MULTIPLE NETWORK SHARED DISK SERVERS

• US 20090177756A1
• Filed: 01/07/2008
• Published: 07/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gunda, Kalyan C., Shah, Gautam Haridas
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,917 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/216
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• 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 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• 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]

Abstract

A method, information processing system, and computer program storage product access data on an information processing system. The information processing system includes a plurality of Network Shared Disk servers and at least one set of Network Shared Disks. Each of the Network Shared Disks is served by at least one of the Network Shared Disk servers. Configuration data that includes information indicating which of the Network Shared Disk servers serve each of the Network Shared Disks is analyzed. The Network Shared Disk to be accessed is identified. One of the Network Shared Disk servers is selected from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed. The one Network Shared Disk to be accessed is accessed via the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected.

Claims

1. A method for accessing data on an information processing system, the information processing system including a plurality of Network Shared Disk servers and at least one set of Network Shared Disks, and each of the Network Shared Disks being served by at least one of the Network Shared Disk servers, the method comprising the steps of:

analyzing configuration data that includes information indicating which of the Network Shared Disk servers serve each of the Network Shared Disks;

identifying which one of the Network Shared Disks is to be accessed;

selecting one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed; and

accessing the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed via the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting step comprises:

determining a subnet that a client is on, wherein the client resides within one of a cluster comprising at least one Network Shared Disk server and a remote cluster at a remote location;

determining, from the file system configuration data, which of the Network Shared Disk servers are on the subnet; and

selecting one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the Network Shared Disk servers that are determined to be on the subnet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting step comprises using priority ranking of the Network Shared Disk servers to select one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining if the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected has failed or an I/O transaction has failed; and

if it is determined that the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected has failed or an I/O transaction has failed, selecting another of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed using the priority ranking.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining if a new Network Shared Disk server has joined the information processing system; and

if it is determined that a new Network Shared Disk server has joined the information processing system, repeating the selecting step.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Network Shared Disk servers reside within a General Parallel File System.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the file system configuration data further includes at least one of:

a subnet address for each of the Network Shared Disk servers,

file system Network Shared Disk information indicating a set of Network Shared Disks associated with a particular file system, and

a file system access indicator indicating a set of Network Shared Disk servers that are to be used when accessing a particular file system.

8. An information processing system for accessing data on another information processing system that includes a plurality of Network Shared Disk servers and at least one set of Network Shared Disks, and each of the Network Shared Disks being served by at least one of the Network Shared Disk servers, information processing system comprising:

a memory;

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory; and

a data access manager communicatively coupled to the memory and the processor, wherein the data access manager is further adapted to;

analyze file system configuration data that includes information indicating which of the Network Shared Disk servers serve each of the Network Shared Disks;

identify which one of the Network Shared Disks is to be accessed;

select one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed; and

access the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed via the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected.

9. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the data access manager is further adapted to select by:

determining a subnet that a client is on;

determining, from the file system configuration data, which of the Network Shared Disk servers are on the subnet; and

selecting one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the Network Shared Disk servers that are determined to be on the subnet.

10. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the data access manager is further adapted to:

determine if the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected has failed or an I/O transaction has failed; and

if it is determined that the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected has failed or an I/O transaction has failed, the data access manager is further adapted to select another of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed.

11. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the data access manager is further adapted to:

determine if a new Network Shared Disk server has joined the information processing system; and

if it is determined that a new Network Shared Disk server has joined the information processing system, the data access manager is further adapted to repeat selection one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed.

12. The information processing system of claim 8, where the data access manager is further adapted to select by:

using priority ranking of the Network Shared Disk servers to select one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed.

13. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the file system configuration data further includes at least one of:

a subnet address for each of the Network Shared Disk servers;

file system Network Shared Disk information indicating a set of Network Shared Disks associated with a particular file system; and

a file system access indicator indicating a set of Network Shared Disk servers that are to be used when accessing a particular file system.

14. A computer program storage product for accessing data on an information processing system, the information processing system including a plurality of Network Shared Disk servers and at least one set of Network Shared Disks, and each of the Network Shared Disks being served by at least one of the Network Shared Disk servers, the computer program storage product comprising instructions for:

analyzing file system configuration data that includes information indicating which of the Network Shared Disk servers serve each of the Network Shared Disks;

identifying which one of the Network Shared Disks is to be accessed;

selecting one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed; and

accessing the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed via the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected.

15. The computer program storage product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for selecting for comprise instructions for:

determining a subnet that a client is on;

determining, from the file system configuration data, which of the Network Shared Disk servers are on the subnet; and

selecting one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the Network Shared Disk servers that are determined to be on the subnet.

16. The computer program storage product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for selecting further comprising instructions for:

using priority ranking of the Network Shared Disk servers to select one of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed.

17. The computer program storage product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for:

determining if the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected has failed or an I/O transaction has failed; and

if it is determined that the one Network Shared Disk server that was selected has failed or an I/O transaction has failed, selecting another of the Network Shared Disk servers from the plurality of Network Shared Disk servers that serve the one Network Shared Disk to be accessed using the priority ranking.

18. The computer program storage product of claim 14, further comprising instructions for:

determining if a new Network Shared Disk server has joined the information processing system; and

if it is determined that a new Network Shared Disk server has joined the information processing system, repeating the selecting step.

19. The computer program storage product of claim 14, wherein the Network Shared Disk servers reside within a General Parallel File System.

20. The computer program storage product of claim 14, wherein the file system configuration data further includes at least one of:

a subnet address for each of the Network Shared Disk servers;

file system Network Shared Disk information indicating a set of Network Shared Disks associated with a particular file system; and

a file system access indicator indicating a set of Network Shared Disk servers that are to be used when accessing a particular file system.