NVM Accelerator Peer-to-Peer Garbage Collection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Garbage collection in non-volatile storage systems consumes significant CPU computation cycles and memory resources due to the need to copy and identify valid data objects from underlying media, making it inefficient.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an accelerator within the non-volatile storage device to monitor data validity and perform garbage collection operations independently, using peer-to-peer data transfers without requiring computational resources from the host computer, by copying valid data objects from read to write address spaces and storing them in new physical write units.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If garbage collection is performed using CPU and memory resources from the host computer, then data validity tracking and overwrite operations can be completed, but computational cycles and memory resources are significantly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the garbage collection function into two separate components: the host computer that manages data validity tracking and metadata, and the storage device that performs the actual data copying and consolidation operations. This segmentation allows the computationally intensive copy operations to be performed by the storage device using its own resources, rather than consuming the host computer's CPU and memory resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage device is equipped with sufficient resources to perform garbage collection operations independently without requiring continuous intervention from the host computer. The storage device monitors its own data validity parameters and autonomously executes copy operations to consolidate valid data, thereby serving itself and reducing the burden on the host computer.
2Reliability
If data is copied from underlying media to CPU memory and then written back to media, then valid data objects can be identified and consolidated, but the process consumes considerable host computer resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the data copying and consolidation operations from the host computer's memory management space and relocates them to the storage device. The storage device directly accesses and copies data between its own media components without requiring the data to be loaded into the host computer's memory, thereby eliminating the resource consumption associated with host memory allocation and CPU-mediated data transfer.
3Productivity
If garbage collection requires CPU intervention for each copy operation, then data can be validated and rewritten, but the process becomes inefficient and resource-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The storage device maintains data validity information and identifies valid data objects in advance, preparing the necessary information before actual copy operations are needed. This preliminary identification and preparation of valid data allows the storage device to execute bulk copy operations efficiently without requiring continuous CPU intervention during the copying process itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a system for accelerating computer data garbage collection (GC) on a non-volatile memory (NVM) computer storage device may include: monitoring, by a processor, a data validity parameter of at least one physical write unit (PWU), where the PWU may include a plurality of physical data pages of the NVM device; sending at least one GC command from the processor to an accelerator associated with the NVM device, based on the monitored data validity parameter; copying, by the accelerator, a plurality of data-objects stored on at least one first PWU, to a read address space comprised within the accelerator; copying valid data-objects from the read address space to a write address space comprised within the accelerator until the amount of data in the write address space exceeds a predefined threshold; and storing, by the accelerator, the data content in at least one second PWU in the NVM media.