Abstract: Techniques to clone a writeable data object in non-persistent memory are disclosed. The writeable data object is stored in a storage structure in non-persistent memory that corresponds to a portion of a persistent storage. The techniques enable cloning of the writeable data object without having to wait until the writeable data object is saved to the persistent storage and without needing to quiesce incoming operations (e.g., reads and writes) to the writeable data object.

Abstract: A technique quantifies logical storage space trapped in an extent store due to overlapping write requests associated with volume metadata managed by the volume layer. The volume metadata is illustratively organized as a multi-level dense tree metadata structure, wherein each level of the dense tree metadata structure (dense tree) includes volume metadata entries for storing the volume metadata. When a level of the dense tree is full, the volume metadata entries of the level are merged with a next lower level of the dense tree in accordance with a merge operation. Illustratively, the technique may be invoked during the merge operation to examine the volume metadata entries at each level of the dense tree involved in the merge and determine the LBA range overlap of the entries.

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for remotely and/or automatically managing a monitoring pool of management servers configured to monitor resources, such as storage devices. For example, a monitoring installer package may be sent from a remote source to a management server for remote installation of a monitoring component capable of monitoring resources. The monitoring installer package may be remotely executed from the remote source to install the monitoring component on the management server. The management server may be assigned to the monitoring pool, and may be configured to monitor, utilizing the monitoring component, a set of resources of a resource pool. In this way, management servers may be remotely added to and/or removed from the monitoring pool. Load balancing may be remotely performed for the management servers assigned to the monitoring pool.

Abstract: Methods and systems for handling lock state information between a first storage system node and a second storage system node coupled via a network link are provided. The second storage system node stores lock state information at a storage device previously managed by the first storage system node and notifies the first storage system node of a storage device location where the lock state information is stored. The second storage system node then transfers ownership of the storage device to the first storage system node that copies the lock state information from the storage device location to a memory location managed by the first storage system node. The first storage system node uses the lock state information to reconstruct any locks for storage space presented to a client and then processes client requests for reading and writing information at the storage device.

Abstract: Methods and systems for a copy-offload operation are provided. A soft range lock is placed for a data container for generating a token for a copy-offload operation for copying the data container from a source location to a destination location, where presence of the soft range lock indicates that content of the data container has not changed during the copy-offload operation. A token for the copy-offload operation represents the content of data container and includes information regarding the soft range lock. The token with the soft range lock information is provided to the client that requests the copy-offload operation. If the soft range lock exists, then the data container is copied without using a point in time copy of the data container.

Abstract: A system and method for creating an accurate black-box model of a live storage system and for predicting performance of the storage system under a given workload is disclosed. An analytics engine determines a subset of counters that are relevant to performance of the storage system with respect to a particular output (e.g., throughput or latency) from performance data in counters of the storage system. Using the subset of counters, the analytics engine creates a workload signature for the storage system by using a recursive partitioning technique, such as a classification and regression tree. The analytics engine then creates the black-box model of the storage system performance by applying uncertainty measurement techniques, such as a Gaussian process, to the workload signature.

Abstract: Methods and systems for tracking information that is transferred from a source to a destination storage system are provided. The source storage system maintains a first data structure for indicating that a storage block has been transferred. The destination storage system receives the storage block and updates a second data structure to indicate that the storage block has been received. The first data structure and the second data structure are compared to determine that the storage block was successfully transferred from the source storage system and received by the destination storage system.

Abstract: A method and system of persistent cache invalidation ensures cache durability. A storage filter driver of a storage input/output (I/O) stack of a server may be used to capture (i.e., track) write requests made to storage devices prior to the persistent cache becoming operational. Entries in the cache having overlapping address ranges with the tracked write requests may be invalidated before the cache is deemed operational. In this manner, the cache remains consistent with the backing store across the administrative actions or failure event (albeit with less valid entries). Notably, the filter driver tracks (i.e., captures) metadata of the write request (i.e., address range and size of the request) to support invalidation of matching cache entries. As such, the filter driver need not store (record) data associated with the write request.

Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for cluster configuration information replication, managing cluster-wide service agents, and/or for cluster-wide outage detection. In an example of cluster configuration information replication, a replication workflow corresponding to a storage operation implemented for a storage object (e.g., renaming of a volume) of a first cluster may be transferred to a second storage cluster for selectively implementation. In an example of managing cluster-wide service agents, cluster-wide service agents are deployed to nodes of a cluster storage environment, where a master agent actively processes cluster service calls and standby agents passively wait for reassignment as a failover master in the event the master agent fails. In an example of cluster-wide outage detection, a cluster-wide outage may be determined for a cluster storage environment based upon a number of inaccessible nodes satisfying a cluster outage detection metric.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatuses, including computer programs encoded on computer-readable media, for receiving a write request that includes data and a client address at which to store the data. The data is segmented into the one or more storage units. A storage unit identifier for each of the one or more storage units is computed that uniquely identifies content of a storage unit. A mapping between each storage unit identifier to a block server is determined. For each of the one or more storage units, the storage unit and the corresponding storage unit identifier is sent to a block server. The block server stores the storage unit and information on where the storage unit is stored on the block server for the storage unit identifier. Multiple client addresses associated with a storage unit with the same storage unit identifier are mapped to a single storage unit.

Abstract: During a storage redundancy giveback from a first node to a second node following a storage redundancy takeover from the second node by the first node, the second node is initialized in part by receiving a node identification indicator from the second node. The node identification indicator is included in a node advertisement message sent by the second node during a giveback wait phase of the storage redundancy giveback. The node identification indicator includes an intra-cluster node connectivity identifier that is used by the first node to determine whether the second node is an intra-cluster takeover partner. In response to determining that the second node is an intra-cluster takeover partner, the first node completes the giveback of storage resources to the second node.

Abstract: A just-in-time storage allocation is initiated for storage at a remote storage device having storage disks. Each of multiple containers comprises a grouping of one or more of the storage disks. The just-in-time storage allocation includes an application profile that includes a priority criteria for the storage of either a priority of performance over efficiency or a priority of efficiency over performance A determination is made of whether at least one container of the multiple containers satisfies the priority criteria based on at least one attribute of the at least one container. The storage is allocated in the at least one container, in response to the at least one container satisfying the priority criteria.

Abstract: A method, non-transitory computer readable medium, and host device that receives one or more transactions. A state is stored in a transaction log in a volatile memory wherein the state includes information associated with the one or more transactions. The transaction log is stored in a stable storage device when a failure is determined to a have occurred. The transaction log can then be retrieved and replayed subsequent to a reboot. Thereby, state can be preserved and transactions pending, but not yet committed to storage server devices, can be replayed and proceed with minimal or no impact on the client devices originating the write transactions.

Abstract: Technology is disclosed for managing data in a distributed processing system (“the technology”). In various embodiments, the technology pushes “cold” data from a primary storage of the distributed processing system to a backup storage thereby maximizing the usage of the space on the primary storage to store “hot” data on which most data processing activities are performed in the distributed processing system. The cold data is retrieved from the backup storage into the primary storage on demand, for example, upon receiving an access request from a client. While the primary storage stores the data in a format specific to the distributed processing system, the backup storage stores the data in a different format, for example, format corresponding to the type of backup storage.

Abstract: A distributed object store in a network storage system uses location-independent global object identifiers (IDs) for stored data objects. The global object ID enables a data object to be seamlessly moved from one location to another without affecting clients of the storage system, i.e., “transparent migration”. The global object ID can be part of a multilevel object handle, which also can include a location ID indicating the specific location at which the data object is stored, and a policy ID identifying a set of data management policies associated with the data object. The policy ID may be associated with the data object by a client of the storage system, for example when the client creates the object, thus allowing “inline” policy management. An object location subsystem (OLS) can be used to locate an object when a client request does not contain a valid location ID for the object.

Abstract: Exemplary embodiments provide various techniques for managing groups of authenticated entities. In one exemplary computer-implemented method, an entity accesses a group roster that includes a first group identifier identifying a first group, a first group digital certificate associated with the first group, and a first entity identifier identifying the entity being a member of the first group. The entity also receives a request to update the group roster. Here, the request includes a second group identifier identifying a second group and a second group digital certificate associated with the second group. In response to the request, the entity replaces the first group identifier in the group roster with the second group identifier. Additionally, in response to the request, the entity replaces the first group digital certificate with the second group digital certificate. The replacements change a membership of the entity from the first group to the second group.

Abstract: A method of displaying health information of a system asset in a computer system, the method including: accessing a data log associated with the system asset, wherein the data log includes a store of the health information of the system asset, identifying a plurality of state entries in the store of the health information, each of the state entries including a timestamp and a state of the system asset at the respective time stamp, generating a timeline based on the state entries, the timeline having a plurality of chronological portions defined by the timestamps, wherein each portion of the timeline is assigned a visual cue based on a state associated with its respective state entries, and visually rendering the timeline upon a computer display.

Abstract: Exemplary embodiments provide various techniques for identifying a virtual application for backup in a cloud computing system. A cloud service layer of the cloud computing system is queried for a listing of virtual applications. In response to the querying, an attribute associated with the virtual application is received from the cloud service layer. The attribute associated with the virtual application is then transformed into an attribute associated with a hypervisor-managed virtual machine, and this transformation of the attribute exposes the hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application such that the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is identifiable for backup. As a result, the virtual application can be backed up based on the attribute of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

Abstract: An embodiment of the invention provides a method to extract selected information from an image file selectively without requiring the user to restore, on the destination storage server, the image file which has the data for a file system. The selected information can be, for example, contents of a file, contents of a directory, other information from the image file. The selected information can be selectively extracted by reading the blocks of the file from the WAFL data structures that has been stored in the image file. An index file is generated and this index file tracks the location of VBNs (virtual block numbers) in an image file so that the user can easily obtain the selected information from disk blocks that are identified by these VBNs.

Abstract: Methods and systems for managing storage shares in a virtual environment having a plurality of virtual machines are provided. The system includes a storage system for managing storage space for the storage shares and generating a quota report. The quota report shows an assigned quota for each storage share and actual storage used by each storage share. The assigned quota indicates an amount of designated storage space for each storage share. The system also includes a storage provider for obtaining the quota report from the storage system and filtering the quota report based on storage shares that are managed by the storage provider. The storage provider modifies a quota for a storage share based on a client request and notifies the storage system of the modification.