NAS Volume Mount Bandwidth and Priority Specification

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Solution Overview

Problem

In environments with multiple virtual machines on a single host, existing systems lack efficient methods to allocate network resources such as bandwidth and prioritize I/O requests, leading to potential bottlenecks and uneven performance among virtual machines.

Innovation Solution

Specifying and transmitting bandwidth and priority settings as part of the mount request for a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device volume, allowing the NAS device to process I/O requests based on these specifications, ensuring optimal resource allocation and priority handling among virtual machines.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Device complexity

If network resources are shared among multiple virtual machines without explicit allocation, then device complexity is reduced, but network resource allocation efficiency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork resource management complexityVSAvoidnetwork resource allocation efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by specifying bandwidth and priority settings during the mount request phase, before actual I/O operations begin. This allows the NAS device to pre-configure resource allocation policies, ensuring efficient network resource distribution among virtual machines without requiring complex runtime management mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Productivity

If bandwidth and priority settings are specified at mount time, then network resource allocation efficiency is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork resource allocation efficiencyVSAvoidmount operation simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges bandwidth and priority specifications with the mount request operation, combining multiple configuration tasks into a single action. This allows administrators to specify network resource allocation settings while performing the routine mount operation, rather than requiring separate configuration steps.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

3Reliability

If bandwidth and priority are transmitted with mount request, then I/O request prioritization is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveI/O request prioritization capabilityVSAvoidmount request protocol complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent makes the mount request protocol multi-functional by incorporating bandwidth and priority specifications alongside traditional mount parameters. This allows the same protocol to handle both file system mounting and network resource allocation, reducing the need for separate configuration mechanisms.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS8095675B2Priority and bandwidth specification at mount time of NAS device volume

Publication Date: 2012.01.10 ORACLE AMERICAN INC

AI summary

A method for specifying input/output (I/O) settings for a virtual machine that includes specifying a bandwidth for the virtual machine, specifying a priority for the virtual machine, sending a mount request for a volume on a network attached storage (NAS) device by the virtual machine, where the bandwidth and priority are transmitted to the NAS device as part of the mount request, and receiving a mount handle by the virtual machine, where the mount handle is associated with the volume.