System and method for enforcing device grouping rules for storage virtualization
View Patent ↗A system includes one or more storage devices and virtualization software configured to aggregate storage in the one or more storage devices into a virtual storage device accessible to a storage consumer. The virtualization software may include a group validation layer comprising a device-independent interface configured to validate a proposed group configuration operation on the one or more storage devices. The device-independent interface may be used to verify that the proposed configuration operation would, if completed, result in a configuration capable of supporting a desired virtualization functionality. The device-independent interface may allow an application to manage the one or more devices as a unit known as a virtual device group.
1. A system comprising:
one or more storage devices;
at least one processor; and
a memory coupled to the at least one processor;
wherein the memory stores virtualization software executable by the at least one processor to aggregate storage in the one or more storage devices as a virtual storage device accessible to a storage consumer;
wherein the virtualization software comprises a group validation layer executable by the at least one processor to determine whether a proposed group configuration operation on the one or more storage devices is valid, wherein said group validation layer comprises a device-independent interface to allow an application to manage the one or more storage devices as a virtual device group;
wherein, in determining whether the proposed group configuration operation on the one or more storage devices is valid, the group validation layer is executable by the at least one processor, prior to performing the proposed group configuration operation, to:
verify that the proposed group configuration operation allows the virtual storage device to support one or more desired virtualization functions; and
verify that the proposed group configuration operation allows the virtual storage device to meet a quality-of-service requirement.
2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to add a storage device to the virtual device group.
3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to remove a storage device of the one or more storage devices from the virtual device group.
4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proposed group configuration operations is an operation to disallow further access to the virtual device group from a virtual device group manager.
5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to import the virtual device group at a virtual device group manager.
6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to make the virtual device group unavailable by removing all storage devices contained in the virtual device group from the virtual device group.
7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is a frozen image operation.
8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the virtualization software is a volume manager.
9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the application is a database management system.
10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the virtualization software is incorporated within an intelligent disk array.
11. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the virtualization software is incorporated within a virtualization switch.
12. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the virtualization software is incorporated within an object storage device.
13. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of nodes coupled to a network, wherein the virtual device group is accessible from a first and a second node of the plurality of nodes.
14. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of nodes coupled to a network, where a first subset of the one or more storage devices is attached to a first node of the plurality of nodes, and a second subset of the one or more storage devices is attached to a second node of the plurality of nodes.
15. The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the virtual device group is accessible from the first and second node.
16. The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the virtual device group is accessible from a third node of the plurality of nodes.
17. A method comprising:
storing data in one or more storage devices;
aggregating storage in the one or more storage devices as a virtual storage device accessible by a storage consumer;
using a device-independent interface to determine whether a proposed group configuration operation on a virtual device group comprising the one or more storage devices is valid, comprising, prior to performing the proposed group configuration operation:
determining whether the proposed group configuration operation allows the virtual storage device to support one or more desired virtualization functions; and
determining whether the proposed group configuration operation allows the virtual storage device to meet a quality-of-service requirement associated with the virtual storage device.
18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to add a storage device to the virtual device group.
19. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to remove a storage device of the one or more storage devices from the virtual device group.
20. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is a frozen image operation.
21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to:
store data in one or more storage devices;
aggregate storage in the one or more storage devices as a virtual storage device accessible by a storage consumer;
use a device-independent interface to determine whether a proposed group configuration operation on a virtual device group comprising the one or more storage devices is valid, comprising, prior to performing the proposed group configuration operation:
determining whether the proposed group configuration operation allows the virtual storage device to support one or more desired virtualization functions; and
determining whether the proposed group configuration operation allows the virtual storage device to meet a quality-of-service requirement associated with the virtual storage device.
22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 21 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to add a storage device to the virtual device group.
23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 21 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is an operation to remove a storage device of the one or more storage devices from the virtual device group.
24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 21 , wherein the proposed group configuration operation is a frozen image operation.