Pure Storage Assigned Ten Patents

Storage array password management
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,516,016) developed by Colgrove, John, Los Altos, CA, Miller, Ethan, Santa Cruz, CA, and Hayes, John, Mountain View, CA, for a “storage array password management.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method for generating passwords for secure login to a storage array. A randomly generated root secret is utilized along with a compartment ID to generate a root password for logging into a storage array with root privileges. The root secret is encrypted with the public key of a public-private key pair and stored on the storage array. The encrypted root secret is then stored in the storage array. When root access is needed, a private key stored externally to the storage array is utilized to decrypt the root secret. The decrypted root secret is then used along with the compartment ID to regenerate the root password.“

The patent application was filed on November 11, 2013 (14/076,468).

Dynamically controlling temporary compromise on data redundancy
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,513,820) developed by Shalev, Ori, Cupertino, CA, for a “dynamically controlling temporary compromise on data redundancy.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods for determining when to allow a temporary compromise on redundancy in a storage system. When servicing write requests, the storage system may utilize data redundancy techniques when writing data to backend storage devices. The operating conditions of the storage system are tracked and early acknowledgements for write requests may be permitted when the storage system is healthy enough. If the number of unacknowledged writes is greater than a programmable threshold, then early acknowledges may be prohibited. Also, if the number of ongoing rebuild processes is greater than a programmable threshold, then early acknowledges may be prohibited.“

The patent application was filed on April 7, 2014 (14/246,900).

Migrating data in storage array
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,507,532) developed by Colgrove, John, Los Altos, CA, Do, Lydia, San Jose, CA, and Miller, Ethan, Santa Cruz, CA, for a “migrating data in a storage array that includes a plurality of storage devices and a plurality of write buffer devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Migrating data in a storage array that includes a plurality of storage devices and a plurality of write buffer devices, including: detecting, by the storage array, an occurrence of a write buffer device evacuation event associated with one or more source write buffer devices, responsive to detecting the occurrence of the write buffer device evacuation event, determining, by the storage array, whether the storage array includes at least a predetermined amount of write buffer resources in addition to the one or more source write buffer devices, and responsive to determining that the storage array includes at least a predetermined amount of write buffer resources in addition to the one or more source write buffer devices, reducing, by the storage array, write access to the one or more source write buffer devices.“

The patent application was filed on May 20, 2016 (15/159,889).

Scheduling policy for queues in non-volatile solid-state storage
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,501,244) developed by Hayes, John, Gupta, Shantanu, Davis, John, Gold, Brian, and Tan, Zhangxi, Mountain View, CA, for a “scheduling policy for queues in a non-volatile solid-state storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method of applying scheduling policies is provided. The method includes distributing user data throughout a plurality of storage nodes through erasure coding, wherein the plurality of storage nodes are housed within a single chassis coupling the storage nodes as a cluster. The method includes receiving operations relating to a non-volatile memory of one of the plurality of storage nodes into a plurality of operation queues. The method includes evaluating each of the operations in the plurality of operation queues as to benefit to the non-volatile solid-state storage according to a plurality of policies. For each channel of a plurality of channels coupling the operation queues to the non-volatile memory, the method includes iterating a selection and an execution of a next operation from the plurality of operation queues, with each next operation having a greater benefit than at least a subset of operations remaining in the operation queues.“

The patent application was filed on October 24, 2014 (14/523,719).

Error recovery in storage cluster
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,495,255) developed by Davis, John D., Hayes, John, Tan, Zhangxi, Kannan, Hari, and Miladinovic, Nenad, Mountain View, CA, for a “error recovery in a storage cluster.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A plurality of storage nodes within a single chassis is provided. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to communicate together as a storage cluster. The plurality of storage nodes has a non-volatile solid-state storage for user data storage. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to distribute the user data and metadata associated with the user data throughout the plurality of storage nodes, with erasure coding of the user data. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to recover from failure of two of the plurality of storage nodes by applying the erasure coding to the user data from a remainder of the plurality of storage nodes. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to detect an error and engage in an error recovery via one of a processor of one of the plurality of storage nodes, a processor of the non-volatile solid state storage, or the flash memory.“

The patent application was filed on August 7, 2014 (14/454,501).

Utilizing unmapped and unknown states in replicated storage system
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,489,132) developed by Golden, Christopher, Mountain View, CA, Colgrove, John, Los Altos, CA, Miller, Ethan L., Santa Cruz, CA, Sharpe, Malcolm, and Hodgson, Steve, Mountain View, CA, for a “utilizing unmapped and unknown states in a replicated storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method for utilizing unmapped and unknown states in a storage system. When a first portion of a first medium is determined to be unreachable from any other mediums, the first portion of the first medium may be put into an unmapped state, and its data may be discarded and the corresponding storage locations may be freed. During replication of the first medium to a replica storage array, the state of the first portion of the first medium may be translated from the unmapped state into an unknown state on the replica storage array. If another storage array has the data of the first portion of the first medium, this data may be used to overwrite the first portion of the first medium on the replica storage array, converting the first portion of the first medium from the unknown state into the mapped state.“

The patent application was filed on October 7, 2014 (14/508,683).

Data rebuild on feedback from queue in non-volatile solid-state storage
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,483,346) developed by Davis, John D., Hayes, John, Tan, Zhangxi, Kannan, Hari, and Miladinovic, Nenad, Mountain View, CA, for a “utilizing unmapped and unknown states in a replicated storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage cluster is provided. The storage cluster includes a plurality of storage nodes, each of the plurality of storage nodes having nonvolatile solid-state memory and a plurality of operations queues coupled to the solid-state memory. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to distribute the user data and metadata throughout the plurality of storage nodes such that the plurality of storage nodes can access the user data with a failure of two of the plurality of storage nodes. Each of the plurality of storage nodes is configured to determine whether a read of 1 or more bits in the solid-state memory via a first path is within a latency budget. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to perform a read of user data or metadata via a second path, responsive to a determination that the read of the bit via the first path is not within the latency budget.“

The patent application was filed on August 7, 2014 (14/454,503).

Persisting messages in storage system
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,477,554) developed by Hayes, John, Ostrovsky, Igor, Lee, Robert, Gupta, Shantanu, Sears, Rusty, Davis, John, and Gold, Brian, Mountain View, CA, for a “mechanism for persisting messages in a storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A plurality of storage nodes in a single chassis is provided. The plurality of storage nodes in the single chassis is configured to communicate together as a storage cluster. Each of the plurality of storage nodes includes nonvolatile solid-state memory for user data storage. The plurality of storage nodes is configured to distribute the user data and metadata associated with the user data throughout the plurality of storage nodes such that the plurality of storage nodes maintain the ability to read the user data, using erasure coding, despite a loss of two of the plurality of storage nodes. The plurality of storage nodes configured to initiate an action based on the redundant copies of the metadata, responsive to achieving a level of redundancy for the redundant copies of the metadata. A method for accessing user data in a plurality of storage nodes having nonvolatile solid-state memory is also provided.“

The patent application was filed on April 6, 2015 (14/679,367).

Logical sector mapping in flash storage array
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,454,477) developed by Colgrove, John, Los Altos, CA, Hayes, John, Mountain View, CA, Miller, Ethan, Santa Cruz, CA, and Wang, Feng, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “mechanism for persisting messages in a storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method for efficiently performing user storage virtualization for data stored in a storage system including a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A data storage subsystem supports multiple mapping tables. Records within a mapping table are arranged in multiple levels. Each level stores pairs of a key value and a pointer value. The levels are sorted by time. New records are inserted in a created newest, youngest) level. No edits are performed in-place. All levels other than the youngest may be read only. The system may further include an overlay table which identifies those keys within the mapping table that are invalid.“

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2014 (14/477,470).

Logical sector mapping in flash storage array
Pure Storage, Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,454,476) developed by Colgrove, John, Los Altos, CA, Hayes, John, Mountain View, CA, Miller, Ethan, Santa Cruz, CA, and Wang, Feng, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “mechanism for persisting messages in a storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method for efficiently performing user storage virtualization for data stored in a storage system including a plurality of solid-state storage devices. A data storage subsystem supports multiple mapping tables. Records within a mapping table are arranged in multiple levels. Each level stores pairs of a key value and a pointer value. The levels are sorted by time. New records are inserted in a created newest, (youngest) level. No edits are performed in-place. All levels other than the youngest may be read only. The system may further include an overlay table which identifies those keys within the mapping table that are invalid.“

The patent application was filed on June 23, 2014 (14/312,088).