Patents by Inventor Anil Paul Thoppil

Anil Paul Thoppil has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11983080
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. Rather than making use of a generalized one-size-fits-all approach in an effort to reduce complexity, an approach tailored to the node-level error scenario at issue may be performed to avoid doing more than necessary. According to one embodiment, responsive to identification of a failed RAID stripe by a node of a cluster of a distributed storage management system, for each block ID of multiple block IDs associated with the failed RAID stripe, a data block is restored corresponding to the block ID by reading the data block from another node of the cluster having a redundant copy of the data block; and writing the redundant copy of the data block to a storage area of the node that is unaffected by the failed RAID stripe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Patent number: 11971859
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for implementing a defragmentation process during a merge operation performed by a re-compaction process upon a log structured merge tree. The log structured merge tree is used to store keys of key-value pairs within a key-value store. As the log structured merge tree fills with keys over time, the re-compaction process is performed to merge keys down to lower levels of the log structured merge tree to re-compact the keys. Re-compaction can result in fragmentation because there is a lack of spatial locality of where the re-compaction operations re-writes the keys within storage. Fragmentation increases read and write amplification when accessing the keys stored in different locations within the storage. Accordingly, the defragmentation process is performed during a last merge operation of the re-compaction process in order to store keys together within the storage, thus reducing read and write amplification when accessing the keys.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Anil Paul Thoppil, Wei Sun, Meera Odugoudar, Szu-Wen Kuo, Santhosh Selvaraj
  • Patent number: 11934280
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. Rather than using a generalized one-size-fits-all approach to reduce complexity, an approach tailored to the node-level error scenario at issue may be performed to avoid doing more than necessary. According to one embodiment, responsive to identifying a missing branch of a tree implemented by a KV store of a first node of a cluster of a distributed storage management system, a branch resynchronization process may be performed, including, for each block ID in the range of block IDs of the missing branch (i) reading a data block corresponding to the block ID from a second node of the cluster that maintains redundant information relating to the block ID; and (ii) restoring the block ID within the KV store by writing the data block to the first node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Patent number: 11934262
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for remote object store error handling. A storage system may store data within one or more tiers of storage, such as a local storage tier (e.g., solid state storage and disks maintained by the storage system), a remote object store (e.g., storage provided by a third party storage provider), and/or other storage tiers. Because the remote object store may not provide the same data consistency and guarantees that the storage system provides for clients such as through the local storage tier, additional validation is provided by the storage system for the remote object store. For example, when data is put into an object of the remote object store, a verification get operation is performed to read and validate information within a header of the object. Other verifications and checks are performed such as using a locally stored metafile to detect corrupt or lost metadata and/or objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Ananthan Subramanian, Ganga Bhavani Kondapalli, Cheryl Marie Thompson, Kevin Daniel Varghese, Anil Paul Thoppil, Qinghua Zheng
  • Publication number: 20240045848
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for key-value store and file system integration to optimize key value store operations. A key-value store is integrated within a file system of a node. A log structured merge tree of the key-value store may be populated with a key corresponding to a content hash of a value data item stored separate from the key. A random distribution search may be performed upon a sorted log of the log structured merge tree to identify the key for accessing the value data item. A starting location for the random distribution search is derived from key information, a log size of the sorted log, and/or a keyspace size of a keyspace associated with the key.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2023
    Publication date: February 8, 2024
    Inventors: Sanjay Subramanian Seshadri, Arindam Banerjee, Manan Dahyabhai Patel, Raymond Jordan Go, Anil Paul Thoppil, Ananthan Subramanian, Santhosh Selvaraj, Nikul Y. Patel, Vikhyath Rao, Meera Odugoudar, Kevin Daniel Varghese
  • Publication number: 20240028486
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. According to one embodiment, a first node of multiple nodes of distributed storage system represented in a form of a cluster of the multiple of nodes, identifies the potential existence of an error associated with a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) stripe. A list of block identifiers (IDs) associated with the RAID stripe may then be identified. Rather than performing a traditional RAID recovery/reconstruction approach that is resource intensive in nature and that requires an excessive amount of rebuild time, a more efficient RAID stripe resynchronization process may be performed to restore data associated with the RAID stripe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2023
    Publication date: January 25, 2024
    Applicant: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Publication number: 20240012571
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for multi-tier write allocation. A storage system may store data within a multi-tier storage environment comprising a first storage tier (e.g., storage devices maintained by the storage system), a second storage tier (e.g., a remote object store provided by a third party storage provider), and/or other storage tiers. A determination is made that data (e.g., data of a write request received by the storage system) is to be stored within the second storage tier. The data is stored into a staging area of the first storage tier. A second storage tier location identifier, for referencing the data according to a format utilized by the second storage tier, is assigned to the data and provided to a file system hosting the data. The data is then destaged from the staging area into the second storage tier, such as within an object stored within the remote object store.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2023
    Publication date: January 11, 2024
    Inventors: Ganga Bhavani Kondapalli, Kevin Daniel Varghese, Ananthan Subramanian, Cheryl Marie Thompson, Anil Paul Thoppil
  • Patent number: 11835990
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. According to one embodiment, a KV store of a node of a cluster of a distributed storage management system manages storage of data blocks as values and corresponding block IDs as keys. Data integrity errors are reported to the first node in the form of a list of missing block IDs that are in use but missing from the KV store. A metadata resynchronization process may then be caused to be performed, including for each block ID in the list of missing block IDs: (i) reading a data block corresponding to the block ID from another node of the cluster that maintains redundant information relating to the block ID; and (ii) restoring the block ID within the KV store by writing the data block to the node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Publication number: 20230350610
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for implementing a garbage collection process and a prediction read ahead mechanism to prefetch keys into memory to improve the efficiency and speed of the garbage collection process. A log structured merge tree is used to store keys of key-value pairs within a key-value store. If a key is no longer referenced by any worker nodes of a distributed storage architecture, then the key can be freed to store other data. Accordingly, garbage collection is performed to identify and free unused keys. The speed and efficiency of garbage collection is improved by dynamically adjusting the amount and rate at which keys are prefetched from disk and cached into faster memory for processing by the garbage collection process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Inventors: Anil Paul Thoppil, We Sun, Meera Odugoudar, Szu-Wen Kuo, Santhosh Selvaraj
  • Publication number: 20230350810
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for implementing a hash building process and an append hash building process. The hash building process builds in-memory hash entries for bins of keys stored within sorted logs of a log structured merge tree used to store keys of a key-value store. The in-memory hash entries can be used to identify the starting locations of bins of keys within the log structured merge tree so that a key within a bin can be searched for from the starting location of the bin as opposed to having to search the entire log structured merge tree. The append hash building process builds two hashes that can be used to more efficiently locate keys and/or ranges of keys within an unsorted append log that would otherwise require a time consuming binary search of the entire append log.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Inventors: Anil Paul Thoppil, Wei Sun, Meera Odugoudar, Szu-Wen Kuo, Santhosh Selvaraj
  • Publication number: 20230350850
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for implementing a defragmentation process during a merge operation performed by a re-compaction process upon a log structured merge tree. The log structured merge tree is used to store keys of key-value pairs within a key-value store. As the log structured merge tree fills with keys over time, the re-compaction process is performed to merge keys down to lower levels of the log structured merge tree to re-compact the keys. Re-compaction can result in fragmentation because there is a lack of spatial locality of where the re-compaction operations re-writes the keys within storage. Fragmentation increases read and write amplification when accessing the keys stored in different locations within the storage. Accordingly, the defragmentation process is performed during a last merge operation of the re-compaction process in order to store keys together within the storage, thus reducing read and write amplification when accessing the keys.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Inventors: Anil Paul Thoppil, Wei Sun, Meera Odugoudar, Szu-Wen Kuo, Santhosh Selvaraj
  • Patent number: 11797510
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for key-value store and file system integration to optimize key value store operations. A key-value store is integrated within a file system of a node. A log structured merge tree of the key-value store may be populated with a key corresponding to a content hash of a value data item stored separate from the key. A random distribution search may be performed upon a sorted log of the log structured merge tree to identify the key for accessing the value data item. A starting location for the random distribution search is derived from key information, a log size of the sorted log, and/or a keyspace size of a keyspace associated with the key.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Sanjay Subramanian Seshadri, Arindam Banerjee, Manan Dahyabhai Patel, Raymond Jordan Go, Anil Paul Thoppil, Ananthan Subramanian, Santhosh Selvaraj, Nikul Y. Patel, Vikhyath Rao, Meera Odugoudar, Kevin Daniel Varghese
  • Publication number: 20230333768
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for object store mirroring. Data within a storage tier of a node may be determined as being data to tier out to a primary object store based upon a property of the data. A first object is generated to comprise the data. A second object is generated to comprise the data. The first object is transmitted to the primary data store for storage in parallel with the second object being transmitted to a mirror object store for storage. Tiering of the data is designated as successful once acknowledgements are received from both the primary object that the first object was stored and the mirror object store that the second object was stored.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2023
    Publication date: October 19, 2023
    Inventors: Anil Paul Thoppil, Cheryl Marie Thompson, Qinghua Zheng, Jeevan Hunsur Eswara, Nicholas Gerald Zehender, Ronak Girishbhai Ghadiya, Sridevi Jantli
  • Publication number: 20230289258
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for remote object store error handling. A storage system may store data within one or more tiers of storage, such as a local storage tier (e.g., solid state storage and disks maintained by the storage system), a remote object store (e.g., storage provided by a third party storage provider), and/or other storage tiers. Because the remote object store may not provide the same data consistency and guarantees that the storage system provides for clients such as through the local storage tier, additional validation is provided by the storage system for the remote object store. For example, when data is put into an object of the remote object store, a verification get operation is performed to read and validate information within a header of the object. Other verifications and checks are performed such as using a locally stored metafile to detect corrupt or lost metadata and/or objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2023
    Publication date: September 14, 2023
    Inventors: Ananthan Subramanian, Ganga Bhavani Kondapalli, Cheryl Marie Thompson, Kevin Danil Varghese, Anil Paul Thoppil, Qinghua Zheng
  • Patent number: 11709603
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for multi-tier write allocation. A storage system may store data within a multi-tier storage environment comprising a first storage tier (e.g., storage devices maintained by the storage system), a second storage tier (e.g., a remote object store provided by a third party storage provider), and/or other storage tiers. A determination is made that data (e.g., data of a write request received by the storage system) is to be stored within the second storage tier. The data is stored into a staging area of the first storage tier. A second storage tier location identifier, for referencing the data according to a format utilized by the second storage tier, is assigned to the data and provided to a file system hosting the data. The data is then destaged from the staging area into the second storage tier, such as within an object stored within the remote object store.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Ganga Bhavani Kondapalli, Kevin Daniel Varghese, Ananthan Subramanian, Cheryl Marie Thompson, Anil Paul Thoppil
  • Publication number: 20230153214
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. According to one embodiment, a KV store of a node of a cluster of a distributed storage management system manages storage of data blocks as values and corresponding block IDs as keys. Data integrity errors are reported to the first node in the form of a list of missing block IDs that are in use but missing from the KV store. A metadata resynchronization process may then be caused to be performed, including for each block ID in the list of missing block IDs: (i) reading a data block corresponding to the block ID from another node of the cluster that maintains redundant information relating to the block ID; and (ii) restoring the block ID within the KV store by writing the data block to the node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Publication number: 20230152986
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. Rather than using a generalized one-size-fits-all approach to reduce complexity, an approach tailored to the node-level error scenario at issue may be performed to avoid doing more than necessary. According to one embodiment, responsive to identifying a missing branch of a tree implemented by a KV store of a first node of a cluster of a distributed storage management system, a branch resynchronization process may be performed, including, for each block ID in the range of block IDs of the missing branch (i) reading a data block corresponding to the block ID from a second node of the cluster that maintains redundant information relating to the block ID; and (ii) restoring the block ID within the KV store by writing the data block to the first node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Publication number: 20230153213
    Abstract: Systems and methods that make use of cluster-level redundancy within a distributed storage management system to address various node-level error scenarios are provided. Rather than making use of a generalized one-size-fits-all approach in an effort to reduce complexity, an approach tailored to the node-level error scenario at issue may be performed to avoid doing more than necessary. According to one embodiment, responsive to identification of a failed RAID stripe by a node of a cluster of a distributed storage management system, for each block ID of multiple block IDs associated with the failed RAID stripe, a data block is restored corresponding to the block ID by reading the data block from another node of the cluster having a redundant copy of the data block; and writing the redundant copy of the data block to a storage area of the node that is unaffected by the failed RAID stripe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: May 18, 2023
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Anil Paul Thoppil, Anne Maria Vasu
  • Publication number: 20230145784
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for a streamlined garbage collection process during which data integrity checking is also performed for a distributed key-value (KV) store utilized by a distributed storage management system. According to one embodiment, by making use of full or truncated block IDs (rather than an intermediate probabilistic data structure, such as a Bloom filter) for garbage collection, data integrity checking can be performed concurrently almost for free. During garbage collection, a block ID compare list is compared to block IDs within the distributed KV store. If a particular block ID is present in the distributed KV store but is missing from the block ID compare list, the corresponding data block represents garbage to be collected. If the particular block ID is present in the block ID compare list but missing from the distributed KV store, a data integrity error has been identified.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: May 11, 2023
    Inventors: Wei Sun, Mark David Olson, Anil Paul Thoppil
  • Patent number: 11620071
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for object store mirroring. Data within a storage tier of a node may be determined as being data to tier out to a primary object store based upon a property of the data. A first object is generated to comprise the data. A second object is generated to comprise the data. The first object is transmitted to the primary data store for storage in parallel with the second object being transmitted to a mirror object store for storage. Tiering of the data is designated as successful once acknowledgements are received from both the primary object that the first object was stored and the mirror object store that the second object was stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Anil Paul Thoppil, Cheryl Marie Thompson, Qinghua Zheng, Jeevan Hunsur Eswara, Nicholas Gerald Zehender, Ronak Girishbhai Ghadiya, Sridevi Jantli