I/O conversion method and apparatus for storage system

1. A method of managing data location of a plurality of files in a storage system having a mixed volume which includes a plurality of pages having a fixed page size, the pages belonging to different tiers, the method comprising:

mapping the pages of different tiers to storage devices of different speeds in the storage system, the storage devices of different speeds including at least a high speed storage device corresponding to a high tier page and a low speed storage device corresponding to a low tier page; and

for each file that is a large file which is larger in size than the page size, performing sub-file tiered management on the large file to assign the large file among pages of different tiers according to access characteristics of different portions of the large file by matching the access characteristics of each portion of the large file with a corresponding tier of the assigned page of the mixed volume.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

for each file that is a small file which is not larger in size than the page size, assigning the small file to a page of the plurality of pages which belongs to a corresponding tier that matches the access characteristics of the small file.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the storage system further has a plurality of specific speed volumes including at least one high speed volume and at least one low speed volume, the method further comprising:

mapping each high speed volume to one or more high speed storage devices;

mapping each low speed volume to one or more low speed storage devices; and

for each file that is a small file which is not larger in size than the page size, assigning the small file to a specific speed volume by matching the access characteristics of the small file with a corresponding speed of the specific speed volume.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of specific speed volumes include at least one medium speed volume, the method further comprising:

mapping each medium speed volume to one or more medium speed storage devices.

5. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the plurality of storage devices include at least one medium speed storage device, and

wherein mapping the pages of different tiers to storage devices of different speeds in the storage system include mapping at least one page to a medium speed storage device.

6. The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the access characteristics comprise access frequency; and

wherein matching the access characteristics of each portion of the large file with a corresponding tier of the assigned page of the mixed volume comprises matching high access frequency with a corresponding high tier page which is mapped to a high speed storage device, and matching low access frequency with a corresponding low tier page which is mapped to a low speed storage device.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the files are small files or large files.

8. In a system including a host coupled with a storage system for managing data location of a plurality of files in the storage system having a mixed volume which includes a plurality of pages having a fixed page size, the pages belonging to different tiers, the storage system comprising:

a plurality of storage devices of different speeds including at least a high speed storage device corresponding to a high tier page in the mixed volume and a low speed storage device corresponding to a low tier page in the mixed volume;

a mixed volume including a plurality of pages of different tiers; and

a file server having a processor and a memory, and being configured to map the pages of different tiers to map the pages of different tiers to storage devices of different speeds in the storage system; and for each file that is a large file which is larger in size than the page size, perform sub-file tiered management on the large file to assign the large file among pages of different tiers according to access characteristics of different portions of the large file by matching the access characteristics of each portion of the large file with a corresponding tier of the assigned page of the mixed volume.

9. The storage system according to claim 8 , wherein the file server includes an allocation management module which is configured to,

for each file that is a small file which is not larger in size than the page size, assign the small file to a page of the plurality of pages which belongs to a corresponding tier that matches the access characteristics of the small file.

10. The storage system according to claim 8 , wherein the storage system further has a plurality of specific speed volumes including at least one high speed volume and at least one low speed volume; and wherein the file server includes a file-level hierarchical storage management module which is configured to

map each high speed volume to one or more high speed storage devices;

map each low speed volume to one or more low speed storage devices; and

for each file that is a small file which is not larger in size than the page size, assign the small file to a specific speed volume by matching the access characteristics of the small file with a corresponding speed of the specific speed volume.

11. The storage system according to claim 10 , wherein the plurality of specific speed volumes include at least one medium speed volume; and wherein the file-level hierarchical storage management module is configured to map each medium speed volume to one or more medium speed storage devices.

12. The storage system according to claim 8 ,

wherein the plurality of storage devices include at least one medium speed storage device, and

wherein mapping the pages of different tiers to storage devices of different speeds in the storage system include mapping at least one page to a medium speed storage device.

13. The storage system according to claim 8 ,

wherein the access characteristics comprise access frequency; and

wherein matching the access characteristics of each portion of the large file with a corresponding tier of the assigned page of the mixed volume comprises matching high access frequency with a corresponding high tier page which is mapped to a high speed storage device, and matching low access frequency with a corresponding low tier page which is mapped to a low speed storage device.

14. The storage system according to claim 8 , wherein the file server is configured to

determine whether the files are small files or large files.

15. A computer-readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a data processor to manage data location of a plurality of files in a storage system having a mixed volume which includes a plurality of pages having a fixed page size, the pages belonging to different tiers, the storage system having a plurality of storage devices of different speeds including at least a high speed storage device corresponding to a high tier page in the mixed volume and a low speed storage device corresponding to a low tier page in the mixed volume, the plurality of instructions comprising:

instructions that cause the data processor to map the pages of different tiers to map the pages of different tiers to storage devices of different speeds in the storage system; and

instructions that, for each file that is a large file which is larger in size than the page size, cause the data processor to perform sub-file tiered management on the large file to assign the large file among pages of different tiers according to access characteristics of different portions of the large file by matching the access characteristics of each portion of the large file with a corresponding tier of the assigned page of the mixed volume.

16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , the plurality of instructions further comprise:

instructions that, for each file that is a small file which is not larger in size than the page size, cause the data processor to assign the small file to a page of the plurality of pages which belongs to a corresponding tier that matches the access characteristics of the small file.

17. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein the storage system further has a plurality of specific speed volumes including at least one high speed volume and at least one low speed volume; and wherein the plurality of instructions further comprise:

instructions that cause the data processor to map each high speed volume to one or more high speed storage devices;

instructions that cause the data processor to map each low speed volume to one or more low speed storage devices; and

instructions that cause the data processor, for each file that is a small file which is not larger in size than the page size, to assign the small file to a specific speed volume by matching the access characteristics of the small file with a corresponding speed of the specific speed volume.

18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 ,

wherein the plurality of storage devices include at least one medium speed storage device; and

wherein mapping the pages of different tiers to storage devices of different speeds in the storage system include mapping at least one page to a medium speed storage device.

19. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 ,

wherein the access characteristics comprise access frequency; and

wherein matching the access characteristics of each portion of the large file with a corresponding tier of the assigned page of the mixed volume comprises matching high access frequency with a corresponding high tier page which is mapped to a high speed storage device, and matching low access frequency with a corresponding low tier page which is mapped to a low speed storage device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein the plurality of instructions comprise:

instructions that cause the data processor to determine whether the files are small files or large files.