Tiered Storage Migration for Prioritized Data Access
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage management methods cannot efficiently arrange data in tiered storage with sufficient granularity based on application characteristics, leading to unnecessary consumption of high-performance storage and inefficient usage.
Innovation Solution
A computer system with a storage apparatus and management computer that interconnect via a network, allowing for page-level assignment of storage areas across different tiers based on data access frequency and application characteristics, enabling precise hierarchical control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If data is arranged in upper tiered storage to ensure high I/O performance for high priority applications, then I/O performance is improved, but upper tiered storage is needlessly consumed when files contain fragments with low access frequency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data management at the fragment level rather than file level. Each fragment within a file can be independently managed and placed in appropriate tiered storage based on its own access frequency characteristics, allowing fine-grained control over storage resource allocation while maintaining high performance for frequently accessed fragments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different storage tiers to different fragments based on their specific access characteristics. High-frequency fragments are placed in upper tiered storage while low-frequency fragments are placed in lower tiered storage, optimizing both performance and resource utilization by matching storage quality to local data characteristics.
2Productivity
If tiered storage control is performed based on data reference frequency, then storage efficiency is improved, but application priority level-dependent control becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges two control dimensions - data reference frequency and application priority level - into a unified tiered storage control mechanism. Both factors are considered simultaneously when determining fragment placement, allowing the system to achieve high storage efficiency while maintaining adaptability to application-specific requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic control by allowing fragment placement decisions to be adjusted based on changing application priority levels and access patterns. The system can dynamically reassign fragments between storage tiers in response to varying workload requirements, maintaining both efficiency and adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
Data is placed in tiered storage with a suitable granularity according to application characteristics. The storage apparatus comprises a controller for managing storage areas, provided by storage media of a plurality of types of varying performance, as pools, and for assigning the storage areas in page units to a virtual volume from any tiered storage among a plurality of types of tiered storage which the pool comprises in response to a data write request from the host computer, wherein, for specific data which is managed by the host computer, the controller specifies an area with a high referencing frequency among the specific data on the basis of organization information of the specific data, and moves this area to another of the tiered storage with a higher performance than an already assigned tiered storage.