U.S. patent application number 16/925543 was filed with the patent office on 2022-01-13 for execution of multipath operation triggered by container application.
The applicant listed for this patent is EMC IP Holding Company LLC. Invention is credited to Gopinath Marappan, Maneesh Singhal.
Application Number | 20220012107 16/925543 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | |
Filed Date | 2022-01-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220012107 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Marappan; Gopinath ; et
al. |
January 13, 2022 |
EXECUTION OF MULTIPATH OPERATION TRIGGERED BY CONTAINER
APPLICATION
Abstract
A host device comprises a kernel space comprising a multipath
driver component and a user space comprising a container comprising
an application, a daemon process and a data structure comprising a
plurality of file system entries. The multipath driver component
comprises a handler that is configured to detect changes to the
file system entries. The host device is configured to mount the
data structure to the container and the file system entries are
modifiable by the application via the mounting. The multipath
driver component is configured to determine that a given file
system entry has been modified based at least in part on a
detection of a change by the handler and to issue an event to the
daemon process. The daemon process is configured to execute an
operation associated with the multipath driver in the user space
based at least in part on the issued event.
Inventors: |
Marappan; Gopinath;
(Coimbatore, IN) ; Singhal; Maneesh; (Bangalore,
IN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
EMC IP Holding Company LLC |
Hopkinton |
MA |
US |
|
|
Appl. No.: |
16/925543 |
Filed: |
July 10, 2020 |
International
Class: |
G06F 9/54 20060101
G06F009/54; G06F 16/13 20060101 G06F016/13; G06F 16/17 20060101
G06F016/17; G06F 13/10 20060101 G06F013/10 |
Claims
1. An apparatus comprising: a host device comprising a processor
coupled to memory, the host device comprising: a kernel space
comprising a multipath driver component of a multipath driver, the
multipath driver being configured to deliver input-output
operations that are issued by an application from the host device
to a storage system over a network; and a user space comprising: a
container comprising the application; a daemon process that is
configured to execute operations in the user space based at least
in part on events issued by the multipath driver component in the
kernel space; and a data structure comprising a plurality of file
system entries, the multipath driver component comprising a handler
in the kernel space that is configured to detect changes to the
file system entries in the data structure; wherein the at least one
processing device is configured to mount the data structure to the
container, the file system entries in the data structure being
modifiable by the application via the mounting, wherein a modified
file system entry is associated with a flag set by the application;
and wherein the multipath driver component is configured: to
determine that a given file system entry of the data structure has
been modified by the application in the container via the mounting
based at least in part on a detection of a change to the given file
system entry by the handler; and to issue an event that is
configured for processing by the daemon process in the user space
based at least in part on the determination that the given file
system entry has been modified; and wherein the daemon process is
configured: to determine that the event has been issued by the
multipath driver component in the kernel space; and to execute an
operation associated with the multipath driver in the user space
based at least in part on the issued event.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the multipath driver is
configured to create the given file system entry in the data
structure based at least in part on the operation associated with
the multipath driver.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: the daemon process is
configured to generate a hanging message and to submit the hanging
message to the multipath driver component, the hanging message
being configured to await a response from the multipath driver
component; issuing the event comprises the multipath driver
component responding to the hanging message; and determining that
the event has been issued comprises obtaining the response to the
hanging message by the daemon process.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: the operation comprises a
first operation associated with the multipath driver; the given
file system entry corresponds to the first operation; a second file
system entry of the plurality of file system entries corresponds to
a second operation associated with the multipath driver that is
different than the first operation; the multipath driver component
is further configured: to determine that the second file system
entry of the data structure has been modified by the application in
the container via the mounting based at least in part on a
detection of a change to the second file system entry by the
handler; and to issue a second event that is configured for
processing by the daemon process in the user space based at least
in part on the determination that the second file system entry has
been modified; and wherein the daemon process is configured: to
determine that the second event has been issued by the multipath
driver component in the kernel space; and to execute the second
operation in the user space based at least in part on the issued
second event.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein: the user space further
comprises a path mapping data structure that comprises mappings
between device pseudo names and indications of paths to
corresponding logical volumes of the storage system; the multipath
driver is configured to utilize the mappings to select one or more
of the corresponding paths for delivering input-output operations
to the logical volumes of the storage system; the first operation
comprises removing the indication corresponding a given path from
the path data structure, the given path corresponding to a logical
volume of the storage system that is no longer available; and the
second operation comprises releasing a device pseudo name
corresponding to the removed indication such that the device pseudo
name is available for mapping to another indication.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein determining that the given file
system entry of the data structure has been modified by the
application in the container via the mounting comprises determining
that the flag has been set in the given file system entry by the
application.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein determining that the flag has
been set in the given file system entry by the application
comprises receiving an indication that the flag has been set from a
callback routine associated with the given entry, the callback
routine being configured to trigger a submission of the indication
to the handler based at least in part on the given entry being
modified by the application.
8. A method comprising: mounting a data structure to a container of
a host device, the host device comprising: a kernel space
comprising a multipath driver component of a multipath driver, the
multipath driver being configured to deliver input-output
operations that are issued by an application from the host device
to a storage system over a network; and a user space comprising:
the container, the container comprising the application; a daemon
process that is configured to execute operations in the user space
based at least in part on events issued by the multipath driver
component in the kernel space; and the data structure, the data
structure comprising a plurality of file system entries, the
multipath driver component comprising a handler in the kernel space
that is configured to detect changes to the file system entries in
the data structure, the file system entries in the data structure
being modifiable by the application via the mounting, wherein a
modified file system entry is associated with a flag set by the
application; determining, by the multipath driver component, that a
given file system entry of the data structure has been modified by
the application in the container via the mounting based at least in
part on a detection of a change to the given file system entry by
the handler; issuing, by the multipath driver component, an event
that is configured for processing by the daemon process in the user
space based at least in part on the determination that the given
file system entry has been modified; determining, by the daemon
process, that the event has been issued by the multipath driver
component in the kernel space; and executing, by the daemon
process, an operation associated with the multipath driver in the
user space based at least in part on the issued event; wherein the
host device comprises a processor coupled to a memory.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the multipath driver is configured
to create the given file system entry in the data structure based
at least in part on the operation associated with the multipath
driver.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein: the daemon process is configured
to generate a hanging message and to submit the hanging message to
the multipath driver component, the hanging message being
configured to await a response from the multipath driver component;
issuing the event comprises the multipath driver component
responding to the hanging message; and determining that the event
has been issued comprises obtaining the response to the hanging
message by the daemon process.
11. The method of claim 8 wherein: the operation comprises a first
operation associated with the multipath driver; the given file
system entry corresponds to the first operation; a second file
system entry of the plurality of file system entries corresponds to
a second operation associated with the multipath driver that is
different than the first operation; the method further comprises:
determining, by the multipath driver component, that the second
file system entry of the data structure has been modified by the
application in the container via the mounting based at least in
part on a detection of a change to the second file system entry by
the handler; and issuing, by the multipath driver component, a
second event that is configured for processing by the daemon
process in the user space based at least in part on the
determination that the second file system entry has been modified;
determining, by the daemon process, that the second event has been
issued by the multipath driver component in the kernel space; and
executing, by the daemon process, the second operation in the user
space based at least in part on the issued second event.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein: the user space further
comprises a path mapping data structure that comprises mappings
between device pseudo names and indications of paths to
corresponding logical volumes of the storage system; the multipath
driver is configured to utilize the mappings to select one or more
of the corresponding paths for delivering input-output operations
to the logical volumes of the storage system; the first operation
comprises removing the indication corresponding a given path from
the path data structure, the given path corresponding to a logical
volume of the storage system that is no longer available; and the
second operation comprises releasing a device pseudo name
corresponding to the removed indication such that the device pseudo
name is available for mapping to another indication.
13. The method of claim 8 wherein determining that the given file
system entry of the data structure has been modified by the
application in the container via the mounting comprises determining
that the flag has been set in the given file system entry by the
application.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein determining that the flag has
been set in the given file system entry by the application
comprises receiving an indication that the flag has been set from a
callback routine associated with the given entry, the callback
routine being configured to trigger a submission of the indication
to the handler based at least in part on the given entry being
modified by the application.
15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory
processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program
code of one or more software programs, the program code being
configured for execution by a host device comprising a processor
coupled to a memory, the host device comprising: a kernel space
comprising a multipath driver component of a multipath driver, the
multipath driver being configured to deliver input-output
operations that are issued by an application from the host device
to a storage system over a network; and a user space comprising: a
container comprising the application; a daemon process that is
configured to execute operations in the user space based at least
in part on events issued by the multipath driver component in the
kernel space; and a data structure comprising a plurality of file
system entries, the multipath driver component comprising a handler
in the kernel space that is configured to detect changes to the
file system entries in the data structure; wherein the program
code, when executed by the host device, causes the host device: to
mount the data structure to the container, the file system entries
in the data structure being modifiable by the application via the
mounting, wherein a modified file system entry is associated with a
flag set by the application: to cause the multipath driver
component: to determine that a given file system entry of the data
structure has been modified by the application in the container via
the mounting based at least in part on a detection of a change to
the given file system entry by the handler; and to issue an event
that is configured for processing by the daemon process in the user
space based at least in part on the determination that the given
file system entry has been modified; and to cause the daemon
process: to determine that the event has been issued by the
multipath driver component in the kernel space; and to execute an
operation associated with the multipath driver in the user space
based at least in part on the issued event.
16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the multipath
driver is configured to create the given file system entry in the
data structure based at least in part on the operation associated
with the multipath driver.
17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein: the daemon
process is configured to generate a hanging message and to submit
the hanging message to the multipath driver component, the hanging
message being configured to await a response from the multipath
driver component; issuing the event comprises the multipath driver
component responding to the hanging message; and determining that
the event has been issued comprises obtaining the response to the
hanging message by the daemon process.
18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein: the operation
comprises a first operation associated with the multipath driver;
the given file system entry corresponds to the first operation; a
second file system entry of the plurality of file system entries
corresponds to a second operation associated with the multipath
driver that is different than the first operation; the program code
further causes the multipath driver component: to determine that
the second file system entry of the data structure has been
modified by the application in the container via the mounting based
at least in part on a detection of a change to the second file
system entry by the handler; and to issue a second event that is
configured for processing by the daemon process in the user space
based at least in part on the determination that the second file
system entry has been modified; and the program code further causes
daemon process: to determine that the second event has been issued
by the multipath driver component in the kernel space; and to
execute the second operation in the user space based at least in
part on the issued second event.
19. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein: the user
space further comprises a path mapping data structure that
comprises mappings between device pseudo names and indications of
paths to corresponding logical volumes of the storage system; the
multipath driver is configured to utilize the mappings to select
one or more of the corresponding paths for delivering input-output
operations to the logical volumes of the storage system; the first
operation comprises removing the indication corresponding a given
path from the path data structure, the given path corresponding to
a logical volume of the storage system that is no longer available;
and the second operation comprises releasing a device pseudo name
corresponding to the removed indication such that the device pseudo
name is available for mapping to another indication.
20. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein: determining
that the given file system entry of the data structure has been
modified by the application in the container via the mounting
comprises determining that the flag has been set in the given file
system entry by the application; and determining that the flag has
been set in the given file system entry by the application
comprises receiving an indication that the flag has been set from a
callback routine associated with the given entry, the callback
routine being configured to trigger a submission of the indication
to the handler based at least in part on the given entry being
modified by the application.
Description
FIELD
[0001] The field relates generally to information processing
systems, and more particularly to storage in information processing
systems.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Storage arrays and other types of storage systems are often
shared by multiple host devices over a network. A host device may
comprise a multipath input-output (MPIO) driver that is configured
to process input-output (IO) operations for delivery from the host
device to the storage system. Applications are often required to
run inside docker containers on the host device in order to provide
isolation from the host device system resources which are hosting
the containers. The applications issue IO operations and the MPIO
driver processes the IO operations for delivery to the storage
system.
SUMMARY
[0003] In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a host device
comprising a processor coupled to memory. The host device comprises
a kernel space comprising a multipath driver component of a
multipath driver. The multipath driver is configured to deliver
input-output operations that are issued by an application from the
host device to a storage system over a network. The host device
further comprises a user space comprising a container comprising
the application, a daemon process that is configured to execute
operations in the user space based at least in part on events
issued by the multipath driver component in the kernel space and a
data structure comprising a plurality of file system entries. The
multipath driver component comprises a handler in the kernel space
that is configured to detect changes to the file system entries in
the data structure. The at least one processing device is
configured to mount the data structure to the container. The file
system entries in the data structure are modifiable by the
application via the mounting. The multipath driver component is
configured to determine that a given file system entry of the data
structure has been modified by the application in the container via
the mounting based at least in part on a detection of a change to
the given file system entry by the handler and to issue an event
that is configured for processing by the daemon process in the user
space based at least in part on the determination that the given
file system entry has been modified. The daemon process is
configured to determine that the event has been issued by the
multipath driver component in the kernel space and to execute an
operation associated with the multipath driver in the user space
based at least in part on the issued event.
[0004] These and other illustrative embodiments include, without
limitation, apparatus, systems, methods and computer program
products comprising processor-readable storage media.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information processing
system configured with functionality for triggering execution of
multipath operations in the user space by container applications
via the kernel space in an illustrative embodiment.
[0006] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example interaction path
between a host device and a logical volume of a storage system in
an illustrative embodiment.
[0007] FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example file system data structure
in an illustrative embodiment.
[0008] FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example path mapping data
structure in an illustrative embodiment.
[0009] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example process for
triggering execution of multipath operations in the user space by
container applications via the kernel space in an illustrative
embodiment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] Illustrative embodiments will be described herein with
reference to exemplary information processing systems and
associated computers, servers, storage devices and other processing
devices. It is to be appreciated, however, that embodiments of the
present disclosure are not restricted to use with the particular
illustrative system and device configurations shown. Accordingly,
the term "information processing system" as used herein is intended
to be broadly construed, so as to encompass, for example,
processing systems comprising cloud computing and storage systems,
as well as other types of processing systems comprising various
combinations of physical and virtual processing resources. An
information processing system may therefore comprise, for example,
at least one data center that includes one or more clouds hosting
multiple tenants that share cloud resources. Numerous other types
of enterprise and cloud-based computing and storage systems are
also encompassed by the term "information processing system" as
that term is broadly used herein.
[0011] FIG. 1 shows an information processing system 100 configured
in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. The information
processing system 100 comprises a plurality of host devices 102-1,
102-2, . . . 102-N. The host devices 102 communicate over a storage
area network (SAN) 104 with at least one storage array 105. The
storage array 105 comprises a plurality of storage devices 106-1, .
. . 106-M each storing data utilized by one or more applications
running on one or more of the host devices 102. The storage devices
106 are illustratively arranged in one or more storage pools. The
storage array 105 and its associated storage devices 106 are an
example of what is more generally referred to herein as a "storage
system." This storage system in the present embodiment is shared by
the host devices 102, and is therefore also referred to herein as a
"shared storage system."
[0012] The host devices 102 illustratively comprise respective
computers, servers or other types of processing devices capable of
communicating with the storage array 105 of the SAN 104. For
example, at least a subset of the host devices 102 may be
implemented as respective virtual machines of a computer services
platform or other type of processing platform. The host devices 102
in such an arrangement illustratively provide compute services such
as execution of one or more applications on behalf of each of one
or more users associated with respective ones of the host devices
102. The term "user" herein is intended to be broadly construed so
as to encompass numerous arrangements of human, hardware, software
or firmware entities, as well as combinations of such entities.
Compute services may be provided for users under a
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model, although it is to be
appreciated that numerous other cloud infrastructure arrangements
could be used.
[0013] The storage devices 106 of the storage array 105 of SAN 104
implement logical units (LUNs) configured to store objects for
users associated with the host devices 102. These objects can
comprise files, blocks or other types of objects. In illustrative
embodiments, the storage devices 106 may comprise one or more
clusters of storage devices 106. The host devices 102 interact with
the storage array 105 utilizing read and write commands as well as
other types of commands that are transmitted over the SAN 104. Such
commands in some embodiments more particularly comprise small
computer system interface (SCSI) commands or non-volatile memory
express (NVMe) commands, depending on the type of storage device,
although other types of commands can be used in other embodiments.
A given IO operation as that term is broadly used herein
illustratively comprises one or more such commands. References
herein to terms such as "input-output" and "IO" should be
understood to refer to input and/or output. Thus, an IO operation
relates to at least one of input and output.
[0014] Also, the term "storage device" as used herein is intended
to be broadly construed, so as to encompass, for example, a logical
storage device such as a LUN or other logical storage volume. A
logical storage device can be defined in the storage array 105 to
include different portions of one or more physical storage devices.
Storage devices 106 may therefore be viewed as comprising
respective LUNs or other logical storage volumes.
[0015] Each of the host devices 102 illustratively has multiple IO
paths to the storage array 105, with at least one of the storage
devices 106 of the storage array 105 being visible to that host
device on a given one of the paths. A given one of the storage
devices 106 may be accessible to the given host device over
multiple IO paths.
[0016] Different ones of the storage devices 106 of the storage
array 105 illustratively exhibit different latencies in processing
of IO operations. In some cases, the same storage device may
exhibit different latencies for different ones of multiple IO paths
over which that storage device can be accessed from a given one of
the host devices 102.
[0017] The host devices 102, SAN 104 and storage array 105 in the
FIG. 1 embodiment are assumed to be implemented using at least one
processing platform each comprising one or more processing devices
each having a processor coupled to a memory. Such processing
devices can illustratively include particular arrangements of
compute, storage and network resources. For example, processing
devices in some embodiments are implemented at least in part
utilizing virtual resources such as virtual machines (VMs) or Linux
containers (LXCs), or combinations of both as in an arrangement in
which Docker containers or other types of LXCs are configured to
run on VMs.
[0018] The host devices 102 and the storage array 105 may be
implemented on respective distinct processing platforms, although
numerous other arrangements are possible. For example, in some
embodiments at least portions of the host devices 102 and the
storage array 105 are implemented on the same processing platform.
The storage array 105 can therefore be implemented at least in part
within at least one processing platform that implements at least a
subset of the host devices 102.
[0019] The SAN 104 may be implemented using multiple networks of
different types to interconnect storage system components. For
example, the SAN 104 may comprise a portion of a global computer
network such as the Internet, although other types of networks can
be part of the SAN 104, including a wide area network (WAN), a
local area network (LAN), a satellite network, a telephone or cable
network, a cellular network, a wireless network such as a WiFi or
WiMAX network, or various portions or combinations of these and
other types of networks. The SAN 104 in some embodiments therefore
comprises combinations of multiple different types of networks each
comprising processing devices configured to communicate using
Internet Protocol (IP) or other related communication
protocols.
[0020] As a more particular example, some embodiments may utilize
one or more high-speed local networks in which associated
processing devices communicate with one another utilizing
Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) cards of those
devices, and networking protocols such as InfiniBand, Gigabit
Ethernet or Fibre Channel. Numerous alternative networking
arrangements are possible in a given embodiment, as will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art.
[0021] The host devices 102 comprise respective sets of IO queues
110-1, 110-2, . . . 110-N, respective MPIO drivers 112-1, 112-2, .
. . 112-N, respective containers 116-1, 116-2, . . . 116-N and
respective container logic 118-1, 118-2, . . . 118-N. The MPIO
drivers 112 collectively comprise a multipath layer of the host
devices 102 and are sometimes referred to herein as multipath
drivers. In some embodiments, the container logic 118 is
implemented at least in part by the MPIO drivers 112. In some
embodiments, the container logic 118 is implemented in part by the
MPIO drivers 112 and in part by other components of host devices
102.
[0022] The host devices 102 also comprise respective multipath
devices 114-1, 114-2, . . . 114-N. Multipath devices 114 are
logical devices that comprise information on one or more paths from
a host device 102 to a corresponding logical volume such as, e.g.,
a LUN, of a storage device 106. The individual block devices
representing each path are known as native devices. For example,
the MPIO drivers 112 group the information on all paths, e.g.,
native devices, from a host device 102 to a corresponding logical
volume into a multipath device 114 for that logical volume. An MPIO
driver 112 routes received IO operations from the host device 102
to the corresponding logical volume according to the information
found in the multipath device 114 corresponding to that logical
volume. In some embodiments, a multipath device 114 may be included
as part of a respective MPIO driver 112 of a host device 102. In
some embodiments, the multipath device 114 may be implemented
separately from an MPIO driver 112 of a host device 102 or may be
implemented on a host device 102 that does not include an MPIO
driver 112.
[0023] Applications 117-1, 117-2, . . . 117-N run in the containers
116 and utilize the multipath devices 114 for the submission of IO
operations for distribution and delivery across the available paths
to the storage array 105 by the MPIO driver 112. When paths fail,
the MPIO driver 112 will typically redirect the IO operations to
other alive paths in the multipath devices 114.
[0024] Paths may be added or deleted between the host devices 102
and the storage array 105 in the system 100. For example, the
addition of one or more new paths from host device 102-1 to the
storage array 105 or the deletion of one or more existing paths
from the host device 102-1 to the storage array 105 may result from
the respective addition or deletion of at least a portion of the
storage devices 106 of the storage array 105.
[0025] Addition or deletion of paths can also occur as a result of
zoning and masking changes or other types of storage system
reconfigurations performed by a storage administrator or other
user.
[0026] In some embodiments, paths are added or deleted in
conjunction with the addition of a new storage array or the
deletion of an existing storage array from a storage system that
includes multiple storage arrays, possibly in conjunction with
configuration of the storage system for at least one of a migration
operation and a replication operation.
[0027] For example, a storage system may include first and second
storage arrays, with data being migrated from the first storage
array to the second storage array prior to removing the first
storage array from the storage system.
[0028] As another example, a storage system may include a
production storage array and a recovery storage array, with data
being replicated from the production storage array to the recovery
storage array so as to be available for data recovery in the event
of a failure involving the production storage array.
[0029] In these and other situations, path discovery scans may be
performed by the MPIO drivers of the multipath layer as needed in
order to discover the addition of new paths or the deletion of
existing paths.
[0030] A given path discovery scan can be performed utilizing known
functionality of conventional MPIO drivers, such as PowerPath.RTM.
drivers.
[0031] The path discovery scan in some embodiments may be further
configured to identify one or more new LUNs or other logical
storage volumes associated with the one or more new paths
identified in the path discovery scan. The path discovery scan may
comprise, for example, one or more bus scans which are configured
to discover the appearance of any new LUNs that have been added to
the storage array 105 as well to discover the disappearance of any
existing LUNs that have been deleted from the storage array
105.
[0032] For each of one or more new paths identified in a path
discovery scan of the type described above, the corresponding one
of the host devices 102 is configured to execute a host
registration operation for that path. The host registration
operation for a given new path illustratively provides notification
to the storage array 105 that the corresponding one of the host
devices 102 has discovered the new path.
[0033] The MPIO drivers utilize the multiple paths described above
to send IO operations from the host devices 102 to the storage
array 105.
[0034] For example, an MPIO driver 112-1 is configured to select IO
operations from its corresponding set of IO queues 110-1 for
delivery to the storage array 105 over the SAN 104. The sources of
the IO operations stored in the set of IO queues 110-1
illustratively include respective processes of one or more
applications executing on the host device 102-1. Other types of
sources of IO operations may be present in a given implementation
of system 100.
[0035] The MPIO drivers described herein may comprise, for example,
otherwise conventional MPIO drivers, such as PowerPath.RTM. drivers
from Dell EMC, suitably modified in the manner disclosed herein to
implement functionality for triggering execution of multipath
operations in the user space by container applications via the
kernel space. Other types of MPIO drivers from other driver vendors
may be suitably modified to incorporate functionality for
triggering execution of multipath operations in the user space by
container applications via the kernel space as disclosed
herein.
[0036] The storage array 105 in the present embodiment is assumed
to comprise a persistent memory that is implemented using a flash
memory or other types of non-volatile memory of the storage array
105. More particular examples include NAND-based flash memory or
other types of non-volatile memory such as resistive RAM, phase
change memory, spin torque transfer magneto-resistive RAM
(STT-MRAM) and Intel Optane.TM. devices based on 3D XPoint.TM.
memory. The persistent memory is further assumed to be separate
from the storage devices 106 of the storage array 105, although in
other embodiments the persistent memory may be implemented as a
designated portion or portions of one or more of the storage
devices 106. For example, in some embodiments the storage devices
106 may comprise flash-based storage devices, as in embodiments
involving all-flash storage arrays.
[0037] The storage array 105 in the present embodiment further
comprises additional components such as response time control
module 120 and IO operation priority queues 122, illustratively
configured to make use of the above-described persistent memory.
For example, the response time control module 120 may be used to
implement storage array-based adjustments in response time for
particular IO operations based at least in part on service level
objective (SLO) information stored by the storage array 105 in its
persistent memory. The response time control module 120 operates in
conjunction with the IO operation priority queues 122.
[0038] The storage array 105 utilizes its IO operation priority
queues 122 to provide different levels of performance for IO
operations. For example, the IO operation priority queues 122 may
have respective different priority levels. The storage array 105
may be configured to provide different priority levels for
different ones of the IO operations by assigning different ones of
the IO operations to different ones of the IO operation priority
queues 122. The IO operation priority queues 122 are illustratively
associated with respective SLOs for processing of IO operations in
the storage array 105.
[0039] Process tags may be used in assigning different ones of the
IO operations to different ones of the IO operation priority queues
122, as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/849,828,
filed Dec. 21, 2017, and entitled "Storage System with Input-Output
Performance Control Utilizing Application Process Detection," which
issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,474,367 on Nov. 12, 2019 and is
incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
[0040] As mentioned above, communications between the host devices
102 and the storage array 105 may utilize PCIe connections or other
types of connections implemented over one or more networks. For
example, illustrative embodiments can use interfaces such as Serial
Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). Numerous other
interfaces and associated communication protocols can be used in
other embodiments.
[0041] The storage array 105 in some embodiments may be implemented
as part of cloud infrastructure in the form of a cloud-based system
such as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) system. Other examples of
cloud-based systems that can be used to provide at least portions
of the storage array 105 and possibly other portions of system 100
include Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Microsoft Azure.
[0042] The storage array 105 may additionally or alternatively be
configured to implement multiple distinct storage tiers of a
multi-tier storage system. By way of example, a given multi-tier
storage system may comprise a fast tier or performance tier
implemented using flash storage devices, and a capacity tier
implemented using hard disk drive devices. A wide variety of other
types of server-based flash storage devices and multi-tier storage
systems can be used in other embodiments, as will be apparent to
those skilled in the art. The particular storage devices used in a
given storage tier may be varied depending on the particular needs
of a given embodiment, and multiple distinct storage device types
may be used within a single storage tier. As indicated previously,
the term "storage device" as used herein is intended to be broadly
construed, and so may encompass, for example, disk drives, flash
drives, solid-state drives, hybrid drives or other types of storage
products and devices, or portions thereof, and illustratively
include logical storage devices such as LUNs.
[0043] As another example, the storage array 105 may be used to
implement one or more storage nodes in a cluster storage system
comprising a plurality of storage nodes interconnected by one or
more networks.
[0044] It should therefore be apparent that the term "storage
array" as used herein is intended to be broadly construed, and may
encompass multiple distinct instances of a commercially-available
storage array. For example, the storage array 105 may comprise one
or more storage arrays such as one or more VNX.RTM., VMAX.RTM.,
Unity.TM. or PowerMax.TM. storage arrays, commercially available
from Dell EMC.
[0045] Other types of storage products that can be used in
implementing a given storage system in illustrative embodiments
include software-defined storage, cloud storage, object-based
storage and scale-out storage. Combinations of multiple ones of
these and other storage types can also be used in implementing a
given storage system in an illustrative embodiment.
[0046] These and other storage systems can be part of what is more
generally referred to herein as a processing platform comprising
one or more processing devices each comprising a processor coupled
to a memory. A given such processing device may correspond to one
or more virtual machines or other types of virtualization
infrastructure such as Docker containers or other types of LXCs. As
indicated above, communications between such elements of system 100
may take place over one or more networks.
[0047] The term "processing platform" as used herein is intended to
be broadly construed so as to encompass, by way of illustration and
without limitation, multiple sets of processing devices and
associated storage systems that are configured to communicate over
one or more networks. For example, distributed implementations of
the host devices 102 are possible, in which certain ones of the
host devices 102 reside in one data center in a first geographic
location while other ones of the host devices 102 reside in one or
more other data centers in one or more other geographic locations
that are potentially remote from the first geographic location.
Thus, it is possible in some implementations of the system 100 for
different ones of the host devices 102 to reside in different data
centers than the storage array 105.
[0048] Numerous other distributed implementations of the host
devices 102 and/or the storage array 105 are possible. Accordingly,
the storage array 105 can also be implemented in a distributed
manner across multiple data centers.
[0049] It is to be appreciated that these and other features of
illustrative embodiments are presented by way of example only, and
should not be construed as limiting in any way. Accordingly,
different numbers, types and arrangements of system components such
as host devices 102, SAN 104, storage array 105, storage devices
106, sets of IO queues 110, MPIO drivers 112, containers 116,
applications 117 and container logic 118 can be used in other
embodiments.
[0050] It should also be understood that the particular sets of
modules and other components implemented in the system 100 as
illustrated in FIG. 1 are presented by way of example only. In
other embodiments, only subsets of these components, or additional
or alternative sets of components, may be used, and such components
may exhibit alternative functionality and configurations.
[0051] With reference to FIGS. 1-4, a host device 102 comprises a
user space 210, a kernel space 220 and a hardware space 230, and
communicates with the storage array 105 via SAN 104.
[0052] The user space 210 comprises one or more containers 116,
e.g., docker containers, a file system data structure 212, an MPIO
driver component 214 which is a user space component of MPIO driver
112, and a path mapping data structure 219. The kernel space 220
comprises an
[0053] MPIO driver component 222, which is a kernel space component
of MPIO driver 112, and an HBA driver 226 which is configured to
interface with an HBA 232 in the hardware space 230. HBA 232 is
used by the HBA driver 226 to communicate with the storage array
105 via the SAN 104 to submit IO operations for a logical volume
240 of the storage array 105. The MPIO driver component 222
comprises IO load balancing and submission functionality 224 which
is utilized by the MPIO driver to select on or more paths for the
submission of IO operations to the storage array 105.
[0054] Containers 116 offer a logical packaging mechanism in which
applications 117 can be abstracted from the environment in which
they actually run. This decoupling allows container-based
applications 117 to be deployed easily and consistently, regardless
of whether the target environment is a private data center, the
public cloud or even a personal computing device. A given container
116 comprises an application 117 which may submit IO operations for
delivery to the storage array 105 by the MPIO driver 112.
[0055] As mentioned above, MPIO drivers 112 comprise multipathing
software that is used to manage the usage and load balancing of the
various paths to the logical volumes 240 of the storage array 105.
An MPIO driver 112 generates a multipath device 114 for each
logical volume 240 managed by the MPIO driver 112 and provides the
multipath device 114 for use by the host device 102 or applications
117 under an assigned pseudo name. The mapping between the pseudo
name associated with a multipath device 114 and the corresponding
logical volume 240 is maintained in the path mapping data structure
219 in the user space 210. Any time a logical volume 240 is added
to or removed from the storage array 105, the path mapping data
structure 219 needs to be updated so that the mapping is consistent
even if the host device 102 is subsequently rebooted.
[0056] The MPIO driver component 214 comprises a daemon process 216
that is configured to execute user space operations associated with
the MPIO driver 112. The daemon process 216 is a user space process
associated with the MPIO driver 112 that communicates with the MPIO
driver component 222 in the kernel space and performs a variety of
monitoring and reporting functions. The daemon process 216 utilizes
a hanging message, e.g., a hanging input-output control (IOCTL)
message, that is sent to the kernel space MPIO driver component
222. The hanging message stays open and pending at the MPIO driver
component 222 until the MPIO driver component 222 replies with a
response. The MPIO driver component 222 typically sends a response
to the hanging message only when it needs some job to be performed
in the user space by the daemon process 216. For example, if the
MPIO driver component 222 in the kernel detects that new logical
volumes 240 are added to the storage array 105, it may inform the
daemon process 216 to trigger a bus rescan and to execute a command
to make the corresponding multipath devices 214 available and then
complete their configuration in the MPIO driver 112. Once a
response to the hanging message is received by the daemon process
216 from the MPIO driver component 222, the daemon process 216
sends another hanging message to the MPIO driver component 222 to
await an additional response.
[0057] The file system data structure 212 comprises a kernel-based
in-memory file system such as, e.g., a process file system
(procfs), system file system (sysfs) or another similar data
structure. In some embodiments, the file system data structure 212
is implemented such that it only exists while the host device 102
is powered on and active. The file system data structure 212
comprises an interface that is provided by the operating system of
the host device 102 for use as a medium for user level processes to
interact with the kernel. In a typical host device 102, the file
system data structure 212 is only available to the operating system
of the host device 102 but not to applications 117 running in the
container 116. The file system data structure 212 comprises entries
302-1, 302-2, . . . 302-Q which may be written to in a similar
manner to a file of the host device 102. Typically, a callback
routine is associated with each entry 302 that gets called when any
data is changed or added to the entry 302. The callback routine
indicates to the MPIO driver component 222 that something has been
changed or added. For example, a flag associated with each entry
302 may invoke a kernel function such as handler 228 of the MPIO
driver component 222 of the MPIO driver 112 when set which may then
indicate to the MPIO driver component 222 that an entry has been
modified and cause the MPIO driver component 222 to trigger an
event that corresponds to that entry.
[0058] The application 117 runs inside the container 116 to provide
a layer of isolation between the application functionality and the
functionality of the host device 102. Such containerized
applications gain access to the resources of the host device 102
through the use of namespace pseudo names such as, e.g., SCSI
namespace pseudo names such as sda, sdb, . . . sdx, or pseudo names
assigned to the multipath devices 114 by an installed MPIO driver
112. The correspondence between the namespace pseudo names assigned
to the multipath devices 114 and the corresponding logical volumes
240 is stored in respective entries 402-1, 402-2, . . . 402-R and
404-1, 404-2, . . . 404-R of the path mapping data structure 219 in
the user space 210. For example, an entry 402-1 may comprise a
pseudo name assigned to a multipath device 114 and an entry 404-1
may comprise an indication of the corresponding logical volume 240
of the storage array 105 to which the pseudo name is mapped. The
operating system of the host device 102 such as, e.g., Linux, often
supports dynamic changes to its multipath devices 114, e.g., add,
remove and modification operations, which may require a rescan of
the underlying layers such as, e.g., the SCSI layer, to determine
what logical volumes 240 have changed and to update the entries 402
and 404 in the path mapping data structure 219 accordingly. For
example, a MPIO driver 112 may invoke a utility program that
performs check, configure and release operations which makes sure
that the latest changes are reflected by correspondence between
namespace pseudo names and logical volumes 240 found in the entries
402 and 404 of the path mapping data structure 219.
[0059] Some MPIO drivers 112 comprise components that run in the
user space 210 of the host device 102, whether physical or VM, but
do not run inside the containers 116 residing in the user space 210
of that host device 102. The containerized applications 117
typically need to periodically communicate with the storage array
105 to provision new logical volumes 240 or remove old logical
volumes 240 as the need arises. For example, when old logical
volumes 240 are removed from the storage array 105, all the paths
to those removed logical volumes 240 become "dead" or otherwise
unavailable for use by the MPIO driver 112. The pseudo name to
logical volume mapping for the multipath device 114 comprising
these unavailable paths is typically not removed automatically from
the path mapping data structure 219, and the corresponding pseudo
names assigned to the multipath devices 114 for the unavailable
paths are not available for use by multipath devices 114 associated
with new logical volumes 240.
[0060] To complete a logical volume removal operation, two steps
often need to be performed. A check force operation which removes
the dead or unavailable paths and a release operation which
releases the pseudo name used by the multipath device 114
corresponding to the removed logical volume 240, e.g., by removing
the mapping between the pseudo name and the corresponding logical
volume 240 from the path mapping data structure 219.
[0061] However, an application 117 running inside a container 116
typically cannot issue commands to perform such check force and
release operations. This is because the utility tool for executing
these operations is available only in the user space 210 of the
host device 102, but not in the container 116. In addition, even if
the utility tool and its associated libraries are copied to the
container 116, the character device that is needed for the user
space processes to communicate with the MPIO driver 112 is not
accessible due to the isolation of the application 117 by the
container 116. There is also the potential issue of whether or not
the operating system of the container 116 is different from the
operating system of the host device 102 which may inhibit the
application 117 from executing the utility tool operations and from
using the associated libraries even if they were copied into the
container 116.
[0062] Even if the utility tool and the associated libraries are
copied to the container 116, the operating system in the container
116 is the same as the operating system of the host device 102 and
the character device is also exposed to the container 116 in some
manner to allow access, the path mapping data structure 219 still
resides in the user space 210 of the host device 102 and is
therefore inaccessible to the application 117 in the container 116
due to the isolation of the application 117 by the container 116.
Attempts to expose the path mapping data structure 219 to the
container 116 provide a unique set of challenges due to the
difficulties in performing locking of the path mapping data
structure 219 between processes executing in the container 116 and
processes executing in the host device 102 since the application
117 is isolated from the host device 102 by the container 116.
[0063] Maintaining a copy of the path mapping data structure 219
inside the container 116 may present other challenges since the
container can be moved from one host device 102 to another which
may require significant efforts to maintain a synchronization
between the copy of the path mapping data structure in the
container 116 and the path mapping data structure 219 in the user
space 210 of whichever host device 102 the container 116 currently
resides.
[0064] A communication mechanism such as, e.g., an Inter Process
Communication protocol (IPC), a Secure Shell protocol (SSH) or a
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), may be used by the application
117 to access the host device 102 and execute these utility tools
in the user space 210 of the host device 102 but such a
communication mechanism also present challenges in both security
and inefficiency since context switching is involved.
[0065] An application 117 running inside a container 116 often
expects changes to the path mapping data structure 219 when the
application 117 requests provisioning of new logical volumes 240 or
the removal of logical volumes 240 by the storage array 105. In
such a case, the application 117 may wish to issue a scan of the
device tree by the host device 102 to update the path mapping data
structure 219. As mentioned above, due to the isolation provided by
the container 116, the application 117 is unable to trigger these
operations directly in the user space 210 and instead must wait for
the MPIO driver 112 to perform these operations on its own as part
of its normal functionality, which may delay the availability of
the new logical volumes 240 or the removal and reallocation of
pseudo names from the multipath devices 114 associated with dead or
unavailable logical volumes 240 to multipath devices 114 associated
with new logical volumes 240.
[0066] The disclosed container logic 118 extends the MPIO driver
112 in such a way that it operates in a similar manner to native
storage protocols such as, e.g., SCSI, and implements the MPIO
driver 112 to container 116 interactions in a way that improves
both docker compliance and efficiency. Container logic 118 is
configured to provide a mechanism for the application 117 residing
in the container 116 to provide an indication to the MPIO driver
112 that a rescanning of the available logical volumes 240 and
multipath devices 114 and an updating of the path mapping data
structure 219 needs to be performed. For example, when the
application 117 issues commands to the storage array 105 to add or
remove logical volumes 240, it will also be able to utilize the
container logic 118 to provide an indication to the MPIO driver 112
that that a rescan is needed to update the path mapping data
structure 219 so that system remains healthy and presents the
latest multipath devices 114 for use by the application 117 and
MPIO driver 112.
[0067] The MPIO driver 112 maintains entries in the file system
data structure 212, e.g., a procfs or sysfs data structure of the
host device 102, which may be utilized for basic functionalities
such as changing logging levels or performing developer options. In
illustrative embodiments, entries 302 of the file system data
structure 212 are utilized by container logic 118 for triggering
rescans and path mapping data structure updates by the application
117. In some cases, an entry is added, created or repurposed in the
file system data structure 212 by the MPIO driver 112 for each
operation that the application 117. In some cases, a particular
entry 302 may correspond to a request to perform a rescan, check,
release, remove, or any other operation by the MPIO driver 112. For
example, in some embodiments, a separate entry 302 may correspond
to each operation to be performed.
[0068] The container logic 118 is configured to mount the file
system data structure 212 to the container 116 where the
application 117 is running such that the application 117 can
manipulate the entries 302 of the file system data structure 212
via the mounting. For example, the application 117 may set a value,
e.g., a flag, in a given entry 302 that corresponds to a rescan via
the mounting to indicate to the MPIO driver 112 that a rescan is
requested by the application 117.
[0069] When the value is set for a given entry 302, the callback
routine invokes the handler 228 of the MPIO driver component 222
which triggers the MPIO driver component 222 to issue an event as a
response to the hanging message of the daemon process 216. For
example, the event may comprise an instruction to the daemon
process 216 to perform one or more operations in the user space 210
that correspond to the modified entry 302 such as, e.g., a rescan
operation, a check force operation, a release operation or any
other operation.
[0070] On receipt of such an event in response to the hanging
message, the daemon process 216 executes the relevant multipath
operation or operations in the user space. For example, in response
to an event comprising an instruction to perform a rescan
operation, the daemon process 216 may perform a check force
operation followed by a release operation which effectively removes
the multipath devices 114 comprising the dead or unavailable paths
to a logical volume 240 that has been removed and releases the
corresponding pseudo names associated with those multipath devices
114 in the path mapping data structure 219 for use with any new
logical volumes 240 that may be allocated by the application
117.
[0071] While the rescan operation is described above, any other
operation that needs to be performed in the user space 210 of the
host device 102 by the application 117 may be triggered through the
use of the above described container logic 118. In addition, while
described above with reference to a handler 228 of an MPIO driver
component 222 and daemon process 216 of an MPIO driver component
214, in some embodiments, handlers and daemon processes associated
with other components of a host device 102 may be utilized where,
for example, an application 117 may be configured to trigger any
operation in the user space 210 of the host device 102 via the
container logic 118 using those other handlers and daemon processes
including those that are not associated with MPIO driver
operations.
[0072] Illustrative embodiments of the techniques and functionality
of container logic 118 will now be described in more detail with
reference to the flow diagram of FIG. 5.
[0073] The process as shown in FIG. 5 includes steps 500 through
508, and is suitable for use in the system 100 but is more
generally applicable to other types of systems comprising multiple
host devices and a shared storage system.
[0074] While the example process of FIG. 5 is described below from
the perspective a host device 102, any of the host devices 102-1,
102-2, . . . 102-N may be configured to perform one or more of the
steps of the process of FIG. 5.
[0075] At step 500, container logic 118 mounts the file system data
structure 212 to a container 116 of a host device 102.
[0076] At step 502, the MPIO driver component 222 in the kernel
space 220 determines that a given file system entry 302 of the file
system data structure 212 has been modified by the application 117
in the container 116 via the mounting based at least in part on a
detection of a change to the given file system entry 302 by the
handler 228, e.g., due to the callback routine for that entry.
[0077] At step 504, the MPIO driver component 222 issues an event
that is configured for processing by the daemon process 216 in the
user space 210 based at least in part on the determination that the
given file system entry 302 has been modified. For example, the
MPIO driver component 222 may issue the event as a response to a
hanging message of the daemon process 216.
[0078] At step 506, the daemon process 216 determines that the
event has been issued by the MPIO driver component 222 in the
kernel space 220. For example, the daemon process 216 receives the
event as a response to the hanging message. In some embodiments,
the daemon process 216 may submit another hanging message to the
MPIO driver component 222 to await additional responses.
[0079] At step 508, the daemon process 216 executes an operation
associated with the MPIO driver 112 in the user space 210 based at
least in part on the issued event, e.g., a rescan, force check,
release or other operation.
[0080] Separate instances of the process of FIG. 5 may be performed
in respective additional host devices that share the storage
array.
[0081] The particular processing operations and other system
functionality described in conjunction with the flow diagrams of
FIG. 5 are presented by way of illustrative example only, and
should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in
any way. Alternative embodiments can use other types of processing
operations involving host devices, storage systems and container
logic. For example, the ordering of the process steps may be varied
in other embodiments, or certain steps may be performed at least in
part concurrently with one another rather than serially. Also, one
or more of the process steps may be repeated periodically, or
multiple instances of the process can be performed in parallel with
one another in order to implement a plurality of different
container logic arrangements within a given information processing
system.
[0082] Functionality such as that described in conjunction with the
flow diagram of FIG. 5 can be implemented at least in part in the
form of one or more software programs stored in memory and executed
by a processor of a processing device such as a computer or server.
As will be described herein, a memory or other storage device
having executable program code of one or more software programs
embodied therein is an example of what is more generally referred
to herein as a "processor-readable storage medium."
[0083] The above-described functions associated with functionality
for triggering execution of multipath operations in the user space
by container applications via the kernel space are carried out at
least in part under the control of its container logic 118. For
example, container logic 118 is illustratively configured to
control performance of portions of the process shown in the flow
diagram described above in conjunction with FIG. 5.
[0084] It is assumed that each of the other MPIO drivers 112 are
configured in a manner similar to that described above and
elsewhere herein for the first MPIO driver 112-1. The other host
devices 102 of the system 100 are therefore also configured to
communicate over the SAN 104 with the storage array 105, and the
MPIO drivers 112 of such other host devices 102 are each similarly
configured to select IO operations from a corresponding one of the
sets of IO queues 110 for delivery to the storage array 105 over
the SAN 104, and to perform the disclosed functionality for
triggering execution of multipath operations in the user space by
container applications via the kernel space. Accordingly,
functionality described above in the context of the first MPIO
driver 112-1 is assumed to be similarly performed by each of the
other MPIO drivers 112-2 through 112-N.
[0085] The MPIO drivers 112 may be otherwise configured utilizing
well-known MPIO functionality such as that described in K. Piepho,
"Dell EMC SC Series Storage: Microsoft Multipath I/O," Dell EMC
Engineering, June 2017, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Such conventional MPIO functionality is suitably modified in
illustrative embodiments disclosed herein to support triggering
execution of multipath operations in the user space by container
applications via the kernel space.
[0086] Although in some embodiments certain commands used by the
host devices 102 to communicate with the storage array 105
illustratively comprise SCSI commands, other types of commands and
command formats can be used in other embodiments. For example, some
embodiments can implement IO operations utilizing command features
and functionality associated with NVMe, as described in the NVMe
Specification, Revision 1.3, May 2017, which is incorporated by
reference herein. Other storage protocols of this type that may be
utilized in illustrative embodiments disclosed herein include NVMe
over Fabric, also referred to as NVMeoF.
[0087] As indicated previously, absent the use of the functionality
for triggering execution of multipath operations in the user space
by container applications via the kernel space as disclosed herein,
container applications are unable to force a rescan and update of
the available multipath devices and corresponding pseudo names and
instead must wait until such a rescan occurs naturally as part of
the MPIO functionality which may result in inefficient system usage
and inhibits the availability of new logical volumes in a timely
manner.
[0088] Such drawbacks are advantageously overcome in illustrative
embodiments herein by utilization of container logic 118 to
implement functionality for triggering execution of multipath
operations in the user space by container applications via the
kernel space as described above. For example, by mounting the file
system data structure to the container, the application is enabled
to modify entries in the files system data structure as a way of
instructing the MPIO driver to trigger a rescan or other operation.
The MPIO driver component in the kernel space then communicates
with the daemon process in the user space to perform the operation
and update the path mapping data structure. This allows the
application, which may already be aware of changes to the logical
volumes of the storage array due to the application requesting such
changes, to force the rescan in conjunction with those changes
which results in faster and more efficient updating of the path
mapping data structure in response based on those changes.
[0089] It is to be appreciated that the particular advantages
described above are associated with particular illustrative
embodiments and need not be present in other embodiments. Also, the
particular types of information processing system features and
functionality as illustrated in the drawings and described above
are exemplary only, and numerous other arrangements may be used in
other embodiments.
[0090] It was noted above that portions of an information
processing system as disclosed herein may be implemented using one
or more processing platforms. Illustrative embodiments of such
platforms will now be described in greater detail. These and other
processing platforms may be used to implement at least portions of
other information processing systems in other embodiments. A given
such processing platform comprises at least one processing device
comprising a processor coupled to a memory.
[0091] One illustrative embodiment of a processing platform that
may be used to implement at least a portion of an information
processing system comprises cloud infrastructure including virtual
machines implemented using a hypervisor that runs on physical
infrastructure. The cloud infrastructure further comprises sets of
applications running on respective ones of the virtual machines
under the control of the hypervisor. It is also possible to use
multiple hypervisors each providing a set of virtual machines using
at least one underlying physical machine. Different sets of virtual
machines provided by one or more hypervisors may be utilized in
configuring multiple instances of various components of the
system.
[0092] These and other types of cloud infrastructure can be used to
provide what is also referred to herein as a multi-tenant
environment. One or more system components such as virtual
machines, or portions thereof, are illustratively implemented for
use by tenants of such a multi-tenant environment.
[0093] Cloud infrastructure as disclosed herein can include
cloud-based systems such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud
Platform and Microsoft Azure. Virtual machines provided in such
systems can be used to implement a fast tier or other front-end
tier of a multi-tier storage system in illustrative embodiments. A
capacity tier or other back-end tier of such a multi-tier storage
system can be implemented using one or more object stores such as
Amazon S3, Google Cloud Platform Cloud Storage, and Microsoft Azure
Blob Storage.
[0094] In some embodiments, the cloud infrastructure additionally
or alternatively comprises a plurality of containers illustratively
implemented using respective operating system kernel control groups
of one or more container host devices. For example, a given
container of cloud infrastructure illustratively comprises a Docker
container or other type of LXC implemented using a kernel control
group. The containers may run on virtual machines in a multi-tenant
environment, although other arrangements are possible. The
containers may be utilized to implement a variety of different
types of functionality within the system 100. For example,
containers can be used to implement respective compute nodes or
storage nodes of a cloud-based system. Again, containers may be
used in combination with other virtualization infrastructure such
as virtual machines implemented using a hypervisor.
[0095] Another illustrative embodiment of a processing platform
that may be used to implement at least a portion of an information
processing system comprises a plurality of processing devices which
communicate with one another over at least one network. The network
may comprise any type of network, including by way of example a
global computer network such as the Internet, a WAN, a LAN, a
satellite network, a telephone or cable network, a cellular
network, a wireless network such as a WiFi or WiMAX network, or
various portions or combinations of these and other types of
networks.
[0096] Each processing device of the processing platform comprises
a processor coupled to a memory. The processor may comprise a
microprocessor, a microcontroller, an application-specific
integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA),
a graphics processing unit (GPU) or other type of processing
circuitry, as well as portions or combinations of such circuitry
elements. The memory may comprise random access memory (RAM),
read-only memory (ROM), flash memory or other types of memory, in
any combination. The memory and other memories disclosed herein
should be viewed as illustrative examples of what are more
generally referred to as "processor-readable storage media" storing
executable program code of one or more software programs.
[0097] Articles of manufacture comprising such processor-readable
storage media are considered illustrative embodiments. A given such
article of manufacture may comprise, for example, a storage array,
a storage disk or an integrated circuit containing RAM, ROM, flash
memory or other electronic memory, or any of a wide variety of
other types of computer program products. The term "article of
manufacture" as used herein should be understood to exclude
transitory, propagating signals.
[0098] Also included in the processing device is network interface
circuitry, which is used to interface the processing device with
the network and other system components, and may comprise
conventional transceivers.
[0099] As another example, portions of a given processing platform
in some embodiments can comprise converged infrastructure such as
VxRail.TM., VxRack.TM., VxRack.TM. FLEX, VxBlock.TM. or Vblock.RTM.
converged infrastructure from VCE, the Virtual Computing
Environment Company, now the Converged Platform and Solutions
Division of Dell EMC.
[0100] Again, these particular processing platforms are presented
by way of example only, and other embodiments may include
additional or alternative processing platforms, as well as numerous
distinct processing platforms in any combination, with each such
platform comprising one or more computers, servers, storage devices
or other processing devices.
[0101] It should therefore be understood that in other embodiments
different arrangements of additional or alternative elements may be
used. At least a subset of these elements may be collectively
implemented on a common processing platform, or each such element
may be implemented on a separate processing platform.
[0102] Also, numerous other arrangements of computers, servers,
storage devices or other components are possible in an information
processing system as disclosed herein. Such components can
communicate with other elements of the information processing
system over any type of network or other communication media.
[0103] As indicated previously, components of an information
processing system as disclosed herein can be implemented at least
in part in the form of one or more software programs stored in
memory and executed by a processor of a processing device. For
example, at least portions of the functionality of host devices
102, SAN 104 and storage array 105 are illustratively implemented
in the form of software running on one or more processing devices.
As a more particular example, the container logic 118 may be
implemented at least in part in software, as indicated previously
herein.
[0104] It should again be emphasized that the above-described
embodiments are presented for purposes of illustration only. Many
variations and other alternative embodiments may be used. For
example, the disclosed techniques are applicable to a wide variety
of other types of information processing systems, utilizing other
arrangements of host devices, networks, storage systems, storage
arrays, storage devices, processors, memories, IO queues, MPIO
drivers, container logic and additional or alternative components.
Also, the particular configurations of system and device elements
and associated processing operations illustratively shown in the
drawings can be varied in other embodiments. For example, a wide
variety of different MPIO driver configurations and associated
container logic arrangements can be used in other embodiments.
Moreover, the various assumptions made above in the course of
describing the illustrative embodiments should also be viewed as
exemplary rather than as requirements or limitations. Numerous
other alternative embodiments within the scope of the appended
claims will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
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