Granted Patent B2

US 11,385,805 · App. 16/993,603 · Granted Jul 12, 2022

Inventors: Baote Zhuo (Beijing, CN); Jian Gao (Beijing, CN); Geng Han (Beijing, CN); Shaoqin Gong (Beijing, CN)

Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC

G06F3/0619G06F3/0629G06F3/0653G06F3/0683G06F11/1435

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A method for managing storage units, comprising:

if it is determined that a first metadata storage unit storing metadata of a plurality of storage units fails, allocating a second metadata storage unit to replace the first metadata storage unit from a storage resource pool, wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units is read into a memory before the failure occurs, and first metadata of the first metadata storage unit is recorded in configuration information indicating a valid metadata storage unit, wherein the storage resource pool comprises a plurality of disks, wherein each one of the disks is divided into a plurality of disk slices, and wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units includes mapping information indicating which ones of the plurality of disk slices located on the disks in the storage resource pool are occupied by each individual one of the plurality of storage units;

recording second metadata of the second metadata storage unit in the configuration information;

storing the metadata of the plurality of storage units in the memory into the second metadata storage unit; and

replacing the first metadata storage unit with the second metadata storage unit by validating the second metadata and invalidating the first metadata in the configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first metadata storage unit comprises a first set of disk slices from a first set of disks in the plurality of disks, and allocating the second metadata storage unit from the storage resource pool comprises:

selecting, from the plurality of disks, a second set of disks different from the first set of disks; and

allocating a second set of disk slices from the second set of disks to serve as the second metadata storage unit.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first metadata records corresponding positions of the first set of disk slices in the plurality of disks, and recording the second metadata in the configuration information comprises:

generating the second metadata to record corresponding positions of the second set of disk slices in the plurality of disks; and

recording the generated second metadata in the configuration information.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the configuration information is stored on at least one of the plurality of disks, and recording the second metadata in the configuration information comprises:

reading the configuration information from the at least one disk into the memory; and

recording the second metadata in the configuration information in the memory.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

storing the configuration information in the memory into the at least one disk in response to the second metadata in the configuration information being validated and the first metadata being invalidated.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the configuration information comprises a first entry for recording the first metadata, a second entry for recording the second metadata, and a first flag indicating that the first entry is valid, and validating the second metadata and invalidating the first metadata in the configuration information comprises:

reading the first metadata from the first entry, the first metadata comprising a second flag indicating whether the first metadata is valid;

if the second flag indicates that the first metadata is valid,

determining corresponding positions of the first set of disk slices in the plurality of disks based on the first metadata;

releasing, based on the corresponding positions, the first set of disk slices allocated to the first metadata storage unit; and

setting the second flag to indicate that the first metadata is invalid; and

if the second flag indicates that the first metadata is invalid, setting the first flag to indicate that the second entry is valid.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information comprises a first entry and a second entry for recording metadata and a first flag indicating whether either the first entry or the second entry is valid, and recording the second metadata in the configuration information comprises:

recording the second metadata in the second entry if the first flag indicates that the first entry is valid; and

recording the second metadata in the first entry if the first flag indicates that the second entry is valid.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units further indicates corresponding states of the plurality of storage units, and the method further comprises:

determining a storage unit associated with the first set of disks from the plurality of storage units;

if it is determined that the storage unit fails, modifying the metadata of the plurality of storage units in the memory to indicate that the storage unit fails; and

storing the modified metadata of the plurality of storage units in the second metadata storage unit.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

at least one processing unit; and

at least one memory coupled to the at least one processing unit and storing instructions for execution by the at least one processing unit, wherein when executed by the at least one processing unit, the instructions cause the electronic device to perform actions comprising:

if it is determined that a first metadata storage unit storing metadata of a plurality of storage units fails, allocating a second metadata storage unit to replace the first metadata storage unit from a storage resource pool, wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units is read into a memory before the failure occurs, and first metadata of the first metadata storage unit is recorded in configuration information indicating a valid metadata storage unit, wherein the storage resource pool comprises a plurality of disks, wherein each one of the disks is divided into a plurality of disk slices, and wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units includes mapping information indicating which ones of the plurality of disk slices located on the disks in the storage resource pool are occupied by each individual one of the plurality of storage units;

recording second metadata of the second metadata storage unit in the configuration information;

storing the metadata of the plurality of storage units in the memory into the second metadata storage unit; and

replacing the first metadata storage unit with the second metadata storage unit by validating the second metadata and invalidating the first metadata in the configuration information.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the first metadata storage unit comprises a first set of disk slices from a first set of disks in the plurality of disks, and allocating the second metadata storage unit from the storage resource pool comprises:

selecting, from the plurality of disks, a second set of disks different from the first set of disks; and

allocating a second set of disk slices from the second set of disks to serve as the second metadata storage unit.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the first metadata records corresponding positions of the first set of disk slices in the plurality of disks, and recording the second metadata in the configuration information comprises:

generating the second metadata to record corresponding positions of the second set of disk slices in the plurality of disks; and

recording the generated second metadata in the configuration information.

12. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the configuration information is stored on at least one of the plurality of disks, and recording the second metadata in the configuration information comprises:

reading the configuration information from the at least one disk into the memory; and

recording the second metadata in the configuration information in the memory.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the actions further comprise:

storing the configuration information in the memory into the at least one disk in response to the second metadata in the configuration information being validated and the first metadata being invalidated.

14. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the configuration information comprises a first entry for recording the first metadata, a second entry for recording the second metadata, and a first flag indicating that the first entry is valid, and validating the second metadata and invalidating the first metadata in the configuration information comprises:

reading the first metadata from the first entry, the first metadata comprising a second flag indicating whether the first metadata is valid;

if the second flag indicates that the first metadata is valid,

determining corresponding positions of the first set of disk slices in the plurality of disks based on the first metadata;

releasing, based on the corresponding positions, the first set of disk slices allocated to the first metadata storage unit; and

setting the second flag to indicate that the first metadata is invalid; and

if the second flag indicates that the first metadata is invalid, setting the first flag to indicate that the second entry is valid.

15. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the configuration information comprises a first entry and a second entry for recording metadata and a first flag indicating whether either the first entry or the second entry is valid, and recording the second metadata in the configuration information comprises:

recording the second metadata in the second entry if the first flag indicates that the first entry is valid; and

recording the second metadata in the first entry if the first flag indicates that the second entry is valid.

16. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units further indicates corresponding states of the plurality of storage units, and the actions further comprise:

determining a storage unit associated with the first set of disks from the plurality of storage units;

if it is determined that the storage unit fails, modifying the metadata of the plurality of storage units in the memory to indicate that the storage unit fails; and

storing the modified metadata of the plurality of storage units in the second metadata storage unit.

17. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer readable medium which stores a set of instructions to manage storage units; the set of instructions, when carried out by computerized circuitry, causing the computerized circuitry to perform a method of:

if it is determined that a first metadata storage unit storing metadata of a plurality of storage units fails, allocating a second metadata storage unit to replace the first metadata storage unit from a storage resource pool, wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units is read into a memory before the failure occurs, and first metadata of the first metadata storage unit is recorded in configuration information indicating a valid metadata storage unit, wherein the storage resource pool comprises a plurality of disks, wherein each one of the disks is divided into a plurality of disk slices, and wherein the metadata of the plurality of storage units includes mapping information indicating which ones of the plurality of disk slices located on the disks in the storage resource pool are occupied by each individual one of the plurality of storage units;

recording second metadata of the second metadata storage unit in the configuration information;

storing the metadata in the memory into the second metadata storage unit; and

replacing the first metadata storage unit with the second metadata storage unit by validating the second metadata and invalidating the first metadata in the configuration information.

Assignments (9)