Virtual Storage Layer for Hierarchical Service Composition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual storage solutions limit access to advanced features of storage arrays, reducing the value of underlying assets by relegating storage to a protected, least-common denominator of services, and complicate the management of storage area networks due to their disparate and complex nature.
Innovation Solution
A virtual storage layer that combines services from multiple storage mediums to create new, hierarchical cooperative services, enabling extent-based services, service composition, decomposition, and extension, as well as service declaration and introspection, allowing for unified management and optimization of storage resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If storage services are distributed across multiple storage mediums in a SAN environment, then the system can provide reliable and scalable storage infrastructure, but the complexity of centralized management increases due to the disparate nature of resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a virtual storage layer as an intermediary between hosts and physical storage arrays. This virtual layer abstracts and unifies the management of disparate storage resources, providing a consistent interface while maintaining the underlying distributed architecture. The virtual storage layer handles service composition, decomposition, and extension, enabling centralized management without sacrificing the reliability benefits of distributed storage infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual storage layer is designed to provide multiple storage services (extent-based services, service composition, decomposition, and extension) through a single unified interface. This universal layer can manage different types of storage arrays and protocols (NAS, SAN) through common service abstractions, reducing management complexity while maintaining the reliability of the underlying distributed infrastructure.
2Ease of operation
If virtual storage solutions are implemented, then centralized management is enabled, but access to advanced features of storage arrays is limited, reducing the value of underlying assets
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual storage layer dynamically adapts its behavior based on the capabilities of underlying storage arrays. It can discover and leverage advanced features of specific arrays (such as encryption, compression, or replication capabilities) while maintaining a consistent virtual interface. This dynamic approach allows the system to provide centralized management while preserving and even extending access to storage array features through service composition and extension mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent composes multiple storage services from different storage arrays into unified virtual storage services. By combining services from multiple underlying arrays (e.g., combining replication from one array with encryption from another), the system provides access to advanced features while maintaining centralized management. This service composition capability ensures that the value of underlying storage assets is maximized rather than limited.
3Adaptability or versatility
If storage services are combined from multiple storage mediums, then new hierarchical cooperative services can be created, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments storage services into distinct functional components that can be independently managed and combined. The virtual storage layer breaks down storage functionality into service units (extent-based services, replication, encryption, etc.) that can be selectively composed. This segmentation allows complex hierarchical services to be built from simpler, well-defined building blocks, making the system more manageable despite the increased versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system, and program product for enabling a virtual storage layer to offer array based extent services, the virtual storage layer communicatively coupled to one or more storage mediums, the method comprising determining for the one or more storage mediums, the services offered by the storage mediums, and enabling extent based services at the virtual service layer by combining the services offered by the one or more storage mediums to create new services and by providing a set of services at the virtual service layer.