Virtual Disk Provisioning via Policy-Based Management Console
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data storage systems face challenges in scalability, management complexity, and provisioning speed, particularly in virtualized environments, where numerous server applications require access to storage nodes, leading to inefficiencies and high costs due to the need for expensive additional nodes and cumbersome management processes.
Innovation Solution
The system provides incremental scalability, a user-friendly management console for provisioning virtual disks with customizable policies, and the ability to define unique properties for each virtual disk, allowing for efficient data protection and disaster recovery, using off-the-shelf hardware and supporting various data centers, including public cloud environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If additional storage nodes are added to handle increased storage capacity, then storage capacity is improved, but system cost and management complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal management console that provides a unified interface for provisioning and managing virtual disks across multiple storage nodes. This console abstracts the complexity of individual node management, allowing administrators to manage heterogeneous storage infrastructure through a single standardized interface, thereby resolving the contradiction between increased storage capacity and management complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The management console acts as an intermediary layer between administrators and the underlying storage nodes. It provides policy-based management capabilities that automatically handle replication, disaster recovery, and resource allocation across storage nodes, reducing the burden on administrators while scaling storage capacity
2Reliability
If traditional storage provisioning processes are used, then data protection policies can be defined, but provisioning time is excessively long
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements pre-configured policy templates for data protection that are automatically applied during virtual disk provisioning. Common protection policies such as replication and disaster recovery are prepared in advance and can be selected during rapid provisioning, eliminating the need for lengthy manual configuration while maintaining data protection requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The management console provides self-service capabilities that allow automatic provisioning of virtual disks with appropriate protection policies based on predefined rules and templates. This automation eliminates manual intervention for routine provisioning tasks, reducing provisioning time from weeks to minutes while ensuring consistent application of data protection policies
Data Source
AI summary
An administrator provisions a virtual disk in a remote storage platform and defines policies for that virtual disk. A virtual machine writes to and reads from the storage platform using any storage protocol. Virtual disk data within a failed storage pool is migrated to different storage pools while still respecting the policies of each virtual disk. Snapshot and revert commands are given for a virtual disk at a particular point in time and overhead is minimal. A virtual disk is cloned utilizing snapshot information and no data need be copied. Any number of Zookeeper clusters are executing in a coordinated fashion within the storage platform, thus increasing overall throughput. A timestamp is generated that guarantees a monotonically increasing counter, even upon a crash of a virtual machine. Any virtual disk has a “hybrid cloud aware” policy in which one replica of the virtual disk is stored in a public cloud.