Shared-everything file storage for clustered system

• US 6,230,190 B1
• Filed: 10/09/1998
• Issued: 05/08/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Openwave Systems Incorporated (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Edmonds, Paul, Zhang, Yi, Xu, Chang, Co, Stephen, Chan, Andy, Tel, Michael P., Doshi, Priyen
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/169,360
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 709/213, 709/214, 709/216, 709/200, 709/203, 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A computer system has a plurality of processors, each processor executing an independent operating system image without sharing file system state information. The system includes an active backplane coupled to the plurality of processors; and one or more data storage devices coupled to the active backplane for satisfying data requests from the plurality of processors, each of the data storage devices being adapted to secure a file when one processor writes to the file and to release the file when the processor completes operation on the file.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a plurality of processors, each processor executing an independent operating system image without sharing file system state information;

an active backplane coupled to the plurality of processors wherein the backplane uses a network protocol to communicate data; and

one or more data storage devices coupled to the active backplane for satisfying data requests from the plurality of processors using the network protocol, each of the data storage devices being adapted to secure a file when one processor writes to the file and to release the file when the processor completes operation on the file.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the active back plane is a switch.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the switch is an Ethernet switch.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein each data storage device is a redundant array of inexpensive disk (RAID) device.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein each data storage device is a network data storage device.

6. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising a file sharing protocol supported by the processor and the data storage system.

7. The computer system of claim 6, further comprising means for locking a file on the data storage device.

8. The computer system of claim 6, further comprising a byte range locking means for controlling access to the data storage device.

9. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising a cellular switch coupled to the processors.

10. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising one or more applications selected from a group consisting of telephony applications, speech recognition applications, electronic mail applications, personal information management applications, and Web agent applications.

11. A method for providing file storage in a computer system, comprising:

executing an independent operating system image on each processor in a plurality of processors without sharing file system state information;

communicating data over an active backplane coupled to the plurality of processors using a network protocol; and

transferring data from one or more data storage devices coupled to the active backplane in satisfying data requests from the plurality of processors, each of the data storage devices being adapted to secure a file when one processor writes to the file and to release the file when the processor completes operation on the file.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the communicating step includes routing data using a switch.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the switch is an Ethernet switch.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing data in a redundant array of inexpensive disk (RAID) device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the transferring step further comprises accessing one or more network data storage devices.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising communicating data using file sharing protocol.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising locking a file on the data storage device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising locking a byte range on the data storage device.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving data from a cellular switch coupled to the processors.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising executing one or more applications selected from a group consisting of telephony applications, speech recognition applications, electronic mail applications, personal information management applications, and Web agent applications.

21. The method of claim 11, further comprising executing one or more applications selected from a group consisting of facsimile applications, synchronization applications, short message system (SMS) delivery applications, and pager applications.