Granted Patent B2

US 12,339,805 · App. 18/362,088 · Granted Jun 24, 2025

Inventors: Yosef Shatsky (Karnei Shomron, IL); Doron Tal (Geva Carmel, IL)

Assignee: Dell Products L.P.

G06F16/122G06F11/3409G06F16/128G06F16/164

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. A method, comprising:

generating, by a storage control system, a snapshot data structure of a storage volume, wherein the snapshot data structure comprises plurality of nodes comprising a volume node and one or more snapshot nodes, wherein the volume node is configured to store data that is written to one or more logical offsets of the storage volume, and wherein the one or more snapshot nodes comprise point-in-time copies of data of the storage volume taken at different times;

for a given logical offset of the storage volume for which data has not been stored by the volume node, the storage control system adding a volume node entry for the given logical offset in a metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure, wherein the volume node entry comprises a reference which points to a physical location of a current version of a data block held by a given one of the snapshot nodes other than the volume node at the given logical offset of the storage volume, wherein the reference is determined by the storage control system using existing referencing metadata associated with the storage volume; and

utilizing, by the storage control system, the reference in the volume node entry of the volume node in the metadata structure to access the current version of the data block held by the given one of the snapshot nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the snapshot data structure comprises a snapshot tree structure in which the one or more snapshot nodes comprise a chain of incremental snapshots taken of the storage volume at different times.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure comprises a mapping table data structure comprising a metadata entry for each logical offset in each logical address space of each node of the snapshot data structure which holds a data block of the storage volume; and

each metadata entry comprises a key-value pair, wherein the key comprises a combination of a node identifier and logical offset and the value comprises a physical location of a data block stored at the logical offset in the logical address space of the node.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the existing referencing metadata comprises deduplication reference metadata which is utilized by the storage control system to determine the reference to the physical location of data held by the given one of the snapshot nodes at the given logical offset of the storage volume.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for a given sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume for which data has not been stored by the volume node, the storage control system adding a sequence of volume node entries for the given sequence of logical offsets in the metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure, wherein each volume node entry of the sequence of volume node entries comprises a respective reference which points to a physical location of a current version of a data block held by a given one of the snapshot nodes other than the volume node at a respective logical offset of the given sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume, wherein each reference is determined by the storage control system using the existing referencing metadata associated with the storage volume.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising performing, by the storage control system, a sequential read operation to sequentially access the data blocks in the sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume, which are held by the one or more snapshot nodes, by accessing the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure to determine the physical location of the data blocks.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining, by the storage control system, a current input/output (I/O) workload associated with the storage volume;

adding the sequence of entries for the volume node in the metadata structure, in response to determining the current I/O workload comprises a read I/O workload; and

refraining from adding the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure, in response to determining the current I/O workload comprises a write intensive I/O workload.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining, by the storage control system, a fragmentation level of the snapshot data structure; and

adding the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure, in response to determining that the fragmentation level of the snapshot data structure exceeds a threshold.

9. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by at least one processing device causes the at least one processing device to implement a storage control system that is configured to perform a snapshot management process which comprises:

generating a snapshot data structure of a storage volume, wherein the snapshot data structure comprises plurality of nodes comprising a volume node and one or more snapshot nodes, wherein the volume node is configured to store data that is written to one or more logical offsets of the storage volume, and wherein the one or more snapshot nodes comprise point-in-time copies of data of the storage volume taken at different times;

for a given logical offset of the storage volume for which data has not been stored by the volume node, adding a volume node entry for the given logical offset in a metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure, wherein the volume node entry comprises a reference which points to a physical location of a current version of a data block held by a given one of the snapshot nodes other than the volume node at the given logical offset of the storage volume, wherein the reference is determined by the storage control system using existing referencing metadata associated with the storage volume; and

utilizing the reference in the volume node entry of the volume node in the metadata structure to access the current version of the data block held by the given one of the snapshot nodes.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the snapshot data structure comprises a snapshot tree structure in which the one or more snapshot nodes comprise a chain of incremental snapshots taken of the storage volume at different times.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein:

the metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure comprises a mapping table data structure comprising a metadata entry for each logical offset in each logical address space of each node of the snapshot data structure which holds a data block of the storage volume; and

each metadata entry comprises a key-value pair, wherein the key comprises a combination of a node identifier and logical offset and the value comprises a physical location of a data block stored at the logical offset in the logical address space of the node.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the existing referencing metadata comprises deduplication reference metadata which is utilized to determine the reference to the physical location of data held by the given one of the snapshot nodes at the given logical offset of the storage volume.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 , for a given sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume for which data has not been stored by the volume node, further comprising program code for adding a sequence of volume node entries for the given sequence of logical offsets in the metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure, wherein each volume node entry of the sequence of volume node entries comprises a respective reference which points to a physical location of a current version of a data block held by a given one of the snapshot nodes other than the volume node at a respective logical offset of the given sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume, wherein each reference is determined by the storage control system using the existing referencing metadata associated with the storage volume.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising program code for performing a sequential read operation to sequentially access the data blocks in the sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume, which are held by the one or more snapshot nodes, by accessing the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure to determine the physical location of the data blocks.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising program code for:

determining a current input/output (I/O) workload associated with the storage volume;

adding the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure, in response to determining the current I/O workload comprises a read I/O workload; and

refraining from adding the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure, in response to determining the current I/O workload comprises a write intensive I/O workload.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising program code for:

determining a fragmentation level of the snapshot data structure; and

adding the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure, in response to determining that the fragmentation level of the snapshot data structure exceeds a threshold.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processing device, and memory to store program instructions that are executed by the at least one processing device to implement a storage control system that is configured to:

generate snapshot data structure of a storage volume, wherein the snapshot data structure comprises plurality of nodes comprising a volume node and one or more snapshot nodes, wherein the volume node is configured to store data that is written to one or more logical offsets of the storage volume, and wherein the one or more snapshot nodes comprise point-in-time copies of data of the storage volume taken at different times;

for a given logical offset of the storage volume for which data has not been stored by the volume node, add a volume node entry for the given logical offset in a metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure, wherein the volume node entry comprises a reference which points to a physical location of a current version of a data block held by a given one of the snapshot nodes other than the volume node at the given logical offset of the storage volume, wherein the reference is determined by the storage control system using existing referencing metadata associated with the storage volume; and

utilize the reference in the volume node entry of the volume node in the metadata structure to access the current version of the data block held by the given one of the snapshot nodes.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein:

the snapshot data structure comprises a snapshot tree structure in which the one or more snapshot nodes comprise a chain of incremental snapshots taken of the storage volume at different times;

the metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure comprises a mapping table data structure comprising a metadata entry for each logical offset in each logical address space of each node of the snapshot data structure which holds a data block of the storage volume; and

each metadata entry comprises a key-value pair, wherein the key comprises a combination of a node identifier and logical offset, and wherein the value comprises a physical location of a data block stored at the logical offset in the logical address space of the node.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the existing referencing metadata comprises deduplication reference metadata which is utilized to determine the reference to the physical location of data held by the given one of the snapshot nodes at the given logical offset of the storage volume.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein:

for a given sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume for which data has not been stored by the volume node, the storage control system is configured to add a sequence of volume node entries for the given sequence of logical offsets in the metadata structure associated with the snapshot data structure, wherein each volume node entry of the sequence of volume node entries comprises a respective reference which points to a physical location of a current version of a data block held by a given one of the snapshot nodes other than the volume node at a respective logical offset of the given sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume, wherein each reference is determined by the storage control system using the existing referencing metadata associated with the storage volume; and

the storage control system is configured to perform a sequential read operation to sequentially access the data blocks in the sequence of logical offsets of the storage volume, which are held by the one or more snapshot nodes, by accessing the sequence of volume node entries for the volume node in the metadata structure to determine the physical location of the data blocks.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (125)