Network-accessible memory
AssigneeNetwork Appliance, Inc.
InventorCharles McManis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A network-accessible memory (NAM) element comprises a substrate, a memory mounted to the substrate, network interface circuitry and logic circuitry. The network interface circuitry implements a network physical layer and is mounted to the substrate. The logic circuitry is mounted to the substrate and is coupled to the network interface circuitry and the memory, and is configured to operate as a memory controller to control access to the memory by a host processor which is external to the NAM element through the network interface circuitry. The NAM element can be interconnected with other NAM elements to form a larger NAM storage device.
Claims34
A network-accessible memory (NAM) element comprising:
- a substrate;
- memory mounted to the substrate;
- network interface circuitry to implement a network physical layer, mounted to the substrate;
- and
- logic circuitry, mounted to the substrate and coupled to the network interface circuitry and the memory, to control access to the memory by a host processor which is external to the NAM element through the network interface circuitry.
A network-accessible memory (NAM) module comprising:
- a passive backplane;
- a network connection;
- control circuitry coupled between the passive backplane and the network connection;
- and
- a plurality of NAM elements coupled to the control circuitry through the passive backplane, wherein each of the plurality of NAM elements includes:
- a substrate;
- memory mounted to the substrate;
- and
- logic circuitry, mounted to the substrate, to control access to the memory by a host processor which is external to the NAM element through the passive backplane.
A network storage system comprising:
- an array of mass storage devices to store data;
- a network interface through which to communicate with a client over a network;
- a host processor to control access by the client to data stored in the array of mass storage devices;
- a main memory coupled to the processor;
- and
- a cache accessible to the host processor and including a network-accessible memory (NAM) element to store selected data stored in the array of mass storage devices, the NAM element including
- a plurality of memory modules,
- network interface circuitry implementing a network physical layer, coupled to the host processor, and
- logic circuitry, coupled between the network interface circuitry and the RAM modules, to control access to the memory modules by the host processor.
A variable-performance network storage system comprising:
- a storage pool which includes
- a first plurality of storage devices of a first media type characterized by RAM-based network-accessible memory (NAM) elements, and
- a second plurality of storage devices of a second media type different from the first media type;
- and
- a storage host to control access to the storage pool on behalf of a client, the storage host writing data selectively to storage devices of the storage pool by applying a storage prioritization scheme, including applying a different storage priority to storage devices of the first plurality of storage devices than to storage devices of the second plurality of storage devices.
A storage area network (SAN) accelerator operable to cache individual blocks of data stored by a storage system which includes a plurality of mass storage devices, the SAN accelerator comprising:
- a first port through which to receive requests from an application server to read or write one or more individual blocks of data from or to the storage system, respectively;
- a second port through which to read or write individual blocks of data from or to the storage system, respectively, in response to requests from the application server;
- a network-accessible memory (NAM) module in which to cache blocks stored by the storage system, wherein all requests from the application server to the storage system to read or write one or more blocks of data are routed through the SAN accelerator, the NAM module including a NAM element which comprises
- a substrate,
- memory mounted to the substrate,
- network interface circuitry to implement a network physical layer, mounted to the substrate, and
- logic circuitry, mounted to the substrate and coupled to the network interface circuitry and the memory, to control access to the memory by a host processor which is external to the NAM element.
A storage system comprising:
- a first storage server;
- a second storage server coupled to the first storage server;
- and
- a transaction memory device, coupled to the first storage server and the second storage server, to store a non-volatile log of transactions requested of at least one of the first storage server and the second storage server, the non-volatile log of transactions being accessible to both the first storage server and the second storage server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.