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US 2003/0149848 A1Published application
Wire-speed data transfer in a storage virtualization controller
AssigneeNetwork Appliance, Inc.
InventorsRahim Ibrahim, Glenn Yu, Nghiep Tran, Tuan Nguyen, Chan Ng, Kumar Gajjar, Richard Meyer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A storage virtualization controller for transferring data between a host and a storage device at a wire-speed data transfer rate. A downstream processing element adapted for connection to the storage device is configurable coupled to an upstream processing element adapted for connection to the host. A central processing element coupled to the upstream processing element grants permission to the upstream processing element to transfer the data at the wire-speed rate without further involvement by the central processing element.
Claims43
A storage virtualization controller, comprising:
- a downstream processing element adapted to connect to a storage device;
- an upstream processing element adapted to connect to a host and further adapted to configurably couple to the downstream processing element so as to transfer data between the host and the storage device at a wire-speed data transfer rate;
- and
- a central processing element coupled to the upstream processing element that grants permission to the upstream processing element to transfer the data without further involvement by the central processing element.
1 more element
A storage virtualization system, comprising:
- at least one upstream processing element adapted for connection to a host for transferring data between the host and a virtual logical unit;
- at least one downstream processing element adapted for connection to a storage device representative of a portion of the virtual logical unit, a selected one of the downstream processing elements intermittently coupleable to an associated one of the upstream processing elements to form a channel operable at substantially a wire-speed data transfer rate;
- and
- a central processing element coupled to the associated one of the upstream processing elements, the central processing element granting permission for the host to access the portion of the virtual logical unit via the channel.
1 more element
A storage virtualization controller, comprising:
- a data transfer path to transfer information between a selected host and a selected storage device at substantially a rated speed of a storage area network, the data transfer path configurable between one of a plurality of upstream processing elements connectable to a corresponding one of a plurality of hosts, and one of a plurality of downstream processing elements connectable to a corresponding one of a plurality of storage devices;
- and
- a permission processor coupled to the one upstream processing element that grants to the corresponding one of the plurality of hosts a period of exclusive access to the data transfer path.
A method of accessing a virtual logical unit in a storage area network, comprising:
- receiving at an upstream processing element an access request for the virtual logical unit;
- identifying a storage device associated with at least a portion of the virtual logical unit;
- identifying a downstream processing element associated with the storage device;
- obtaining permission from a central processing element for the downstream processing element to perform the access request on the storage device, the permission obtained by the upstream processing element;
- and
- transferring data associated with the access request between the upstream processing element and the downstream processing element at substantially a rated speed of the storage area network after the permission is obtained.
3 more elements
A storage virtualization system, comprising:
- means for receiving at an upstream processing element an access request from a host for a virtual logical unit in a storage area network;
- means for identifying a storage device and a downstream processing element associated with at least a portion of the virtual logical unit;
- means for obtaining permission from a central processing element for the downstream processing element to perform the access request on the storage device, the permission obtained by the upstream processing element;
- and
- means for transferring data associated with the access request between the upstream processing element and the downstream processing element at substantially a rated speed of the storage area network.
2 more elements
A method of accessing a virtual logical unit in a storage area network, comprising:
- receiving at a first upstream processing element a first request from a first host to access a first virtual logical unit;
- processing the first request so as to associate a storage device and a downstream processing element with at least a portion of the first virtual logical unit;
- requesting permission for the first upstream processing element to exclusively transfer data with the downstream processing element at substantially a rated speed of the storage area network, the central processing element granting permission;
- receiving at a second upstream processing element a second request from a second host to access a second virtual logical unit;
- processing the second request so as to associate the storage device and the downstream processing element with at least a portion of the second virtual logical unit;
- and
- requesting permission for the second upstream processing element to exclusively transfer data with the downstream processing element at substantially the rated speed of the storage area network, the central processing element withholding permission.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.