Distributed virtual array data storage system and method

摘要

Embodiments of a distributed virtual array data storage system and method are disclosed. Storage nodes made up of relatively unsophisticated disks with associated processors are scalable to store very large amounts of data. The storage nodes communicate with servers directly over a network through, for example, an Ethernet connection. Control of the storage nodes and access to the storage nodes is handled entirely on the server side of the system by distributed virtual array (DVA) software running on the server side and employing a particular protocol over the standard network connection. In an embodiment, server-side virtual machine (VM) hosts host application VMs that are associated with vDisks. The DVA software distributes data for the vDisk over the storage nodes. In the case of failure of one or more of the storage nodes, the DVA software reconstructs the data, for example by reading redundant data from surviving storage nodes.

主权项

1. A data storage system comprising:
a plurality of storage nodes coupled to a network, the storage nodes comprising data storage devices and central processing units (CPUs), wherein at least one of the CPUs is configured to perform storage access and management function; at least one VM host compute server coupled to the network and hosting at least one application VM comprising at least one virtual disk (vDisk), wherein the VM host compute server executes instructions for a distributed virtual array (DVA) method, the method comprising,
distributing the data for the at least one vDisk over a plurality of the storage nodes; andin a case of failure of a component of a storage node, reconstructing missing data by reading redundant data from one or more of the surviving storage nodes.