Stream-oriented interconnect for networked computer storage

An apparatus for interconnecting any of plurality of computing devices and a plurality of storage devices, comprising:

• an optical switch;
• a switch control unit for modifying said optical switch configuration, wherein once said optical switch is reconfigured, said switch control unit generates information indicating said reconfiguration, and wherein any of said computing devices and said storage devices commence using circuits that are available through said reconfiguration for communicating;
• a scheduling and load balancing unit for determining a performance enhancing packet schedule and routing, for generating information used in determining switch configuration, for distributing a communication load among various available links between any of said computing devices and said storage devices, and for ordering packet flows;
• and
• a system controller for communicating with said computing devices and said storage devices, for gathering requests, for monitoring status information, for distributing a packet schedule, for routing information, and for effecting stream-oriented switch configuration.

A method for interconnecting any of plurality of computing devices and a plurality of storage devices, comprising the steps of:

• providing a stream-oriented switch having a high throughput, but that requires non-negligible time for reconfiguration;
• providing a plurality of communication ports for connection to any of said computing devices and said storage devices;
• decoding requests from any of said computing devices and said storage devices, and for using information from said decoded requests to create circuits through said stream-oriented switch;
• using said circuits to route traffic between any of said computing devices and said storage devices;
• and
• buffering data and control information to improve overall throughput and reduce time spent on reconfiguration.

A method for interconnecting any of plurality of computing devices and a plurality of storage devices, comprising the steps of;

• providing an optical switch;
• providing a switch control unit for modifying said optical switch configuration, wherein once said optical switch is reconfigured, said switch control unit generates information indicating said reconfiguration, and wherein said any of computing devices and said storage devices commence using circuits that are available through said reconfiguration for communicating;
• providing a scheduling and load balancing unit for determining a performance enhancing packet schedule and routing, for generating information used in determining switch configuration, for distributing a communication load among various available links between any of said computing devices and said storage devices, and for ordering packet flows;
• and
• providing a system controller for communicating with any of said computing devices and said storage devices, for gathering requests, for monitoring status information, for distributing a packet schedule, for routing information, and for effecting stream-oriented switch configuration.