Host hinting for smart disk allocation to improve sequential access performance
US10929032B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 19, 2016 |
| Grant date | Feb 23, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 19, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0689
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In a computer network in which a data storage array maintains data for at least one host computer, the host computer provides sequential access hints to the storage array. A monitoring program monitors a host application running on the host computer to detect generation of data that is likely to be sequentially accessed by the host application along with associated data. When the host application writes such data to a thinly provisioned logical production volume the monitoring program prompts a multipath IO driver to generate the sequential access hint. In response to the hint the storage array allocates a plurality of sequential storage spaces on a hard disk drive for the data and the associated data. The allocated storage locations on the hard disk drive are written in a spatial sequence that matches the spatial sequence in which the storage locations on the production volume are written.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.