METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENABLING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN iSCSI DEVICES AND SAS DEVICES

• US 20110314141A1
• Filed: 06/16/2010
• Published: 12/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Jibbe, Mahmoud K., Sengupta, Dhishankar, Dhar, Krishanu, Gunjan, Madhukar
• Granted Patent: US 8,892,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• 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

A method and apparatus for enabling communication between iSCSI/SAS host devices and iSCSI/SAS target devices via an iSCSI/SAS router is disclosed. In one embodiment, an iSCSI/SAS router includes iSCSI interfaces, SAS interfaces, and a mapping and routing logic. The mapping and routing logic is coupled to the iSCSI interfaces and the SAS interfaces. The mapping and routing logic virtualizes one or more SAS host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more iSCSI host and target devices. Further, the mapping and routing logic virtualizes the one or more iSCSI host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more SAS host and target devices.

Claims

1. An iSCSI/SAS router, comprising:

a plurality of iSCSI interfaces;

a plurality of SAS interfaces; and

a mapping and routing logic coupled to the plurality of iSCSI interfaces and the plurality of SAS interfaces for virtualizing one or more SAS host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more iSCSI host and target devices, and virtualizing the one or more iSCSI host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more SAS host and target devices.

2. The iSCSI/SAS router of claim 1, further comprising:

an iSCSI logic for discovering the one or more iSCSI host and target devices connected to the plurality of ISCSI interfaces via a TCP/IP network; and

a SAS logic for discovering the one or more SAS host and target devices connected to the plurality of SAS interfaces.

3. The iSCSI/SAS router of claim 2, wherein the mapping and routing logic assigns virtual iSCSI IDs to SAS physical IDs of the discovered one or more SAS host and target devices and further assigns virtual SAS physical IDs to iSCSI IDs of the discovered one or more iSCSI host and target devices, and generates a mapping and routing table having a list of the iSCSI IDs mapped to the virtual SAS physical IDs and the SAS physical IDs mapped to the virtual iSCSI IDs to enable communication between the one or more iSCSI/SAS host devices and one or more iSCSI/SAS target devices.

4. The iSCSI/SAS router of claim 3, further comprising memory for storing the mapping and routing table.

5. The iSCSI/SAS router of claim 1, wherein the plurality of iSCSI interfaces comprises RJ-45 ports or Ethernet ports.

6. The iSCSI/SAS router of claim 1, wherein the plurality of SAS interfaces comprises wide/narrow ports.

7. A method for enabling communication between iSCSI/SAS host devices and iSCSI/SAS target devices via an iSCSI/SAS router, comprising:

virtualizing one or more SAS host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more iSCSI host and target devices; and

virtualizing the one or more iSCSI host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more SAS host and target devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein virtualizing the one or more SAS host and target devices and one or more iSCSI host and target devices, comprise:

discovering the one or more iSCSI host and target devices connected to a plurality of ISCSI interfaces via a TCP/IP network;

discovering the one or more SAS host and target devices connected to a plurality of SAS interfaces;

assigning virtual iSCSI IDs to SAS physical IDs of the discovered SAS host and target devices;

assigning virtual SAS physical IDs to iSCSI IDs of the discovered iSCSI host and target devices; and

generating a mapping and routing table having a list of the iSCSI IDs mapped to the virtual SAS physical IDs and the SAS physical IDs mapped to the virtual iSCSI IDs to enable communication between the one or more iSCSI/SAS host devices and the one or more iSCSI/SAS target devices.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the mapping and routing table in memory of the iSCSI/SAS router.

10. A system for enabling communication between iSCSI/SAS host devices and iSCSI/SAS target devices, comprising:

one or more iSCSI host and target devices;

one or more SAS host and target devices;

a TCP/IP network; and

an iSCSI/SAS router coupled to the one or more iSCSI host and target devices via the TCP/IP network and further coupled to the one or more SAS host and target devices, wherein the iSCSI/SAS router comprises;

a plurality of iSCSI interfaces;

a plurality of SAS interfaces; and

a mapping and routing logic coupled to the plurality of iSCSI interfaces and the plurality of SAS interfaces for virtualizing one or more SAS host and target devices to enable communication with discovered one or more iSCSI host and target devices, and virtualizing the one or more iSCSI host and target devices to communicate with discovered one or more SAS host and target devices.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the iSCSI/SAS router further comprises:

an iSCSI logic for discovering the one or more iSCSI host and target devices connected to the plurality of ISCSI interfaces via a TCP/IP network; and

a SAS logic for discovering the one or more SAS host and target devices connected to the plurality of SAS interfaces.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the mapping and routing logic assigns virtual iSCSI IDs to SAS physical IDs of the discovered one or more SAS host and target devices and further assigns virtual SAS physical IDs to iSCSI IDs of the discovered one or more iSCSI host and target devices, and generates a mapping and routing table having a list of the iSCSI IDs mapped to the virtual SAS physical IDs and the SAS physical IDs mapped to the virtual iSCSI IDs to communicate between the one or more iSCSI/SAS host devices and one or more iSCSI/SAS target devices.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising memory for storing the mapping and routing table.