US 12,754,683 B2 · Bandwidth control for storage port communications

Abstract

One or more aspects of the present disclosure relate to controlling input/output consumption to prevent port congestion in storage networks. A storage array detects initiator port speeds and maps them to storage ports using masking information. The system tracks aggregate IO consumption across connected storage ports, including in NPIV environments where multiple WWNs share a physical host bus adapter port. When consumption exceeds a threshold of the initiator's bandwidth capacity, the system implements IO limiting to prevent overwhelming the initiator with return payload. Using FDMI information, the system identifies WWNs associated with the same physical port and manages bandwidth allocation across initiators through equal or weighted distribution. This prevents switch credit buffer overflow by controlling data transmission rates between storage ports and initiators. The solution addresses traditional single-WWN configurations and NPIV environments where multiple WWNs operate on a single physical port.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

detecting, by a storage array, from a switch in a storage area network (SAN), a negotiated speed of an initiator port;
mapping initiator ports to multiple storage ports based on storage array masking information;
monitoring, by the storage array, input/output (IO) consumption of the initiator port across all the multiple storage ports to which the initiator port is mapped, wherein the monitoring comprises tracking aggregate return payload data from all of the multiple storage ports mapped to the initiator port;
determining, by the storage array, when the IO consumption exceeds a threshold percentage of the initiator port's bandwidth capacity, wherein the threshold percentage accounts for protocol overhead in the SAN;
and
limiting, by the storage array, IO consumption of the initiator port when the threshold percentage is reached to prevent the initiator port from being overwhelmed by return payload from the multiple storage ports, wherein limiting the IO consumption comprises controlling a data transmission rate from each of the multiple storage ports to the initiator port based on the aggregate return payload data.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Bandwidth control for storage port communications

Life of this patent

Bandwidth control for storage port communications

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20