Quality of service in a storage area network
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsMaurilio Cometto, Jeevan Kamisetty, Arindam Paul, Varagur V. Chandrasekaran
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a solution is provided wherein a minimum and/or maximum bandwidth may be guaranteed for specific flows. These guarantees can be associated to various levels of granularity, such as target (T), target-Logical Unit Number (LUN) coupling (TL), initiator-target-LUN coupling (ITL), and initiator-target coupling (IT). This may be accomplished by rate limiting frames in the storage area network based upon quality of service information provided by a user. As such, the traffic can be shaped in a way that guarantees requested levels of service without dropping frames.
Claims20
A method for providing quality of service in a storage area network, the storage area network having one or more hosts and one or more targets, the method comprising:
- receiving quality of service information regarding one or more flows from a user, the quality of service information including bandwidth parameters pertaining to the flow and to one of the one or more targets;
- and
- limiting the rates of transmissions of frames in the storage area network based on the quality of service information.
A method for providing quality of service in a storage area network, the storage area network having one or more hosts and one or more targets, the method comprising:
- receiving quality of service information regarding one or more flows from a user, the quality of service information including varying bandwidth parameters corresponding to read and write commands pertaining to the flow and to one of the one or more targets;
- and
- limiting the rates of transmission of frames in the storage area network based on the quality of service information.
An apparatus for providing quality of service in a storage area network, the storage area network having one or more hosts and one or more targets, the method comprising:
- a quality of service information receiver;
- an available bandwidth calculator coupled to the quality of service information receiver;
- and
- a rate limiter coupled to the available bandwidth calculator.
An apparatus for providing quality of service in a storage area network, the storage area network having one or more hosts and one or more targets, the apparatus comprising:
- means for receiving quality of service information regarding one or more flows from a user, the quality of service information including bandwidth parameters pertaining to the flow and to one of the one or more targets;
- and
- means for limiting the rates of transmissions of frames in the storage area network based on the quality of service information.
A switch for use in a storage area network, the storage area network having one or more hosts and one or more targets, the switch comprising:
- one or more line cards configured to:
- receive quality of service information regarding one or more flows from a user, the quality of service information including bandwidth parameters pertaining to the flow and to one of the one or more targets;
- and
- limit the rates of transmissions of frames in the storage area network based on the quality of service information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.