Abstract: A method and system for manipulating a spin state of each disk in a drive array is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes monitoring input/output (I/O) requests to each disk drive in a disk array and identifying any disk drive as an inactive disk drive based on a number of I/O requests directed to said any disk drive for a given time interval. The method further includes moving data from the inactive disk drive to an active disk drive having a free disk space to store the data and updating metadata associated with the data using a log-structured file system for the disk array. Further, the method includes manipulating a spin state of the inactive disk drive by spinning down the inactive disk drive to conserve power. Furthermore, the method includes redirecting subsequent I/O requests for the inactive disk drive to the active disk drive by accessing the metadata of the log-structured file system.

Abstract: A method, computer program product, and computing system for dividing a physical memory device into at least a first logical memory device and a second logical memory device. The physical memory device includes a plurality of physical memory elements. A first portion of the plurality of physical memory elements is assigned to the first logical memory device. A second portion of the plurality of physical memory elements is assigned to the second logical memory device.

Abstract: Described is a technology by which a virtual hard disk is able to continue servicing virtual disk I/O (reads and writes) while a meta-operation (e.g., copying, moving, deleting, merging, compressing, defragmenting, cryptographic signing, lifting, dropping, converting, or compacting virtual disk data) is performed on the virtual disk. The servicing of virtual disk I/Os may be coordinated with meta-operation performance, such as by throttling and/or prioritizing the virtual disk I/Os. Also described is performing a meta-operation by manipulating one or more de-duplication data structures.

Abstract: A storage controller having a plurality of storage devices and a control circuit providing a plurality of virtual volumes, to each of which a storage area in a plurality of pool volumes provided with the plurality of storage devices can be mapped for writing data in response to a write access sent from an information processing apparatus to a logical area in one of the plurality of virtual volumes, respectively. The control circuit, according to a search of the plurality of pool volumes for a certain storage area in which a certain data pattern is written, releases the certain storage area from mapping to a logical area in the plurality of virtual volumes, so that the control circuit can use the released certain storage area for mapping to a virtual volume of the plurality of virtual volumes as a destination of another write access from the information processing apparatus.

Abstract: A computer software execution system may have a configurable memory allocation and management system. A configuration file or other definition may be created by analyzing a running application and determining an optimized set of settings for the application on the fly. The settings may include memory allocated to individual processes, memory allocation and deallocation schemes, garbage collection policies, and other settings. The optimization analysis may be performed offline from the execution system. The execution environment may capture processes during creation, then allocate memory and configure memory management settings for each individual process.

Abstract: A method for caching data in a storage medium implementing tiered data structures may include storing a first portion of critical data at the instruction of a storage control module. The first portion of critical data may be separated into data having different priority levels based upon at least one data utilization characteristic associated with a file system implemented by the storage control module. The method may also include storing a second portion of data at the instruction of the storage control module. The second storage medium may have at least one performance, reliability, or security characteristic different from the first storage medium.

Abstract: A multiport data cache apparatus and a method of controlling the same are provided. The multiport data cache apparatus includes a plurality of cache banks configured to share a cache line, and a data cache controller configured to receive cache requests for the cache banks, each of which including a cache bank identifier, transfer the received cache requests to the respective cache banks according to the cache bank identifiers, and process the cache requests independently from one another.

Abstract: A nonvolatile storage device buffers multiple write commands and selects one or more therefrom according to a choosing policy to execute in priority, so as to increase the probability of continuously executing write commands corresponding to an identical smallest erasable unit, thereby reducing the frequency of backup, erasing and copyback operations and improving the efficiency of the nonvolatile storage device.

Abstract: System for controlling data transfer between a host system and storage devices. A virtualization controller implements the data transfer and includes first ports for connection with the storage devices, a second port for connection with the host system, a processor, and a memory configured to store volume mapping information which correlates first identification information used by the host system to access a first storage area in one of the storage devices, with second identification information for identifying the first storage area, the correlation being used by the processor to access the first storage area. When data stored in the first storage area is transferred to a second storage area, the processor correlates the first identification information with a third identification information for identifying the second storage area and registers the first identification information and the third identification information in the volume mapping information.

Abstract: The present invention is a protocol for maintaining cache consistency between multiprocessors within a tightly coupled system. A distributed directory is maintained within the data-sharing processors, so that copies can be invalidated when modified. All transfers are event driven, rather the polled, to reduce bus-bandwidth consumption. Deadlocks are avoided by placing to-be-executed command codes in the returned response packets, when the request-forwarding queues are full or not present.

Abstract: A memory access control unit is provided with a storage unit for storing a page table that stores a correspondence between a piece of data, a virtual page number, and a physical page number for all pages, and a conversion unit that includes a buffer for storing, for each of a subset of the pages, the virtual page number and the physical page number in correspondence, and a conversion processing unit operable to convert a virtual address into a physical address in accordance with content stored in the buffer.

Abstract: This specification discloses a method of managing data snapshot images in a storage system. The method includes the steps of: establishing a section allocation system that includes at least a media extent; establishing a section allocation table and a block association set in the media extent, wherein the section allocation table has a field containing information pointing to the block association set and the block association set corresponds to a Source Volume as the basis for performing a snapshot backup thereof; establishing a block association table in the block association set, wherein the block association table is used to store cross-reference information in order to correspond to backup data with the original storage addresses; and copying the data before updating the data into the section association set, when the data in the Source-Volume need to be updated.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus include storing history information into a first storage section that accumulates history information concerning a process performed, transmitting a received acquisition request of the history information accumulated into the first storage section, transmitting the accumulated history information to the history information accumulation section having transmitted the acquisition request, transmitting the history information to the another history information accumulation section, transmitting the acquisition request to the first history information accumulation section at a time of startup, and storing the transmitted history information into a second storage section.

Abstract: A method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions. The programming instructions are operable to optimize data remanence over hybrid disk clusters using various storage technologies. The programming instructions are operable to determine one or more data storage technologies accessible by a file system. The programming instructions are operable to determine secure delete rules for each of the one or more storage technologies accessible by the file system. The secure delete rules include a number of overwrites required for data to be securely deleted from each of the one or more storage technologies. The programming instructions are operable to provide the secure delete rules to the file system upon a request for deletion of data for each of the one or more storage technologies a specific amount of times germane to secure delete data from the one or more storage technologies.

Abstract: A solid state drive that uses over-provisioning of NAND flash memory blocks as part of housekeeping functionality, including deduplication and coalescence of data for efficient usage of NAND flash memory devices and maintaining sufficient numbers of erased blocks to promote write performance.

Abstract: The present invention relates to semiconductor storage systems (SSDs). Specifically, the present invention relates to a switch-based hybrid storage system. In a typical embodiment, a set of double data rate semiconductor storage device (DDR SSD) RAID controllers is coupled to a system control board, and a set of DDR SSD modules to the set of DDR SSD RAID controllers. The set of DDR SSD modules typically comprises a set of DDR SSD units. In addition, a set of HDD/Flash SSD RAID controllers is also coupled to the system control board, and a set of hard disk drive (HDD) modules are coupled to the set of HDD/Flash SSD RAID controllers. The set of HDD modules typically comprises a set of HDD/Flash SDD units.

Abstract: Embodiments of an apparatus to reduce memory power consumption are presented. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a cache memory, a memory, and a control unit. In one embodiment, the memory includes a plurality of memory ranks. The control unit is operable to select one or more memory ranks among the plurality of memory ranks to be idle-prioritized memory ranks such that access frequency to the idle-prioritized memory ranks is reduced.

Abstract: Contentual metadata of an extended cache is stored within the extended cache. The contentual metadata of the extended cache is approximated utilizing a counting Bloom filter. The counting Bloom filter is stored within a primary cache. Contentual metadata of the primary cache is stored within the primary cache. One of a data read or a data write is executed without accessing the contentual metadata of the extended cache stored within the extended cache.

Abstract: A distributed shared memory multiprocessor system that supports both fine- and coarse- grained interleaving of the shared memory address space. A ceiling mask sets a boundary between the fine-grain interleaved and coarse-grain interleaved memory regions of the distributed shared memory. A method for satisfying a memory access request in a distributed shared memory subsystem of a multiprocessor system having both fine- and coarse-grain interleaved memory segments. Certain low or high order address bits, depending on whether the memory segment is fine- or coarse-grain interleaved, respectively, are used to determine if the memory address is local to a processor node. A method for setting the ceiling mask of a distributed shared memory multiprocessor system to optimize performance of a first application run on a single node and performance of a second application run on a plurality of nodes.

Abstract: In one or more embodiments of the invention, migration of a virtual machine includes identifying a hardware resource which is accessed directly by a device driver of the virtual machine and generating an emulation of the hardware resource to simulate the hardware resource as experiencing an error. The current state of the virtual machine can then be transmitted to the destination host computer, wherein the current state includes the emulation which simulates the hardware resource as experiencing an error. In at least one embodiment, generating the emulation includes defining the error as one that triggers a reset of the hardware resource after migration of the virtual machine from the source host computer to the destination host computer.