Apparatus for bridging a host to a SAN

• US 20070294459A1
• Filed: 06/16/2006
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ACARD Technology Corp.
• Original Assignee: ACARD Technology Corp.
• Inventors: Chen, Jen-Kai
• Application Number:
  US11/453,773
• Publication Number:
  US 20070294459A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

The present invention discloses a bridging apparatus for bridging a host to a SAN (Storage Area Network). The bridging apparatus is capable of virtualizing a disk volume allocated in the SAN as a DAS (Direct Attached Storage). The bridging apparatus of the present invention comprises: a first HBA (Host Bus Adapter) for connecting to a SAN, a second HBA for connecting to a host having a DAS interface, a bridge controller for connecting to the first HBA and the second HBA, respectively, so as to bridge the host to the SAN, thereby allowing the host to directly access a disk volume allocated in the SAN, and a storage unit connecting to the bridge controller for storing programs and data.

Claims

1. A bridging apparatus for bridging a host to a SAN, comprising:

a first HBA for connecting to the SAN;

a second HBA for connecting to a host having a DAS interface;

a bridge controller connecting to the first HBA and the second HBA, respectively, for bridging the host to the SAN, thereby allowing the host to directly access a disk volume allocated in the SAN; and

a storage unit connecting to the bridge controller for storing programs and data.

2. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first HBA is an iSCSI interface.

3. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first HBA is a fiber channel interface.

4. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage unit includes a flash memory and a DRAM in which the DRAM is used to be a cache memory and thereby speed up access to the disk volume of the SAN, and the flash memory is used to store programs and data needed by the bridge controller.

5. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the host is a workstation.

6. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the host is a laptop computer.

7. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the host is a server.

8. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the host is a personal computer.

9. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the DAS interface is one of the interfaces of SCSI, SATA (Serial ATA), eSATA (External SATA), USB or SAS (Serial Attached SCSI).

10. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first HBA for the SAN and the second HBA for the DAS can be integrated with the bridge controller in a single chip in SoC (System on Chip) implementation.

11. A bridging apparatus for bridging a host to a SAN, comprising:

an HBA for connecting to a host having a DAS interface;

an Ethernet interface card for connecting to the SAN and the Ethernet interface card performing iSCSI or AoE (ATA over Ethernet) protocol by software simulation;

a bridge controller connecting to the HBA and the Ethernet interface card, respectively, for bridging the host to the SAN, thereby allowing the host to directly access a disk volume allocated in the SAN;

a DRAM connecting to the bridge controller for speeding up access to the disk volume of the SAN; and

a flash memory connecting to the bridge controller for storing programs and data needed by the bridge controller.

12. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the HBA is an iSCSI interface.

13. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the HBA is a fiber channel interface.

14. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the host is a workstation.

15. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the host is a laptop computer.

16. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the host is a server.

17. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the host is a desktop personal computer.

18. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the host is an industrial computer.

19. The bridging apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the DAS interface is one of the interfaces of SCSI, SATA (Serial ATA), eSATA (External SATA), USB or SAS (Serial Attached SCSI).