Nearstore compression of data in a storage system

摘要

A network adapter receives a request to store a data block. The data block is sent from the network adapter to a compression module. The compression module generates a compressed data block from the data block. The compressed data block or a reference to the compressed data block is stored in a buffer cache. The compressed data block is stored in nonvolatile memory. It is determined that the compressed data block should be flushed a storage device. In response to determining that the compressed data block should be flushed to the storage device, the compressed data block is flushed from the nonvolatile memory to the storage device.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, at a network adapter of a storage controller, a data block to store; sending, from the network adapter to a compression module of the storage controller, the data block; in response to receiving the data block from the network adapter, generating, by the compression module, a compressed data block from the data block; storing, by the compression module, the compressed data block or a reference to the compressed data block in a buffer cache, wherein the storage controller comprises the buffer cache; storing, by the compression module, the compressed data block in nonvolatile memory, wherein the storage controller comprises the nonvolatile memory; determining, by the storage controller, that the compressed data block should be flushed to a physical storage device coupled with the storage controller; and in response to determining that the compressed data block should be flushed to the physical storage device, flushing the compressed data block from the nonvolatile memory to the physical storage device.