Global de-duplication of virtual disks in a storage platform
US10846024B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 16, 2016 |
| Grant date | Nov 24, 2020 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 16, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0683
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In order to avoid writing duplicates of blocks of data into a storage platform, any virtual disk within the storage platform may have a de-duplication feature enabled. Or, all virtual disks have this feature enabled. For virtual disks with de-duplication enabled, a unique message digest is calculated for every block of data written to that virtual disk. Upon a write, these message digests are consulted in order to determine if a particular block of data has already been written, if so, it is not written again, and if not, it is written. All de-duplication virtual disks are written to a single system virtual disk within the storage platform. De-duplication occurs over the entire storage platform and over all its virtual disks because all message digests are consulted before a write is performed for any virtual disk. A read for a de-duplication virtual desk reads from the system virtual disk.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.