METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF CACHED DATA IN A DIRECT-ATTACHED STORAGE (DAS) SYSTEM
First Claim
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1. A direct-attached storage (DAS) system comprising:
- a plurality of magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs) configured as a Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks (RAID) array of physical disk drives (PDs);
an array of solid state disks (SSDs) configured as cache memory; and
at least first and second DAS controllers connected to the RAID array of PDs and to the SSD array, each DAS controller having a central processing unit (CPU), a local memory device, and an input/output (I/O) interface device, wherein each of the CPUs and each of the local memory devices is configured to perform a RAID level of technology consistent with the RAID configuration of the RAID array of PDs, and wherein each of the CPUs is configured to perform a caching algorithm that causes data received in the respective DAS controller to be temporarily stored in the cache memory of the SSD array and subsequently stored in one or more of the PDs of the RAID array of PDs.
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Abstract
A DAS system that implements RAID technology is provided in which an array of solid state disks (SSDs) that is external to the DAS controllers of the DAS system is used by the DAS controllers as WB cache memory for performing WB caching operations. Using the external SSD array as WB cache memory allows the DAS system to be fully cache coherent without significantly increasing the complexity of the DAS system and without increasing the amount of bandwidth that is utilized for performing caching operations. In addition, using the external SSD array as WB cache memory obviates the need to mirror DAS controllers.
17 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A direct-attached storage (DAS) system comprising:
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a plurality of magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs) configured as a Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks (RAID) array of physical disk drives (PDs); an array of solid state disks (SSDs) configured as cache memory; and at least first and second DAS controllers connected to the RAID array of PDs and to the SSD array, each DAS controller having a central processing unit (CPU), a local memory device, and an input/output (I/O) interface device, wherein each of the CPUs and each of the local memory devices is configured to perform a RAID level of technology consistent with the RAID configuration of the RAID array of PDs, and wherein each of the CPUs is configured to perform a caching algorithm that causes data received in the respective DAS controller to be temporarily stored in the cache memory of the SSD array and subsequently stored in one or more of the PDs of the RAID array of PDs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for protecting the integrity of cached data in a direct-attached storage (DAS) system, the method comprising:
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in a first DAS controller, receiving data, the first DAS controller including a central processing unit (CPU), a local memory device, and an input/output (I/O) interface device; in the CPU of the first DAS controller, performing a caching algorithm that causes the data received in the first DAS controller to be temporarily stored in one or more solid state disks (SSDs) of an SSD array and subsequently stored in one or more magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs) configured as a Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks (RAID) array of physical disk drives (PDs); in a second DAS controller, receiving data, the second DAS controller including a CPU, a local memory device, and an I/O interface device; and in the CPU of the second DAS controller, performing a caching algorithm that causes the data received in the second DAS controller to be temporarily stored in one or more SSDs of the SSD array and subsequently stored in one or more of the magnetic HDDs configured as the RAID array of PDs. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereon for protecting the integrity of cached data in a direct-attached storage (DAS) system, the computer program comprising computer instructions stored on the computer-readable medium, the instructions comprising:
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a first set of instructions for receiving data in a first DAS controller; and a second set of instructions for performing a caching algorithm in the first DAS controller that causes the data received in the first DAS controller to be temporarily stored in one or more solid state disks (SSDs) of an SSD array and subsequently stored in one or more magnetic hard disk drives (HDDs) configured as a Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks (RAID) array of physical disk drives (PDs). - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification