Automated Replication Buffer Sizing for Virtualized Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Replication of volumes in a virtualized datacenter environment is complex and error-prone, requiring exhaustive knowledge of storage array technology and complex calculations to size replication buffers, with manual mapping of virtualized environments to physical storage arrays.
Innovation Solution
An automated process that identifies, calculates, and configures replication between virtualized datacenters, involving three phases: identification and mapping of virtual machines to physical volumes, calculation of required replication buffer size, and creation of replication buffers, with the ability to inventory both virtual and physical environments to perform necessary resource creation and migration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual mapping and calculation of replication buffer size is performed, then user control over replication configuration is maintained, but device complexity and operational difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically inventories virtual and physical environments, maps resources, calculates workload, determines replication buffer size, and configures replication without requiring manual user intervention. The replication system serves itself by autonomously completing all configuration tasks based on pre-defined policies and parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the state of replication configuration from manual setup to automated execution. By transforming the configuration process into automated parameter-based operations, the system eliminates complex manual calculations and mappings while maintaining replication functionality through programmatically controlled parameters.
2Ease of operation
If automated replication buffer sizing is implemented, then operational simplicity improves, but measurement precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors actual workload data from virtual machines and uses this feedback to calculate accurate replication buffer sizes. By relying on real-time workload measurements and adjusting replication parameters accordingly, the system achieves precise buffer sizing through feedback-driven optimization rather than manual estimation.
3Reliability
If comprehensive volume replication is performed, then data protection coverage increases, but replication time and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different replication strategies to different volumes based on their specific characteristics and workload patterns. By analyzing individual volume properties and assigning appropriate replication parameters locally, the system optimizes protection coverage while minimizing unnecessary replication time and resource consumption across the entire infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
A controller is operable to: identify virtual machines to be protected in a first storage system; identify logical volumes used by the virtual machines based on first relationship information; calculate workload, based on information of workload monitored for the identified logical volumes; and calculate size of a buffer area in the first storage system to be used for temporarily storing copy data to be sent to a second storage system in remote copy procedure of one or more remote copy pairs, based on the calculated workload, each copy pair being formed by a logical volume of the identified logical volumes in the first storage system as primary logical volume and another logical volume in the second storage system as secondary logical volume, so that the buffer area having a size equal to or greater than the calculated size can be used to manage protection of the identified virtual machines.