Abstract: Described herein are systems and techniques for determining when excessive I/O response times are not the fault of a storage port, but rather are caused by other factors or components on a storage network, for example, over-utilization of a host port. For one or more host ports and/or storage ports, a payload idle time (PIT) may be determined for each I/O operation, the PIT being the amount of time during which a storage port is waiting for a host port to be ready to send or receive data of the respective I/O operation. It may be determined whether one or more of the PITs includes an excessive idle time (EIT), where the EIT may be an amount of the PIT that is more than a predefined acceptable amount of time. The cause of the EIT may be determined.

Abstract: Techniques for processing I/O operations may include: receiving an I/O operation directed to a logical device having an associated service level objective with a target I/O response time; performing first processing that determines an estimated response time for the I/O operation, and determining, based on the estimated response time for the I/O operation and the associated service level objective, whether to delay the I/O operation by an additional amount of time thereby increasing a measured response time for the I/O operation by the additional amount. The first processing may include determining a fixed baseline amount of time for the I/O operation; determining a cumulative amount of time estimated to service pending I/O operation queued for service prior to the I/O operation; and determining an expected service time estimated for servicing the I/O operation. Moving averages maintained for different I/O types and sizes may be used in determining I/O service times.

Abstract: Techniques for migrating data of a logical device from a source to a target system may include: obtaining a map indicating unused data portions of a logical device; issuing read commands from the target system to the source system to only read data from the source copy of the logical device for logical addresses that are not marked in the map as unused data portions; receiving the read data at the target system; writing the read data to second logical addresses of the target copy of the logical device on the target system; and marking logical addresses indicated by the map as corresponding to the unused data portions. The source system may also determine whether all data of a received read request that reads data from the logical device is included in an unused data portion and if so, return no read data and a specialized error condition.

Abstract: An apparatus in one embodiment comprises a host device configured to communicate over a network with a storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices. The host device includes a set of input-output queues and a multi-path input-output driver configured to select input-output operations from the set of input-output queues for delivery to particular ports of the storage system over the network in accordance with a load balancing algorithm. The multi-path input-output driver is further configured to receive notification from one or more of the ports indicating that at least a given one of the ports has exceeded a designated threshold level of port load, and to adjust the load balancing algorithm based at least in part on the received notification.

Abstract: Techniques for processing I/O operations may include: receiving an I/O having an associated expected execution time (EET) and I/O service level; selecting, in accordance with the EET and service level of the I/O, a first I/O queue from multiple pending I/O queues; inserting the I/O into the first I/O queue; and performing I/O shifting. I/O shifting may include shifting I/Os from one pending I/O queue to another that is ranked immediately higher than the one pending I/O queue. The multiple I/O queues may be ranked from a highest priority queue to a lowest priority queue. I/O shifting may shift I/Os from the highest priority queue to execution and shifting I/Os from another queue into the highest priority queue. I/O shifting is subject to remaining credits available of the multiple I/O queues and time distance between source and target queues.

Abstract: Techniques for processing I/O operations may include: receiving an I/O having an associated expected execution time (EET) and I/O service level; selecting, in accordance with the EET and service level of the I/O, a first I/O queue from multiple pending I/O queues; inserting the I/O into the first I/O queue; and performing I/O shifting. I/O shifting may include shifting I/Os from one pending I/O queue to another that is ranked immediately higher than the one pending I/O queue. The multiple I/O queues may be ranked from a highest priority queue to a lowest priority queue. I/O shifting may shift I/Os from the highest priority queue to execution and shifting I/Os from another queue into the highest priority queue. I/O shifting is subject to remaining credits available of the multiple I/O queues and time distance between source and target queues.

Abstract: Techniques for processing I/O operations may include: detecting, at a host, a sequence of I/O operations to be sent from the host to a data storage system, wherein each of the I/O operations of the sequence specifies a target address included in a first logical address subrange of a first logical device; sending, from the host, the sequence of I/O operations to a same target port of the data storage system, wherein each of the I/O operations of the sequence includes an indicator denoting whether resources used by the same target port in connection with processing said each I/O operation are to be released subsequent to completing processing of said each I/O operation; receiving the sequence of I/O operations at the same target port of the data storage system; and processing the sequence of I/O operations.

Abstract: Techniques for processing I/O operations may include: detecting, at a host, a sequence of I/O operations to be sent from the host to a data storage system, wherein each of the I/O operations of the sequence specifies a target address included in a first logical address subrange of a first logical device; sending, from the host, the sequence of I/O operations to a same target port of the data storage system, wherein each of the I/O operations of the sequence includes an indicator denoting whether resources used by the same target port in connection with processing said each I/O operation are to be released subsequent to completing processing of said each I/O operation; receiving the sequence of I/O operations at the same target port of the data storage system; and processing the sequence of I/O operations.

Abstract: An apparatus in one embodiment comprises a host device configured to communicate over a network with a storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices. The host device includes a set of input-output queues and a multi-path input-output driver configured to select input-output operations from the set of input-output queues for delivery to particular ports of the storage system over the network in accordance with a load balancing algorithm. The multi-path input-output driver is further configured to receive notification from one or more of the ports indicating that at least a given one of the ports has exceeded a designated threshold level of port load, and to adjust the load balancing algorithm based at least in part on the received notification.

Abstract: Described are techniques for controlling I/O response time. It is determined whether a first observed I/O response time for a storage group exceeds I/O performance specified by a service level objective. If so, first processing may be performed to decrease I/O performance for the storage group. The first processing may include: for each I/O directed to the storage group that is received within a first subsequent time period, determining a first response time denoting an amount of time taken to service each I/O prior to returning a response for each I/O; determining whether the first response time for each I/O is less than a response time delay threshold; and if the first response time for each I/O is less than the response time delay threshold, applying a response time delay to each I/O prior to returning a response for each I/O.

Abstract: A data processing system includes host computers and a data storage system that (1) periodically calculates port congestion values for storage system ports based on per-port values for (a) a number of storage IO commands being processed by each port and (b) CPU utilization of one or more CPUs assigned to each port, and (2) periodically sends the port congestion values to the host computers. Each host computer includes multipathing logic for selectively directing storage IO commands on selected paths to the data storage system. The multipathing logic receives the port congestion values from the data storage system and utilizes the port congestion values for path selection by preferentially directing first storage IO commands of higher service level objective to storage system ports having lower congestion and preferentially directing second storage IO commands of lower service level objective to storage system ports having higher congestion.