Programmable data path accelerator

A method of providing file services, comprising:

• receiving a file request from a client, said request received by a first processing module;
• accessing metadata to locate file data corresponding to said file request, said metadata stored in a metadata cache provided to said first processing module;
• queuing at storage transaction requests to a storage interface, said storage transaction request queued by said first processing module, said storage transaction request comprising address information and command information;
• storing disk data retrieved as a result of said storage transaction request in a data cache operably connected to a data engine, said data engine operating asynchronously with respect to said first processing module, disk data stored in said data cache according to address information and command information provided in said storage transaction request;
• notifying said first processing module of a completion of said storage transaction request;
• queuing a network transaction request to a network interface, said network transaction request queued by said first processing module upon completion of said storage transaction request, said network transaction request comprising address information and command information;
• and
• sending file data from said data cache to said client according to said network transaction request according to address information and command information in said transaction request.

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface for communicating with one or more clients;
• a storage interface for communicating with one or more disk drives;
• a processor for receiving file requests from said clients, managing file system metadata, queuing network transaction requests to said network interface, and queuing storage transaction requests to said storage interface;
• a data engine comprising a network-side interface and a storage-side interface, said data engine configured to accept received data from said storage interface and store at least a portion of said received data in at least one data cache according to a first address word containing a first opcode, said data engine configured to send file data from said at least one data cache to said network interface according to a second address word containing a second opcode;
• means for communicating between said network interface, said processor, and said network-side interface;
• and
• means for communicating between said storage interface, said processor, and said storage-side interface.