Storage Deduplication Admission Control for Thick Provisioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data deduplication techniques fail to guarantee successful write requests for thickly-provisioned storage objects when used in conjunction with thin provisioning, as they can lead to the allocation of additional physical storage space, causing write requests to fail if the system is already at capacity.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an admission control module that calculates the available physical storage space by subtracting reserved space for unique data from thick storage objects, allowing write requests only if the remaining space is below the system's capacity, thereby preventing failures in thick storage objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data deduplication is implemented in a storage system, then storage space usage is optimized, but write requests to thickly-provisioned storage objects may fail due to lack of physical storage space
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-allocating physical storage space for thick storage objects before deduplication occurs. The patent maintains a mapping between logical storage space and physical storage space, ensuring that when data is written to thick objects, the physical space is already reserved. This preliminary allocation prevents write failures that would otherwise occur when deduplication would require additional physical space
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mapping mechanism between logical storage space and physical storage space. This mapping layer acts as a mediator that decouples the logical view of storage (where deduplication operates) from the physical storage allocation (where capacity constraints exist). The mapping allows the system to track and manage physical space usage separately, ensuring thick objects have guaranteed space while still enabling deduplication for thin objects
2Quantity of substance
If conventional data deduplication is used, then redundant data is eliminated, but additional physical storage space must be allocated for unique data in thick storage objects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments storage objects into thick and thin categories, applying different space management strategies to each. Thick storage objects have their physical space pre-allocated and isolated from deduplication operations, while thin storage objects participate in deduplication. This segmentation allows the system to eliminate redundant data through deduplication without complicating the physical storage allocation management for thick objects
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by treating thick and thin storage objects differently in terms of space management. Thick objects receive guaranteed physical space allocation with isolated management, while thin objects use dynamic allocation with deduplication. This localized approach allows redundant data elimination through deduplication without increasing device complexity for thick object management
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for implementing data deduplication in conjunction with thick and thin provisioning of storage objects are provided. In one embodiment, a system can receive a write request directed to a storage object stored by the system and can determine whether the storage object is a thin or thick object. If the storage object is a thin object, the system can calculate a usage value by adding a total amount of physical storage space used in the system to a total amount of storage space reserved for thick storage objects in the system and further subtracting a total amount of reserved storage space for the thick storage objects that are filled with unique data. The system can then reject the write request if the usage value is not less than the total storage capacity of the system.