Distributing Traffic To Multiple GNS Devices

• US 20100125676A1
• Filed: 11/18/2008
• Published: 05/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Sawyers, Gaylon D., Smith, Michael W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,244,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system for communicating traffic comprises a plurality of global namespace (GNS) devices and a network switch. The GNS devices aggregate mount points of file systems as an aggregated mount point. The network switch has a host-side interface, a storage-side interface, and a load balancer. The host-side interface has one or more host-side ports that communicate with a computing host. The storage-side interface has a plurality of storage-side ports that communicate with the GNS devices. The load balancer presents a virtual address to the computing host, and distributes traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices through the storage-side ports.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of global namespace (GNS) devices, the GNS devices configured to aggregate a plurality of mount points of a plurality of file systems as an aggregated mount point; and

a network switch comprising;

a host-side interface comprising one or more host-side ports configured to communicate with a computing host;

a storage-side interface comprising a plurality of storage-side ports configured to communicate with the GNS devices; and

a load balancer configured to;

present a virtual address to the computing host; and

distribute traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices through the storage-side ports.

2. The system of claim 1:

each GNS device having a shared Internet Protocol (IP) address that is the same for the GNS devices; and

the load balancer configured to present the shared IP address to the computing host.

3. The system of claim 1:

each GNS device having a unique IP address uniquely identifying the each GNS device; and

the load balancer configured to distribute the traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices using the unique IP addresses.

4. The system of claim 1, the host-side interface configured to communicate with the computing host using a persistent path.

5. The system of claim 1, the load balancer configured to present the virtual address as a plurality of directories of the aggregated mount.

6. The system of claim 1, each GNS device configured to recognize and access the file systems.

7. The system of claim 1, the host-side interface configured to present a virtual local area network (VLAN) address to the computing host.

8. The system of claim 1, the storage-side interface configured to present a virtual local area network (VLAN) address to the GNS devices.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a host-side interface comprising one or more host-side ports configured to communicate with a computing host;

a storage-side interface comprising a plurality of storage-side ports configured to communicate with a plurality of global namespace (GNS) devices, the GNS devices configured to aggregate a plurality of mount points of a plurality of file systems as an aggregated mount point; and

a load balancer configured to;

present a virtual address to the computing host; and

distribute traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices through the storage-side ports.

10. The apparatus of claim 9:

each GNS device having a shared Internet Protocol (IP) address that is the same for the GNS devices; and

the load balancer configured to present the shared IP address to the computing host.

11. The apparatus of claim 9:

each GNS device having a unique IP address uniquely identifying the each GNS device; and

the load balancer configured to distribute the traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices using the unique IP addresses.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, the host-side interface configured to communicate with the computing host using a persistent path.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, the load balancer configured to present the virtual address as a plurality of directories of the aggregated mount.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, each GNS device configured to recognize and access the file systems.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, the host-side interface configured to present a virtual local area network (VLAN) address to the computing host.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, the storage-side interface configured to present a virtual local area network (VLAN) address to the GNS devices.

17. An method comprising:

communicating with a computing host through one or more host-side ports of a host-side interface;

communicating with a plurality of global namespace (GNS) devices through a plurality of storage-side ports of a storage-side interface, the GNS devices configured to aggregate a plurality of mount points of a plurality of file systems as an aggregated mount point;

presenting, by a load balancer, a virtual address to the computing host; and

distributing traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices through the storage-side ports.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

presenting a shared Internet Protocol (IP) address to the computing host, the shared IP address being the same for the GNS devices.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

distributing the traffic from the computing host to the GNS devices using a plurality of unique IP addresses, each unique IP address uniquely identifying a GNS device.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

communicating with the computing host using a persistent path.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

presenting the virtual address as a plurality of directories of the aggregated mount.