Patent Application

App. No. 14/935,836

Abstract

Claims (58)

1 . A computer-implemented method for coordinating data caching on virtual storage appliances, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first virtual storage appliance, a request for data from a virtual machine in a first set of virtual machines served by the first virtual storage appliance;

determining that the requested data is not cached at the first virtual storage appliance;

determining that a second virtual storage appliance is responsible for caching the requested data from a remote data source;

transferring the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance to the first virtual storage appliance;

providing the requested data from the first virtual storage appliance to the virtual machine.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first virtual storage appliance comprises a cloud-based storage controller that manages a local data cache for a hypervisor running the first set of virtual machines in a cloud environment containing the second virtual storage appliance.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of virtual machines comprises a grouping of at least one virtual machine sharing a common dataset that differs, based on a predefined threshold, from a second dataset shared by a second set of virtual machines.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the second virtual storage appliance is responsible for caching the requested data comprises at least one of:

using a hashing algorithm that coordinates peer-to-peer caching among the first and second virtual storage appliances;

identifying a data fingerprint of the requested data.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the hashing algorithm comprises a set of rules to distribute data for copy data management.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transferring the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance to the first virtual storage appliance comprises at least one of:

locating the requested data in the second virtual storage appliance;

caching at least part of the requested data at the first virtual storage appliance;

removing the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein locating the requested data in the second virtual storage appliance comprises at least one of:

finding the requested data cached at the second virtual storage appliance;

copying the requested data from the remote data source to the second virtual storage appliance;

caching the requested data at the second virtual storage appliance.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein removing the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance comprises at least one of:

determining, based on a cache algorithm, that caching the requested data at the second virtual storage appliance is more costly than caching the requested data at the first virtual storage appliance;

remapping a hash table based on the determination.

9 . A system for coordinating data caching on virtual storage appliances, the system comprising:

a reception module, stored in memory, that receives, at a first virtual storage appliance, a request for data from a virtual machine in a first set of virtual machines served by the first virtual storage appliance;

a determination module, stored in memory, that determines that the requested data is not cached at the first virtual storage appliance;

a coordination module, stored in memory, that determines that a second virtual storage appliance is responsible for caching the requested data from a remote data source;

a transfer module, stored in memory, that transfers the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance to the first virtual storage appliance;

a provision module, stored in memory, that provides the requested data from the first virtual storage appliance to the virtual machine;

at least one processor that executes the reception module, the determination module, the coordination module, the transfer module, and the provision module.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the first virtual storage appliance comprises a cloud-based storage controller that manages a local data cache for a hypervisor running the first set of virtual machines in a cloud environment containing the second virtual storage appliance.

11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the first set of virtual machines comprises a grouping of at least one virtual machine sharing a common dataset that differs, based on a predefined threshold, from a second dataset shared by a second set of virtual machines.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the coordination module determines that the second virtual storage appliance is responsible for caching the requested data by at least one of:

using a hashing algorithm that coordinates peer-to-peer caching among the first and second virtual storage appliances;

identifying a data fingerprint of the requested data.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the hashing algorithm comprises a set of rules to distribute data for copy data management.

14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the transfer module transfers the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance to the first virtual storage appliance by at least one of:

locating the requested data in the second virtual storage appliance;

caching at least part of the requested data at the first virtual storage appliance;

removing the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein locating the requested data in the second virtual storage appliance comprises at least one of:

finding the requested data cached at the second virtual storage appliance;

copying the requested data from the remote data source to the second virtual storage appliance;

caching the requested data at the second virtual storage appliance.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein removing the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance comprises at least one of:

determining, based on a cache algorithm, that caching the requested data at the second virtual storage appliance is more costly than caching the requested data at the first virtual storage appliance;

remapping a hash table based on the determination.

17 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive, at a first virtual storage appliance, a request for data from a virtual machine in a first set of virtual machines served by the first virtual storage appliance;

determine that the requested data is not cached at the first virtual storage appliance;

determine that a second virtual storage appliance is responsible for caching the requested data from a remote data source;

transfer the requested data from the second virtual storage appliance to the first virtual storage appliance;

provide the requested data from the first virtual storage appliance to the virtual machine.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the first virtual storage appliance comprises a cloud-based storage controller that manages a local data cache for a hypervisor running the first set of virtual machines in a cloud environment containing the second virtual storage appliance.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the first set of virtual machines comprises a grouping of at least one virtual machine sharing a common dataset that differs, based on a predefined threshold, from a second dataset shared by a second set of virtual machines.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to determine that the second virtual storage appliance is responsible for caching the requested data by at least one of:

using a hashing algorithm that coordinates peer-to-peer caching among the first and second virtual storage appliances;

identifying a data fingerprint of the requested data.

Assignments (8)