Abstract: A computer system includes a virtual machine (VM) host computer and a data storage system providing physical storage and mapping logic to store a virtual volume (vVol) for a VM. During a first operating session, first-session working data is stored on the vVol, the working data being session specific and not persisting across operating sessions. At the end of the first operating session, unmap operations are performed to deallocate underlying physical storage of the vVol, leaving the vVol as a skeleton vVol. At the beginning of a subsequent second operating session, and based on the existence of the vVol as the skeleton vVol, the VM host resumes use of the vVol for storing second-session working data of the VM during the second operating session. The retention of the vVol in skeleton form can improve system startup efficiency especially for a boot storm involving simultaneous startup of many VMs.

Abstract: Techniques include receiving a backup request for backing up data on a production VVOL, to which is assigned physical space from storage devices in a first storage tier. When the production VVOL and a snapshot VVOL exist, and a write request is received to a data block on the production VVOL that is shared between the production VVOL and the snapshot VVOL, then the techniques include capturing a snapshot of the production VVOL by redirecting the write request to newly allocated space on the production VVOL, writing new data to the newly allocated space, and storing metadata referring to the original block(s) on the production VVOL. Based on an IO workload threshold, the techniques include copying, in a background process, the original version of the modified block from the production VVOL to a snapshot VVOL, to which is assigned physical storage space from storage devices in a second storage tier.

Abstract: A computer system includes a virtual machine (VM) host computer and a data storage system providing physical storage and mapping logic to store a virtual volume (vVol) for a VM. During a first operating session, first-session working data is stored on the vVol, the working data being session specific and not persisting across operating sessions. At the end of the first operating session, unmap operations are performed to deallocate underlying physical storage of the vVol, leaving the vVol as a skeleton vVol. At the beginning of a subsequent second operating session, and based on the existence of the vVol as the skeleton vVol, the VM host resumes use of the vVol for storing second-session working data of the VM during the second operating session. The retention of the vVol in skeleton form can improve system startup efficiency especially for a boot storm involving simultaneous startup of many VMs.

Abstract: Techniques include receiving a backup request for backing up data on a production VVOL, to which is assigned physical space from storage devices in a first storage tier. When the production VVOL and a snapshot VVOL exist, and a write request is received to a data block on the production VVOL that is shared between the production VVOL and the snapshot VVOL, then the techniques include capturing a snapshot of the production VVOL by redirecting the write request to newly allocated space on the production VVOL, writing new data to the newly allocated space, and storing metadata referring to the original block(s) on the production VVOL. Based on an IO workload threshold, the techniques include copying, in a background process, the original version of the modified block from the production VVOL to a snapshot VVOL, to which is assigned physical storage space from storage devices in a second storage tier.

Abstract: Embodiments are directed to a method performed by a computing device. The method includes (a) receiving, by the computing device, a stream of storage management commands directed at logical disks hosted by a DSS, the logical disks being accessible to VMs running on a remote host, each storage management command having a command type of a plurality of command types, each command type of the plurality of command types having a respective timeout period, (b) placing the storage management commands of the stream into a VM storage management queue stored on the computing device, and (c) selectively dequeueing storage management commands stored in the VM storage management queue to be performed by the DSS, wherein selectively dequeueing includes applying a set of dequeueing criteria, the set of dequeueing criteria including a criterion that selects storage management commands from the VM storage management queue according to their respective command types.

Abstract: Embodiments are directed to a method performed by a computing device. The method includes (a) receiving, by the computing device, a stream of storage management commands directed at logical disks hosted by a DSS, the logical disks being accessible to VMs running on a remote host, each storage management command having a command type of a plurality of command types, each command type of the plurality of command types having a respective timeout period, (b) placing the storage management commands of the stream into a VM storage management queue stored on the computing device, and (c) selectively dequeueing storage management commands stored in the VM storage management queue to be performed by the DSS, wherein selectively dequeueing includes applying a set of dequeueing criteria, the set of dequeueing criteria including a criterion that selects storage management commands from the VM storage management queue according to their respective command types.