DHHT-RAID: A Distributed Heterogeneous Scalable Architecture for Dynamic Storage Environments

Abstract

In this work we present storage allocation strategies for huge Storage Area Networks. The major approach, the new scalable DHHT-RAID strategy, it is based on Distributed Heterogeneous Hash Tables, where the storage environment consists of a dynamic set of heterogeneous devices, serving a dynamic set of data. Additionally each device that joins or is removed from the system, generates only minimal impact on the availability of data even if any of known RAID levels is applied. Furthermore such dynamics will cause a minimal impact on the access bandwidth to preserve the specific RAID attributes and a balanced data distribution. Additionally, beneath such dynamics this strategy features all RAID levels at any time, coexistent, with embedded autonomous rebalancing, and without massive time consuming re-stripes neither administrative intensive offset tables nor manual reallocations, and it allocates the approximately maximal capacity, only be restrained by the applied RAID Levels.