System and method for transparent, global access to physical devices on a computer cluster
First Claim
1. A system configured to provide global access to physical devices located on a computer cluster comprising a plurality of nodes, the system comprising:
- a global file system;
a device configuration system (DCS), the DCS storing physical device information for a plurality of physical devices, the physical device information for each device in the plurality including a major number associated with a device type assigned to the physical device and other devices of same type, and a minor number that is globally unique for physical devices having the same major number;
the physical devices including a plurality of physical devices having a same major number associated therewith including at least one device having a first globally unique minor number associated therewith on a first node of the system and a second device having a second globally unique minor number associated therewith on a second node of the system;
at least one device server object (DSO) on each node of the system;
the global file system including an interface for responding to a request to access one such physical device issued from one of the nodes by sending a corresponding request to the DCS;
the DCS including an interface for responding to the request by returning information corresponding to the major number and globally unique minor number associated with the requested physical device, and also determining which node the physical device resides on and the DSO to use to access the physical device;
the global file system including means for using the information returned by the DCS to generate a file descriptor and for returning the file descriptor for subsequent use in accessing the requested physical device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are disclosed that provides transparent, global access to devices on a computer cluster. The present system generates unique device type (dev-- t) values for all devices and corresponding links between a global file system and the dev-- t values. The file system is modified to take advantage of this framework so that, when a user requests that a particular device, identified by its logical name, be opened, an operating system kernel queries the file system to determine that device'"'"'s dev-- t value and then queries the a device configuration system (DCS) for the location (node) and identification (local address) of a device with that dev-- t value. Once it has received the device'"'"'s location and identification, the kernel issues an open request to the host node for the device identified by the DCS. File system components executing on the host node, which include a special file system (SpecFS), handle the open request by returning to the kernel a handle to a special file object that is associated with the desired device. The kernel then returns to the requesting user a file descriptor that is mapped to the handle, through which the user can access the device.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system configured to provide global access to physical devices located on a computer cluster comprising a plurality of nodes, the system comprising:
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a global file system; a device configuration system (DCS), the DCS storing physical device information for a plurality of physical devices, the physical device information for each device in the plurality including a major number associated with a device type assigned to the physical device and other devices of same type, and a minor number that is globally unique for physical devices having the same major number; the physical devices including a plurality of physical devices having a same major number associated therewith including at least one device having a first globally unique minor number associated therewith on a first node of the system and a second device having a second globally unique minor number associated therewith on a second node of the system; at least one device server object (DSO) on each node of the system; the global file system including an interface for responding to a request to access one such physical device issued from one of the nodes by sending a corresponding request to the DCS; the DCS including an interface for responding to the request by returning information corresponding to the major number and globally unique minor number associated with the requested physical device, and also determining which node the physical device resides on and the DSO to use to access the physical device; the global file system including means for using the information returned by the DCS to generate a file descriptor and for returning the file descriptor for subsequent use in accessing the requested physical device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method configured to provide global access to physical devices located on a computer cluster comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing in a device configuration system (DCS) physical device information for a plurality of the physical devices, the physical device information for each device in the plurality including a major number associated with a device type assigned to the physical device and other devices of same type, and a minor number that is globally unique for physical devices having the same major number; the physical devices including a plurality of physical devices having a same major number associated therewith including at least one device having a first globally unique minor number associated therewith on a first node of the system and a second device having a second globally unique minor number associated therewith on a second node of the system; a global file system responding to a request to access one such physical device issued from one of the nodes by requesting a DSO handle from a device configuration system (DCS); the DCS determining in response to the access request an identity of a first device server object (DSO) associated with the requested physical device and returning to the global file system a reference to the first DSO and information corresponding to the major number and globally unique minor number associated with the requested physical device; the global file system using the information returned by the DCS to generate a file descriptor and returning the file descriptor for subsequent use in accessing the requested physical device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification