SELECTIVELY SETTING DSN SLICE DATA IN MOTION WITHIN DSN MEMORY BASED ON CONDITIONS AT THE FINAL DATA REST POINTS

1 . A method for use in a distributed storage network (DSN) including a plurality of storage units and a distributed storage (DS) processing unit, the method comprising:

determining, by the DS processing unit, that:

at least a first storage unit of the one or more of the plurality of storage units is associated with a status level that fails to satisfy a threshold value associated with a first access request of a set of access requests;

at least a second storage unit of the one or more of the plurality of storage units is associated with a status level that satisfies the threshold value associated with a second access request of the set of access requests;

transmitting the first access request from the DS processing unit to a performance unit, the performance unit including a processor and a local memory configured to facilitate execution of alternative processing of the first access request; and

transmitting the second access request from the DS processing unit to the at least a second storage unit for standard processing of the second access request.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing the alternative processing of the first access request by the performance unit, wherein the alternative processing includes temporarily storing a received data slice associated with the first access request in the local memory of the performance unit when the first access request is a write request.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the alternative processing includes issuing a forwarded access request to the at least a first storage unit, wherein the forwarded access request includes the received data slice temporarily stored in the local memory.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the alternative processing includes:

issuing a composite access response from the performance unit to the DS processing unit, the composite access response including information associated with the at least a first storage unit and the at least a second storage unit.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the alternative approach includes:

performing the alternative processing of the first access request by the performance unit, wherein the alternative processing includes retrieving a temporarily stored data slice from the local memory of the performance unit when the first access request is a read request.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

sending a forwarded first access request from the performance unit to the at least a first storage unit; and

receiving, at the performance unit, an access response from the at least a first storage unit, wherein the access response includes a data slice to be stored in the local memory of the performance unit as the temporarily stored data slice.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

issuing, from the performance unit, a proxy access response to the DS processing unit, wherein the proxy access response includes the temporarily stored data slice.

8 . A non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of computer executable instructions, the program of computer executable instructions including:

at least one instruction to determine, by a distributed storage (DS) processing unit included in a distributed storage network (DSN), that:

at least a first storage unit of a plurality of storage units included in the DSN is associated with a status level that fails to satisfy a performance threshold value associated with a first access request;

at least a second storage unit of the plurality of storage units is associated with a status level that satisfies the performance threshold value associated with a second access request;

at least one instruction to transmit the first access request from the DS processing unit to a performance unit included in the DSN, the performance unit including a processor and a local memory, and configured to facilitate execution of alternative processing of the first access request; and

at least one instruction to transmit the second access request from the DS processing unit to the at least a second storage unit for standard processing of the second access request.

9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein, when the first access request is a write request, the first access request includes a data slice to be temporarily stored by the performance unit in the local memory.

10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the program of computer executable instructions includes:

at least one instruction to receive a proxy write response from the performance unit, the proxy write response including information associated with the at least a first storage unit.

11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein, when the first access request is a read request, the first access request causes the performance unit to retrieve a data slice from the at least a first storage unit.

12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein, when the first access request is a read request, the first access request causes the performance unit to retrieve a temporarily stored data slice from the local memory of the performance unit.

13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising:

at least one instruction to receive a proxy read response from the performance unit, the proxy read response including, the temporarily stored data slice.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising:

at least one instruction to transmit read and write access requests exclusively to the performance unit for each of a plurality of underperforming storage units.

15 . A distributed storage network (DSN) comprising:

a plurality of storage units;

a distributed storage (DS) processing unit coupled to the plurality of storage units, the DS processing unit configured to:

transmit standard access requests from the DS processing unit to first storage units of the plurality of storage units, wherein the first storage units are associated with status levels satisfying a threshold performance value;

transmit alternative access requests from the DS processing unit to a proxy for second storage units, wherein the second storage units are associated with status levels failing to satisfy the threshold performance value;

a performance unit coupled to the plurality of storage units and to the DS processing unit, the performance unit configured to act as a proxy between the DS processing unit and second storage units of the plurality of storage units; and

the DS processing unit further configured to transmit alternative access requests from the DS processing unit to the performance unit, the performance unit including a processor and a local memory configured to facilitate execution of alternative processing of the alternative access requests.

16 . The DSN of claim 15 , wherein the DS processing unit is further configured to:

determine which of the plurality of storage units are first storage units and which of the plurality of storage units are second storage units.

17 . The DSN of claim 16 , wherein the DS processing unit is further configured to:

transmit read and write access requests intended for the second storage units to the performance unit.

18 . The DSN of claim 15 , wherein the performance unit is further configured to:

temporarily store a received data slice associated with the alternative access request in a local memory of the performance unit when the alternative access request is a write request;

issue forwarded access requests to the second storage units, wherein the forwarded access requests includes the received data slice temporarily stored in the local memory; and

issue a proxy access response regarding the second storage units to the DS processing unit.

19 . The DSN of claim 15 , wherein the performance unit is further configured to:

retrieve a temporarily stored data slice from the local memory of the performance unit when an alternative access request is a read request; and

issue a proxy access response to the DS processing unit, wherein the proxy access response includes the temporarily stored data slice.

20 . The DSN of claim 15 , wherein the performance unit is further configured to:

obtain a data slice from at least one of the second storage units when an alternative access request is a read request.