Abstract: Embodiments for disaster recovery (DR) configuration management. An orchestration mechanism is used to automate a deployment and/or a configuring of two or more storage clusters for DR by arranging, in one step, a mirroring session between the two or more storage clusters. The two or more storage clusters are existing clusters, and the orchestration mechanism locates each of the existing storage clusters and establishes the mirroring session between the two.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to transmitting prioritized path data to a device based on a set of topology rules and metrics associated with a storage target. A storage target path discovery request is received from the device. In response to the storage target path discovery request, metrics associated with the storage target are collected. Based on the collected metrics, available paths to the storage target are identified. A set of topology rules are then determined. Based on the topology rules and the collected metrics, a subset of available paths are selected. The subset of available paths are then prioritized into prioritized path data. The prioritized path data is then stored and transmitted to the device.

Abstract: A mega cluster storage system includes clusters of multiple storage modules. Each module is able to access a portion of the data within the mega cluster and serves as a proxy in order for another storage module to access the remaining portion of the data. A cluster is assigned to a unique cluster volume and all the data within the cluster volume is accessible by all of the modules within the cluster. Each host connection to the mega cluster is associated with a particular cluster volume. A module that receives a host I/O request determines whether the I/O request should be satisfied by a module within its own cluster or be satisfied by a module within a different cluster. The module may forward the I/O request to a module within a different cluster as indicated by a distribution data structure that is allocated and stored within each storage module.

Abstract: Improving storage device efficiency during data replication. An asynchronous data replication process is initiated between a source computer and a target computer over a network. Performance of the target computer and a storage device of the target computer is monitored. At least one portion of data stored on the source computer is identified for the data replication, wherein the at least one portion of the data is organized in a data block. Whether to modify a size of the data block is determined, based on the monitored performance of the target computer. Responsive to determining to modify the size of the data block, based on the monitored performance of the target computer, the size of the data block is modified.

Abstract: Embodiments for discovering read failures in a data storage system. Data read from underlying media of the data storage system is validated by initializing a prefix of a buffer used to read the data with a first sequence of bytes of a predefined number. The first sequence of bytes is compared to a sequence of actual bytes of the data read into the buffer. When the first sequence of bytes returns an equal value to the sequence of the actual bytes of the data read, a second sequence of bytes of the predefined number is generated and compared to a subsequent data read to determine the validity.

Abstract: Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include defining a plurality of failure domains for sets of storage devices in a storage facility, and defining, using the failure domains, one or more limitations for distributing data on the storage devices. Upon identifying a data distribution configuration for a software defined storage system that is compliant with the one or more limitations, the identified data distribution configuration can be presented to a user. The failure domains may include physical failure domains, logical failure domains, or a combination of physical and logical failure domains, and the limitations may include mandatory limitations or a combination of mandatory and non-mandatory limitations.

Abstract: Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include defining multiple group names, and identifying multiple system objects in a computer system such as a storage system. Examples of system objects include physical objects such as storage devices, network objects such as IP addresses, and logical objects such as logical volumes. Each of the system devices is tagged with a given group name, and upon receiving a query including a condition and an operation, one or more of the system devices matching the condition are identified, and the operation is performed on the one or more identified system objects. In some embodiments, the operation may include retrieving a parameter associated with the one or more identified system objects, and presenting a result of the query. In alternative embodiments, the operation may include updating a parameter associated with the one or more identified system objects.

Abstract: Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include initializing multiple computing nodes to execute one or more software applications that provide a computing service, each of the computing nodes having a respective set of configuration data. Examples of the services include storage services, computational services and web service. Subsequent to deploying the multiple computing nodes as a software defined computing (SDC) cluster, an additional computing node is initialized using a given set of configuration data, and the additional computing node is added to the SDC cluster. In some embodiments, the additional node can be initialized and added to the SDC cluster in response to detecting a condition in the SDC cluster. In alternative embodiments, the additional node can be initialized and added to the SDC cluster in response to receiving a request to add an additional service to the SDC cluster.

Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, a server is created, and a computer readable storage media is included in the server. An adapter is connected to the server, a set of packets is received by the adapter from a network, and the network and a repository are interfaced by the adapter. A firmware is stored on the adapter, and the adapter is controlled by the firmware. A management component is stored on the computer readable storage media, and the server is managed by the management component. A driver is stored on the management component, and the driver communicates with the adapter. A set of filters that controls transmission of the set of packets is created, and each filter in the set of filters has a set of filter rules. The set of filters is stored on the server.

Abstract: Embodiments for disaster recovery (DR) configuration management. An orchestration mechanism is used to automate a deployment and/or a configuring of two or more storage clusters for DR by arranging, in one step, a mirroring session between the two or more storage clusters. The two or more storage clusters are existing clusters, and the orchestration mechanism locates each of the existing storage clusters and establishes the mirroring session between the two.

Abstract: Embodiments for disaster recovery (DR) configuration management in a Software-defined Storage (SDS) environment. An orchestration mechanism is used to automate a deployment and/or a configuring of two or more storage clusters for DR by arranging, in one step, a mirroring session between the two or more storage clusters in the SDS environment.

Abstract: A mega cluster storage system includes clusters of multiple storage modules. Each module is able to access a portion of the data within the mega cluster and serves as a proxy in order for another storage module to access the remaining portion of the data. A cluster is assigned to a unique cluster volume and all the data within the cluster volume is accessible by all of the modules within the cluster. Each host connection to the mega cluster is associated with a particular cluster volume. A module that receives a host I/O request determines whether the I/O request should be satisfied by a module within its own cluster or be satisfied by a module within a different cluster. The module may forward the I/O request to a module within a different cluster as indicated by a distribution data structure that is allocated and stored within each storage module.

Abstract: A mega cluster storage system includes clusters of multiple storage modules. Each module is able to access a portion of the data within the mega cluster and serves as a proxy in order for another storage module to access the remaining portion of the data. A cluster is assigned to a unique cluster volume and all the data within the cluster volume is accessible by all of the modules within the cluster. Each host connection to the mega cluster is associated with a particular cluster volume. A module that receives a host I/O request determines whether the I/O request should be satisfied by a module within its own cluster or be satisfied by a module within a different cluster. The module may forward the I/O request to a module within a different cluster as indicated by a distribution data structure that is allocated and stored within each storage module.

Abstract: Embodiments for network management in a Software-defined Storage (SDS) environment. Remote mirroring connectivity and data transfer is optimized in the SDS environment by establishing each of a plurality of nodes in a local storage array and a remote storage array as a gateway node. Data residing on a local gateway node is transferred directly to a remote gateway node owning the data, thereby avoiding interconnect data hops and improving datacenter network utilization.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to transmitting prioritized path data to a device based on a set of topology rules and metrics associated with a storage target. A storage target path discovery request is received from the device. In response to the storage target path discovery request, metrics associated with the storage target are collected. Based on the collected metrics, available paths to the storage target are identified. A set of topology rules are then determined. Based on the topology rules and the collected metrics, a subset of available paths are selected. The subset of available paths are then prioritized into prioritized path data. The prioritized path data is then stored and transmitted to the device.

Abstract: A data handling system includes multiple storage devices that each have a limited number of write and erase iterations. In one scheme, a deterministic endurance delta is created between a storage device (benchmark storage device), and the other storage devices so that the benchmark storage device has less endurance than the other storage devices. The benchmark storage device will likely reach endurance failure prior to the other storage devices and the probability of non-simultaneous endurance failure increases. In another scheme, a deterministic endurance delta is created between each of the storage devices so that each of the storage devices have a different endurance level than the other storage devices. By implementing the endurance delta simultaneous endurance failures of the storage devices may be avoided.

Abstract: Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include assigning multiple storage resources to a reserve pool, and defining one or more storage policy parameters that include allocation policies and deallocation policy parameters. A software defined storage (SDS) controller is initialized by allocating, from the reserve pool, one or more of the storage resources to the SDS controller, and a current state of the SDS controller is monitored. In a first embodiment, upon detecting that the state of the SDS controller meets a given allocation policy parameter, an additional storage resource from the reserve pool is allocated from the reserve pool to the SDS controller. In a second embodiment, upon detecting that the state of the SDS controller meets a given deallocation policy parameter, a given the SDS controller is deallocated from the SDS controller and released back to the storage pool.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to transmitting prioritized path data to a device based on a set of topology rules and metrics associated with a storage target. A storage target path discovery request is received from the device. In response to the storage target path discovery request, metrics associated with the storage target are collected. Based on the collected metrics, available paths to the storage target are identified. A set of topology rules are then determined. Based on the topology rules and the collected metrics, a subset of available paths are selected. The subset of available paths are then prioritized into prioritized path data. The prioritized path data is then stored and transmitted to the device.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to transmitting prioritized path data to a device based on a set of topology rules and metrics associated with a storage target. A storage target path discovery request is received from the device. In response to the storage target path discovery request, metrics associated with the storage target are collected. Based on the collected metrics, available paths to the storage target are identified. A set of topology rules are then determined. Based on the topology rules and the collected metrics, a subset of available paths are selected. The subset of available paths are then prioritized into prioritized path data. The prioritized path data is then stored and transmitted to the device.

Abstract: Methods, computing systems and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include initializing, by a hypervisor executing on a processor, first and second virtual machines. A first software application configured to provide a service is executed on the first virtual machine, and a logical data connection is established between the first and the second virtual machines. Examples of the logical connection include physical and virtual serial connections, and physical and virtual data networking connections. A second software application configured to enable remote monitoring of the first software application via the logical data connection is executed on the second virtual machine. In some embodiments, the second software application can remotely monitor the first software application via an interface such as a command line interface, a graphical user interface and an application programming interface.