Storage system with reduced energy consumption

摘要

A control layer of a data storage system is configured to identify one or more physical data units in the physical storage, which are associated only with corresponding logical snapshot data units, and to reallocate such physical snapshot data units to a dedicated storage space. The dedicated storage space can be a low-power storage space, which includes one or more disks designated as low power disks. The reallocation of snapshot data units to low power disks can be carried out according to an energy-aware migration policy, directed for minimizing the activation of the low power disks, and maintaining the disks in an inactive state for longer periods of time.

主权项

1. A method of operating a storage system with snapshot generating capability, the storage system comprising a control layer configured to present a plurality of logical allocation units, said control layer being associated with a cache memory and further operatively coupled to a physical storage space constituted by a plurality of disks, the method comprising:
identifying one or more physical data units being associated with one or more logical snapshot data units while not being associated with corresponding source logical data units; wherein the one or more logical snapshot data units are designated as a snapshot of the corresponding source logical data units; migrating the identified physical data units to one or more disks in said physical storage space which are dedicated for storing snapshot data.