Patent Issued for System And Computer-Implemented Method For Balancing Loads Across Data Storage Pools (USPTO 10,282,114)

2019 MAY 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 10,282,114, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventor is Carlock, Brent (Bloomington, IL).

This patent was filed on March 22, 2017 and was published online on May 20, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “An enterprise class storage array includes multiple data storage pools for storing data, and each storage pool includes multiple disks. Each pool has finite capacity and performance capabilities. An out-of-balance capacity condition occurs when too much data is stored in one pool, and an out-of-balance performance condition occurs when too many read or write input/output operations per second (IOPS) or read or write transfers (Xfers) are made to or from one pool. If a pool is already being overused and a spike in workload occurs involving that pool, then there may be a slow-down or outage. Thus, it is generally desirable to balance, or ‘tune,’ resource usage across storage pools in order to better handle spikes in workload and thereby avoid outages.

“Currently, a user interface notifies a user when a pool is out of balance, and the user then employs a manual procedure to migrate data from one pool to another in order to better balance pools across the array. This manual procedure consumes a large amount of time and resources analyzing reports, opening tasks, examining the capacities and performances of all of the pools to identify particular pools to which data could and should be migrated, creating plans to address the out-of-balance conditions, executing the plans, and monitoring the results.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent: “Embodiments of the present technology provide a system and computer-implemented method for automatically balancing loads across two or more storage pools within a storage array, particularly with regard to storage capacity and/or performance utilization, in accordance with user-instituted policies. Embodiments advantageously automate the prior art manual balancing process, including automatically selecting a better pool for receiving data from an out-of-balance pool, and thereby greatly reduce the amount of time and resources required by the prior art process.

“In a first aspect, a computer-implemented method may be provided for improving the functionality of a computer for substantially automatically balancing loads across two or more data storage pools within a data storage array in accordance with a user-instituted policy, and may broadly comprise the following performed by a computer. A user may be prompted to activate a policy for balancing the two or more data storage pools. The user may be prompted to specify a set of input criteria for use in balancing the two or more data storage pools. A current refresh date/time stamp may be determined for a software suite managing operation of the data storage array. Whether an active job is occurring may be determined for the data storage array, and if so, no action may be taken to balance the two or more data storage pools. A current operational percentage may be determined for each of the two or more data storage pools. A first data storage pool may be identified that has the highest operational percentage and a second data storage pool may be identified that has the lowest operational percentage. Data from the first data storage pool may be transferred to the second data storage pool to balance the two or more data pools. The process may be repeated at an interval specified in the set of input criteria.

“In a second aspect, a system may be provided for substantially automatically balancing loads across two or more data storage pools within a data storage array in accordance with a user-instituted policy, and may broadly comprise an electronic memory element, an electronic processing element, and an electronic communications element. The electronic processing element may be configured to execute a software management suite for managing the storage array, and to execute a software module for balancing the two or more storage pools as follows. A user may be prompted to activate a policy for balancing the two or more data storage pools, and then the policy, may be stored in the electronic memory. The user may be prompted to specify a set of input criteria for use in balancing the two or more data storage pools, and then the set of input criteria may be stored in the electronic memory. A current refresh date/time stamp may be determined for a software suite managing operation of the data storage array. Whether an active job is occurring may be determined for the data storage array, and if so, no action may be taken to balance the two or more data storage pools. A current operational percentage may be determined for each of the two or more data storage pools. A first data storage pool may be identified that has the highest operational percentage and a second data storage pool may be identified that has the lowest operational percentage. Data may be moved from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool to balance the two or more data pools. The process may be repeated at an interval specified in the set of input criteria. The electronic display may present a user interface configured to allow the user to activate the user-instituted policy and to specify the set of input criteria.

“In a third aspect, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium with a computer program stored thereon may be provided for improving the functionality of a computer for substantially automatically balancing loads across two or more data storage pools within a data storage array in accordance with a user-instituted policy, wherein the computer program may instruct a system to perform the following. A user may be prompted to activate a policy for balancing the two or more data storage pools. The user may be prompted to specify a set of input criteria for use in balancing the two or more data storage pools. A current refresh date/time stamp may be determined for a software suite managing operation of the data storage array. Whether an active job is occurring may be determined for the data storage array, and if so, no action may be taken to balance the two or more data storage pools. A current operational percentage may be determined for each of the two or more data storage pools. A first data storage pool may be identified that has the highest operational percentage, and a second data storage pool may be identified that has the lowest operational percentage. Data may be moved from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool to balance the two or more data pools. The process may be repeated at an interval specified in the set of input criteria.

“Various implementations of any or all of the foregoing aspects may include any one or more of the following additional features. Activating the policy may involve selecting or modifying an existing policy or creating a new policy. Activating the policy may involve selecting capacity as a basis for balancing the two or more data storage pools, determining the current operation percentage may involve determining a current capacity percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools, and if the current capacity percentage of the first data pool is within five percent of the current capacity percentage of the second data pool, no action may be taken to balance the two or more data storage pools. Activating the policy may involve selecting performance as a basis for balancing the two or more data storage pools, and determining the current operation percentage may involve determining a current performance percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools, and if the current performance percentage of the first data pool is within ten percent of the current performance percentage of the second data pool, no action may be taken to balance the two or more data storage pools. Activating the policy may involve selecting capacity as a first basis and performance as a second basis for balancing the two or more data storage pools. The first basis and the second basis may not be used in a same interval but rather may be used in alternate intervals for balancing the two or more data storage pools.

“An alert may be generated and the policy may be inactivated if a hardware failure or network problem occurs. The data storage array may contain four or more data storage pools, and the process may further include identifying a third data storage pool that has a second highest operational percentage and a fourth data storage pool that has a second lowest operational percentage, and moving data from the third data storage pool to the fourth data storage pool to further balance the four or more data pools.

“Advantages of these and other embodiments will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the exemplary embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments described herein may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“I claim:

“1. A computer-implemented method for improving the functionality of a computer for managing the operation of a data storage array containing two or more data storage pools, wherein a user has activated a policy for balancing the two or more data storage pools and the user has specified a set of input criteria for use in balancing the two or more data storage pools, the computer-implemented method comprising the following actions performed by the computer: (1) accessing the policy from an electronic memory; (2) accessing the set of input criteria from an electronic memory; (3) determining a current refresh date/time stamp for a software suite managing operation of the data storage array; (4) determining whether an active job is occurring for the data storage array, and if so, taking no action to balance the two or more data storage pools; (5) determining a current operational percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools; (6) identifying a first data storage pool that has the highest operational percentage and a second data storage pool that has the lowest operational percentage; (7) moving data from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool to balance the two or more data pools; wherein the moving of data to balance the two or more storage pools involves transferring data from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool until the current operational percentage of the first data storage pool is within a predetermined range of the current operational percentage of the second data storage pool, at which point the movement of data is suspended between the storage pools, wherein the predetermined range is set within the policy; and (8) repeating steps (3)-(7) at an interval specified in the set of input criteria.

“2. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 1, wherein determining the current operational percentage involves determining a current capacity percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools.

“3. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 2, wherein if the current capacity percentage of the first data pool is within five percent of the current capacity percentage of the second data pool, no action is taken to balance the two or more data storage pools.

“4. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 1, wherein determining the current operational percentage involves determining a current performance percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools.

“5. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 4, wherein if the current performance percentage of the first data pool is within ten percent of the current performance percentage of the second data pool, no action is taken to balance the two or more data storage pools.

“6. A computer-implemented method for improving the functionality of a computer for balancing loads across two or more data storage pools within a data storage array in accordance with a user-instituted policy, the computer-implemented method comprising the following actions performed by the computer: (1) prompting a user to activate a policy for balancing the two or more data storage pools; (2) prompting the user to specify a set of input criteria for use in balancing the two or more data storage pools; (3) determining a current refresh date/time stamp for a software suite managing operation of the data storage array; (4) determining whether an active job is occurring for the data storage array, and if so, taking no action to balance the two or more data storage pools; (5) determining a current operational percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools; (6) identifying a first data storage pool that has the highest operational percentage and a second data storage pool that has the lowest operational percentage; (7) moving data from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool to balance the two or more data pools; wherein the move of data to balance the two or more storage pools involves the transfer of data from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool until the current operational percentage of the first data storage pool is within a predetermined range of the current operational percentage of the second data storage pool, at which point the movement of data is suspended between the storage pools, wherein the predetermined range is set within the policy; and (8) repeating steps (3)-(7) at an interval specified in the set of input criteria.

“7. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 6, wherein activating the policy involves selecting or modifying an existing policy or creating a new policy.

“8. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 6, wherein activating the policy involves selecting capacity as a basis for balancing the two or more data storage pools, and determining the current operation percentage involves determining a current capacity percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools.

“9. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 8, wherein if the current capacity percentage of the first data pool is within five percent of the current capacity percentage of the second data pool, no action is taken to balance the two or more data storage pools.

“10. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 6, wherein activating the policy involves selecting performance as a basis for balancing the two or more data storage pools, and wherein determining the current operation percentage involves determining a current performance percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools.

“11. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 10, wherein if the current performance percentage of the first data pool is within ten percent of the current performance percentage of the second data pool, taking no action to balance the two or more data storage pools.

“12. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 6, wherein activating the policy involves selecting capacity as a first basis and performance as a second basis for balancing the two or more data storage pools.

“13. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 12, wherein the first basis and the second basis are not used in a same interval but rather are used in alternate intervals for balancing the two or more data storage pools.

“14. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 6, further including generating an alert and inactivating the policy if a hardware failure or network problem occurs.

“15. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the data storage array contains four or more data storage pools, the computer-implemented method further including-- identifying a third data storage pool that has a second highest operational percentage and a fourth data storage pool that has a second lowest operational percentage; and moving data from the third data storage pool to the fourth data storage pool to further balance the four or more data pools.

“16. A system for balancing loads across two or more data storage pools within a data storage array in accordance with a user-instituted policy, the system comprising an electronic memory element containing the user-instituted policy and a set of input criteria for use in balancing the two or more data storage pools; an electronic processing element configured to execute a software management suite for managing the storage array, and to execute a software module for balancing the two or more storage pools, wherein the software module causes the electronic processing element to: (1) access the user-instituted policy from the electronic memory element, (2) access the set of input criteria from the electronic memory element, (3) determine a current refresh date/time stamp for the software management suite, (4) determine whether an active job is occurring for the data storage array, and if so, taking no action to balance the two or more data storage pools, (5) determine a current operational percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools, (6) identify a first data storage pool that has the highest operational percentage and a second data storage pool that has the lowest operational percentage, (7) move data from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool to balance the two or more data pools; wherein the move of data to balance the two or more storage pools involves the transfer of data from the first data storage pool to the second data storage pool until the current operational percentage of the first data storage pool is within a predetermined range of the current operational percentage of the second data storage pool, at which point the movement of data is suspended between the storage pools, wherein the predetermined range is set within the policy; and (8) repeat steps (3)-(7) at an interval specified in the set of input criteria; and an electronic display presenting a user interface configured to allow a user to activate the user-instituted policy and to specify the set of input criteria.

“17. The system as set forth in claim 16, wherein determining the current operational percentage involves determining a current capacity percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools.

“18. The system as set forth in claim 17, wherein if the current capacity percentage of the first data pool is within five percent of the current capacity percentage of the second data pool, no action is taken to balance the two or more data storage pools.

“19. The system as set forth in claim 16, wherein determining the current operational percentage involves determining a current performance percentage for each of the two or more data storage pools.

“20. The system as set forth in claim 19, wherein if the current performance percentage of the first data pool is within ten percent of the current performance percentage of the second data pool, no action is taken to balance the two or more data storage pools.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Carlock, Brent. System And Computer-Implemented Method For Balancing Loads Across Data Storage Pools. U.S. Patent Number 10,282,114, filed March 22, 2017, and published online on May 20, 2019. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,282,114.PN.&OS=PN/10,282,114RS=PN/10,282,114

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