical maps that contain metadata about data region locations for each clone before read operations occur. These logical maps are constructed in advance and stored with each clone, enabling immediate lookup of data locations without performing searches during actual read operations.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of linked clones increases to provide more available VMs, then availability is improved, but read performance deteriorates due to increased search latency
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the clone tree into individual clone entities, each with its own logical map. This segmentation allows the system to scale to many clones without increasing search latency, as each clone's logical map independently contains only that clone's data region information, eliminating the need to search through other clones.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates copies of data region location information in the form of logical maps for each clone. Instead of having to search through parent clones and sibling clones to find data, each clone has a copied version of the relevant location metadata in its own logical map, enabling direct access without traversal.
3Reliability
If data regions of all linked clones are searched to locate an LBA, then data retrieval completeness is improved, but I/O operations increase linearly with clone tree size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential location information from the clone tree structure and places it directly into each clone's logical map. By taking out only the necessary data region location metadata and storing it locally with each clone, the system eliminates the need to search through other clones' data regions, reducing I/O operations from linear to constant time while maintaining complete data retrieval capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Linked clone read performance (e.g., retrieving data) is improved at least by minimizing the number of input/output (I/O) operations. For a child clone, a local logical extent and an inherited logical extent are generated. The local logical extent comprises a logical block address (LBA) for data in a data region of the child clone and a physical sector address (PSA) corresponding to the LBA for the data in the data region of the child clone. The inherited logical extent spans logical extents that are accessible to the child clone. The inherited logical extent comprises an LBA for data in a data region of an ancestor of the child clone and a corresponding identifier (ID) of the ancestor. Data for an LBA in a read request may be rapidly found in the child clone (local logical extent) or an ancestor (inherited logical extent).