US 2010/0146045 A1 · Multi-Class Heterogeneous Clients in a Clustered Filesystem

Abstract

A cluster of computer system nodes connected by a storage area network include two classes of nodes. The first class of nodes can act as clients or servers, while the other nodes can only be clients. The client-only nodes require much less functionality and can be more easily supported by different operating systems. To minimize the amount of data transmitted during normal operation, the server responsible for maintaining a cluster configuration database repeatedly multicasts the IP address, its incarnation number and the most recent database generation number. Each node stores this information and when a change is detected, each node can request an update of the data needed by that node. A client-only node uses the IP address of the server to connect to the server, to download the information from the cluster database required by the client-only node and to upload local disk connectivity information.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for operating a cluster filesystem for a cluster connected by a storage area network, comprising:

receiving by a candidate node a periodic multicast of a cluster database server address and a database generation identifier from a cluster database server;
establishing by the candidate node a communication link with the cluster database server in response to the multicast cluster database server address and the database generation identifier;
requesting by the candidate node cluster information from the cluster database server to join the cluster, the cluster information including an address for at least one switch in the storage area network,
obtaining by the candidate node from the at least one switch at least one port address of at least one port connected to at least one host bus adapter of the candidate node;
sending the at least one port address and an address of the at least one host bus adapter from the candidate node to the cluster database server to update cluster configuration data concerning the cluster maintained by the cluster database server;
and
requesting membership in the cluster by the candidate node.

4 more elements

A computer readable medium including code for operating a cluster filesystem for a cluster connected by a storage area network, the code operable to:

receive by a candidate node a periodic multicast of a cluster database server address and a database generation identifier from a cluster database server;
establish by the candidate node a communication link with the cluster database server in response to the multicast cluster database server address and the database generation identifier;
request by the candidate node cluster information from the cluster database server to join the cluster, the cluster information including an address for at least one switch in the storage area network,
obtain by the candidate node from the at least one switch at least one port address of at least one port connected to at least one host bus adapter of the candidate node;
send the at least one port address and an address of the at least one host bus adapter from the candidate node to the cluster database server to update cluster configuration data concerning the cluster maintained by the cluster database server;
and
request membership in the cluster by the candidate node.

4 more elements

A system for operating a cluster filesystem for a cluster connected by a storage area network, comprising:

means for receiving by a candidate node a periodic multicast of a cluster database server address and a database generation identifier from a cluster database server;
means for establishing by the candidate node a communication link with the cluster database server in response to the multicast cluster database server address and the database generation identifier;
means for requesting by the candidate node cluster information from the cluster database server to join the cluster, the cluster information including an address for at least one switch in the storage area network,
means for obtaining by the candidate node from the at least one switch at least one port address of at least one port connected to at least one host bus adapter of the candidate node;
means for sending the at least one port address and an address of the at least one host bus adapter from the candidate node to the cluster database server to update cluster configuration data concerning the cluster maintained by the cluster database server;
and
means for requesting membership in the cluster by the candidate node.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Multi-Class Heterogeneous Clients in a Clustered Filesystem

Life of this patent

Multi-Class Heterogeneous Clients in a Clustered Filesystem

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20