Power-Diverse Placement for Storage Volume Resilience
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data center systems face challenges in ensuring resilient operation of hosted storage volumes, particularly in the event of power supply failures, which can render volumes inoperable due to the failure of replicas and authority nodes.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a power-diverse placement strategy for replicas and authority nodes of hosted storage volumes, ensuring that no single power source failure affects more than the maximum number of replicas and nodes required for the volume to remain operational.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If replicas and authority nodes are placed in the same data center or rack, then device complexity and management are reduced, but reliability decreases due to common power supply failure risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the placement of replicas and authority nodes across different power lineups within data centers. By dividing the deployment into distinct power zones, the system ensures that a failure in one power supply does not affect all replicas and nodes, thereby improving reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through structured segmentation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension for placement consideration by incorporating power supply diversity as a critical factor. Instead of only considering geographic or physical separation, the system adds the dimension of electrical power independence, requiring replicas and authority nodes to be distributed across different power lineups, which enhances resilience without significantly increasing operational complexity.
2Reliability
If replicas and authority nodes are distributed across different power lineups, then reliability improves through power diversity, but device complexity increases due to placement constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-identifying and categorizing available power lineups in data centers before deployment. The system proactively maps power infrastructure and uses this information during the placement phase to automatically assign replicas and authority nodes to appropriate power zones, eliminating the need for complex real-time decisions and reducing operational complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary placement service that acts as a mediator between the deployment requirements and the physical infrastructure. This service automatically manages the complex task of distributing replicas and authority nodes across different power lineups by consuming power lineup data and making intelligent placement decisions, thereby shielding users from the complexity of power-diverse placement configuration.
3Reliability
If power-diverse placement is implemented, then reliability against power failures improves, but loss of time increases due to extended placement planning and configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling the placement service to automatically consume power lineup data from data center inventories and autonomously determine optimal placements that satisfy power diversity requirements. This automation eliminates manual planning and configuration steps, allowing the system to rapidly deploy resilient architectures without requiring extensive human intervention or time-consuming manual analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual placement planning and configuration processes with an automated computational system. Instead of relying on human operators to manually analyze power infrastructure and make placement decisions, the system uses automated algorithms to consume power lineup data and generate optimal placement configurations, dramatically reducing deployment time while maintaining reliability.
4Ease of operation
If existing placement methods are used without power diversity consideration, then ease of operation is maintained, but object-affected harmful factors increase due to power supply failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a placement service intermediary that automatically handles power diversity considerations without requiring users to manually configure or understand complex power infrastructure details. The service consumes power lineup data and makes intelligent placement decisions in the background, maintaining ease of operation for users while effectively mitigating the harmful effects of power failures through diverse placement.
Solution Approach 2:
The placement service performs self-service by automatically consuming power lineup inventory data and making autonomous placement decisions that satisfy power diversity requirements. This eliminates the need for users to manually consider power failure risks or configure complex placement strategies, maintaining operational simplicity while protecting against power-related harmful factors through automated resilient placement.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided for hosting block storage volumes in a hosted computing environment that are supported by multiple underlying elements and that are distributed among physical host devices in a manner that provides for resiliency of the volumes in instances of power failure. As disclosed herein, a block storage volume may be supported by a combination of underlying elements, such as replicas that store data of the volume and replicated authority nodes that designate authority of a replica to accept writes to the volume. To ensure resiliency to power failure, both replicas and authority nodes can be distributed among physical host devices that are supplied by independent power supplies, such that failure of one independent power supply does not render the volume non-operational.