SmartNIC-Based Virtual Splitter for Microsecond Write Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data protection systems struggle to maintain performance when faced with faster storage technologies like NVMe, leading to increased latencies and degraded performance due to the inability to efficiently split and replicate writes across different computing environments.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a splitter within the IO stack, particularly in the hypervisor and SmartNIC, to intercept writes, add metadata for virtual disk identification, and perform data protection operations locally on the SmartNIC, minimizing latency by processing within the host IO stack rather than over a network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data protection systems use traditional network-based splitting mechanisms, then data protection coverage is achieved, but latency increases to milliseconds level
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the data protection splitting function from the network layer and places it directly in the host IO stack at the hypervisor and SmartNIC levels. This removes the network transmission step from the write path, reducing latency from milliseconds to microseconds while maintaining data protection coverage through local copying of write operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary splitting mechanism within the host IO stack that intercepts write operations before they reach production storage. This intermediary copies writes to protection storage locally, avoiding network delays while ensuring data protection through the splitter component that operates within the hypervisor and SmartNIC.
2Speed
If faster storage technologies like NVMe are introduced, then storage performance increases, but existing data protection mechanisms cannot keep pace
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operational parameters of data protection by moving the splitter from network-based operation to host-based operation within the IO stack. This parameter change enables the system to match the microsecond latencies of NVMe storage, allowing data protection to keep pace with high-speed storage technologies through local processing rather than network transmission.
3Ease of operation
If data protection operations are performed over the network, then centralized control is achieved, but performance is degraded due to network latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the data protection function into two parts: the splitter component resides in the host IO stack for high-speed local operation, while centralized management and coordination can still be performed by external data protection software. This segmentation enables both localized performance and centralized control through the filter framework that can communicate with external management systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A data protection system includes a splitter configured to reduce latencies when splitting writes in a computing environment. The splitter captures a write and adds metadata to augment the write with virtual related information. The augmented data is provided to a smartNIC while the write is then processed in the IO stack. The smartNIC may have a volume only visible to the splitter. The smartNIC also includes processing power that allows data protection operations to be performed at the smartNIC rather than with the processing resources of the host.