Systems and methods for supporting dynamic disk growth within a virtual storage appliance are provided. According to one embodiment, a portion of a logical size of respective hyperscale disks provided by a hyperscaler are provisioned for use by a virtual storage system as backing for respective file system disks. To accommodate growth, block numbers for the file system disks are pre-allocated within a sparse space of a contiguous sequence of block numbers corresponding to a number of blocks represented by the logical size. Metadata is maintained for the file system disks regarding a range of the pre-allocated block numbers that are available for use. Responsive to a triggering condition, the provisioned portion of a hyperscale disk is increased and subsequently, responsive to detecting a change in a size of the hyperscale disk by the virtual storage system, a size of the corresponding file system disk is updated within the metadata.

Techniques for provisioning storage may include: initially provisioning storage for a storage group of logical devices; tagging the storage group to enable autonomous storage provisioning; receiving a plurality of parameters used in connection with performing autonomous storage provisioning for the storage group, wherein the plurality of parameters includes a first parameter denoting a threshold amount of consumed storage of the storage group, a second parameter denoting a storage capacity expansion amount by which to expand the storage capacity of the storage group, and a third parameter denoting a system-wide threshold of consumed backend non-volatile storage; determining, in accordance with the plurality of parameters, whether to expand a current storage capacity of the storage group; and responsive to determining to expand the current storage capacity of the storage group, performing first processing to automatically expand the current storage capacity of the storage group in accordance with the second parameter.

A system and method for exposing volumes with underlying read-write mediums to user operations. When a medium is in the process of being migrated to a storage array, a volume which relies on the medium can be exposed to user operations (e.g., snapshots, read and write operations) once the portions of the medium which underlie the volume have been migrated. The volume can be exposed to user operations while one or more other portions of the medium are unfilled and while the medium is in an intermediate read-write state.

Managing input/output (‘I/O’) queues in a data storage system, including: receiving, by a host that is coupled to a plurality of storage devices via a storage network, a plurality of I/O operations to be serviced by a target storage device; determining, for each of a plurality of paths between the host and the target storage device, a data transfer maximum associated with the path; determining, for one or more of the plurality of paths, a cumulative amount of data to be transferred by I/O operations pending on the path; and selecting a target path for transmitting one or more of the plurality of I/O operations to the target storage device in dependence upon the cumulative amount of data to be transferred by I/O operations pending on the path and the data transfer maximum associated with the path.

A method includes: storing a first data extent on a physical medium, wherein the physical medium is divided into a plurality of storage blocks, wherein each of the storage blocks has a size that is different than a size of the first data extent, further wherein the first data extent is stored to a first block of the plurality of storage blocks; generating a descriptor for the first data extent, wherein the descriptor indicates that the first data extent starts within the first block of the plurality of blocks and indicates an offset from the beginning of the first block at which the first data extent starts; and storing the descriptor within the first block.

The lifespans of the solid stated drives (SSDs) of a storage array are modeled using linear regression with monitored wear level and power-on time. The models predict when individual SSDs will reach a wear level corresponding to readiness for replacement. A drive replacement process makes efficient use of available empty drive slots to replace SSDs in batches. SSDs that are ready for replacement are ranked in terms of priority for replacement. If the number of SSDs that are ready for replacement exceeds the number of available empty drive slots, then ranking us used to assign individual SSDs to different batches for replacement.

A data storage management layer comprises computing device(s), operatively connected to storage resources, which comprise data storage units and control units. The data storage management layer is operatively connected to the storage resources. They are operatively connected to host computers. A sub-set of the storage resources are assigned to each host, in order to provide storage services according to performance requirements predefined for the host, thereby generating Virtual Private Arrays (VPA). The computing device(s) are configured to perform a method of managing the data storage system comprising: (a) implement storage management strategies, comprising rules. The rules comprise conditions and actions. The actions are capable of improving VPA performance in a dynamic manner; (b) repetitively performing: (i) monitor VPA performance for detection of compliance of VPA with the condition(s); and (ii) responsive to detection of compliance of VPA with the condition(s), performing the action(s).

Techniques for managing data involve receiving a write request to write a data block into a first stripe in a disk array, the write request comprising a first storage address for storing the data block. The techniques further involve determining, based on the first storage address, a first group of disks related to a data portion of the first stripe and a second group of disks related to a parity portion of the first stripe. The techniques further involve, in response to a first disk in the first group of disks being unavailable, storing a data sub-block related to the first disk into a first parity portion of the parity portion such that the data block is stored in the first stripe, the first parity portion being located at a second disk in the second group of disks. The techniques further involve returning a response to the write request, the response comprising a first indication indicating a status of the disks in the disk array.

An electronics assembly including a plurality of midplanes positioned between and coupled to a plurality of electronic components at one side of the plurality of midplanes and at least one electronic component at an opposite side of the plurality of midplanes in a manner so that the midplanes are vertically oriented in parallel relative to each other so as to define spaces therebetween. The midplanes each include electrical traces configured to send signals among and between the plurality of electronic components at the one side of the midplanes and the at least one electronic component at the opposite side of the midplanes.

Embodiments are directed to a method and system of forecasting a disk drive survival period in a data storage network, by obtaining operating system data and manufacturer data for the disk drive to create a dataset, screening the dataset to identify a number of features to be selected for model creation, wherein the data set includes censored data and non-censored data, and performing, in an analytics engine, semi-parametric survival analysis on the data set using transfer learning on the model to provide a time-based failure prediction of the disk drive. A graphical user interface provides to a user the failure prediction in one of text form or graphical form.