Storage server system including ranking of data source

• US 6,446,141 B1
• Filed: 03/25/1999
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Lane, Jerry Parker, Harris, George W. Jr., Nolan, Shari J., Merrell, Alan R., Nespor, Jeffery S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vital, Pierre M
• Application Number:
  US09/276,428
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 710/8, 710/62, 711/170, 709/203
• US Class Current: 710/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

A storage server comprising: a processing unit, a bus system coupled with the processing unit, including a plurality of slots, slots in the plurality of slots including interfaces to respective data stores; a communication interface; and an operating system coupled with the processing unit the operating system including: logic controlling transfers among the plurality of slots over the bus system according to an internal format, logic for translating a storage transaction received over the communication interface into the internal format, and logic for configuring the plurality of slots according to a configuration data.

Claims

1. A storage server comprising:

a processing unit,

a bus system coupled with the processing unit, including a plurality of slots, slots in the plurality of slots including interfaces to respective data stores;

a communication interface; and

an operating system coupled with the processing unit, the operating system including;

logic controlling transfers among the plurality of slots over the bus system according to an internal format,

logic for translating a storage transaction received over the communication interface into the internal format;

logic for configuring the plurality of slots according to configuration data;

logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server;

wherein the configuration data includes a table mapping virtual circuits to respective interfaces to data stores; and

wherein the logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to rank a data source according to the performance of the data source and to mirror data from data sources performing below a threshold to a data source performing above the threshold.

2. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the communication interface comprises an interface to fibre optic medium.

3. The storage server of claim 2, wherein the communication interface includes a driver compliant with a fibre channel arbitrated loop.

4. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the communication interface further includes a driver compliant with a standard “

small computer system interface version 3”

(SCSI-3 ) driver.

5. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the communication interface includes a driver compliant with an Ethernet interface.

6. The storage server of claim 5, wherein the communication interface supports a driver compliant with an Internet protocol (IP).

7. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is comprised of a plurality of processing units.

8. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the bus system comprises a plurality of interconnected computer buses.

9. The storage server of claim 8, wherein the plurality of interconnected computer buses are compliant with standard “

peripheral component interconnect”

(PCI) buses.

10. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the communication interface comprises a network interface card coupled to one of the plurality of slots.

11. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the bus system.

12. The storage server of claim 1, wherein at least one of the interfaces to data stores includes a nonvolatile storage interface.

13. The storage server of claim 12, wherein the nonvolatile storage interface comprises a flash memory interface.

14. The storage server of claim 1, wherein at least one of the interfaces to data stores includes an interface to a host bridge controller.

15. The storage server of claim 14, wherein the interface to the host bridge controller comprises an interface to a second system bus.

16. The storage server of claim 14, wherein the interface to the host bridge controller includes a bridge to a second communication interface, the second communication interface comprises an interface to a fibre optic medium.

17. The storage sever of claim 14, wherein the interface to the host bridge controller includes a bridge for connection to a second storage server.

18. The storage server of claim 1, wherein at least one of the interfaces to data stores includes an interface to a random access memory (RAM).

19. The storage server of claim 1, wherein at least one of the interfaces to data stores includes a cache memory interface, and further includes cache memory coupled to the cache memory interface.

20. The storage server of claim 1, wherein at least one of the interfaces to data stores includes a controller for at least one disk drive.

21. The storage server of claim 20, wherein the controller supports an array of disk drives.

22. The storage server of claim 20, wherein the controller supports a redundant array of disk drives.

23. The storage server of claim 20, wherein the controller includes drivers compliant with standard “

redundant arrays of independent disks”

(RAID) protocol.

24. The storage server of claim 20, wherein the at least one disk drive is coupled to the controller by a fibre optic medium.

25. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic for translating a storage transaction received over the communication interface into an internal format includes logic for translating a SCSI-3 instruction and data into an internal format.

26. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the configuration data includes data mapping SCSI-3 logical unit numbers (LUNs) to respective virtual circuits.

27. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the configuration data includes a table mapping virtual circuits to respective interfaces to data stores.

28. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic to monitor performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to handle a data source failure.

29. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to handle a communication interface failure.

30. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to handle a processing unit failure.

31. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to handle a bus system failure.

32. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to map storage transactions to data sources based on the condition of the data source.

33. The storage server of claim 1, wherein the logic to monitor the performance and condition of the storage server includes logic to report errors.

34. The storage server of claim 1, including a user interface supporting input of configuration data.

35. The storage server of claim 34, wherein the user interface comprises a graphical user interface.

36. The storage server of claim 34, wherein the user interface comprises a touch screen coupled to the storage server.

37. A storage server comprising:

a communication interface, the communication interface supporting a storage transaction communication channel;

a logic for translating a storage transaction received over the storage transaction channel to an internal format;

a logic for routing the storage transaction in the internal format to a virtual circuit, the virtual circuit managing connections to respective data stores in communication with the storage server;

wherein resources controlled by the processor include processes to mirror storage transactions across plural virtual or physical storage devices; and

wherein the managing connections to respective data stores include changing mapping of extents of storage for the virtual circuit.

38. The storage server of claim 37, wherein virtual circuit comprises logic for translating the internal format to one or more communication protocols for a corresponding one or more data stores.

39. The storage server of claim 38, wherein the respective communication protocols for corresponding respective data sources include a protocol compliant with a standard “

intelligent input/output”

(I₂O) message format.

40. The storage server of claim 38, wherein the respective communication protocols for corresponding respective data sources include a protocol compliant with a standard I₂O block storage architecture (BSA) format.

41. The storage server of claim 38, wherein the respective communication protocols for corresponding respective data sources include a protocol compliant with a standard I₂O SCSI format.

42. The storage server of claim 38, wherein the respective communication protocols for corresponding respective data sources include a protocol compliant with a standard I₂O format.

43. The storage server of claim 37, wherein the communication interface comprises an interface to a fibre channel arbitrated loop.

44. The storage server of claim 37, wherein the storage transaction communication channel comprises a channel compliant with a standard “

small computer system interface version 3”

(SCSI-3) communication channel.

45. The storage server of claim 37, wherein the internal format comprises a protocol compliant with a standard I₂O message format.

46. The storage server of claim 37, wherein the logic for routing storage transactions to a virtual circuit includes a table, the table having a plurality of entries, the plurality of entries indicating a correspondence between an address extent specified in the storage communication channel and a virtual circuit.

47. The storage server of claim 37, wherein the logic for routing storage transactions to a virtual device includes a table, the table having a plurality of entries, the plurality of entries indicating a correspondence between a virtual circuit and respective data sources.

48. The storage server of claim 37, including a cache, and wherein a virtual circuit communicates with the cache.

49. The storage server of claim 37, including a hard disk, and wherein a virtual circuit communicates with the hard disk.

50. The storage server of claim 37, wherein respective data stores include a nonvolatile memory.

51. The storage server of claim 37, wherein respective data stores include an array of hard disks.

52. The storage server of claim 37, including a user interface supporting input of configuration data.

53. The storage server of claim 52, wherein the user interface comprises a graphical user interface.

54. The storage server of claim 52, wherein the user interface comprises a touch screen coupled to the storage server.

55. A storage router comprising:

a first communication interface;

a plurality of other communication interfaces;

a processing unit;

a bus system coupled with the processing unit, the first communication interface, and the plurality of other communication interfaces;

an operating system coupled with the processing unit, the operating system including logic for routing a storage transaction received over the first communication interface to respective other communication interfaces according to configuration data;

wherein the configuration data includes a table mapping virtual circuits to respective interfaces to data stores; and

wherein the operating system includes logic to rank a data source according to the performance of the data source and to mirror data from data sources performing below a threshold to a data source performing above the threshold.

56. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the first communication interface comprises an interface to a fibre channel medium.

57. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the first communication interface further includes the standard SCSI-3 driver.

58. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the plurality of other communication interfaces includes an interface to a fibre channel medium.

59. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the plurality of other communication interfaces include an interface to a fibre channel medium.

60. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the plurality of other communication interfaces further include the standard SCSI-3 driver.

61. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the configuration data includes a table, the table having a plurality of entries, the plurality of entries indicating a correspondence between an address extent specified in the storage transaction and a virtual circuit.

62. The storage router of claim 55, wherein the configuration data includes a table, the table having a plurality of entries, the plurality of entries indicating a correspondence between a virtual circuit and one or more drivers for controlling one or more data stores coupled to the plurality of other communication interfaces.

63. The storage router of claim 55, including a user interface supporting input of configuration data.

64. The storage server of claim 63, wherein the user interface comprises a graphical user interface.

65. The storage server of claim 63, wherein the user interface comprises a touch screen coupled to the storage server.

66. A server for a storage network including at least one client system which produces requests for storage transactions, a client communication channel to and from the client system, a plurality of storage devices, and respective communication channels to and from the storage devices in the plurality, comprising:

a processor, including a bus system;

a client interface to the client communication channel coupled to the bus system;

a plurality of interfaces to the respective communication channels coupled to the bus system;

a non-volatile cache memory coupled to the bus system;

resources controlled by the processor to receive requests for storage transactions on the server interface, to direct the requested storage transactions to the plurality of storage devices and to allocate the non-volatile cache memory for uses in the storage transactions;

wherein resources controlled by the processor include processes to mirror storage transactions across plural virtual or physical storage devices; and

wherein the resources controlled by the processor include processes to change the mapping of extents of storage for the virtual device.

67. The server of claim 66, wherein the resources controlled by the processor include processes to authenticate and verify access permissions for storage transactions.

68. The server of claim 66, wherein the resources controlled by the processor include processes to map the requested storage transactions to virtual storage devices, and from virtual storage devices to physical storage devices.

69. The server of claim 66, wherein the resources controlled by the processor include logic to configure virtual storage devices having logical addresses mapping to extents of storage in one or more physical storage devices in the plurality of storage devices.

70. The server of claim 66, including a user interface by which configuration data is supplied to the processor for use by said logic.

71. The server of claim 66, wherein the resources controlled by the processor include processes coupled with the client interface which emulate a physical storage device in response to requests for storage transactions according to a protocol identifying a target physical storage device.

72. The server of claim 66, wherein the resources controlled by the processor include logic to configure a virtual storage device mapping to extent of storage in one or more physical storage devices in the plurality of storage devices to support the requests for storage transactions according to the protocol identifying the target physical storage device.

73. The server of claim 66, wherein the resources controlled by the processor include logic to configure a virtual storage device mapping to extents of storage in one or more physical storage devices in the plurality of storage devices to support the requests for storage transactions according to the protocol identifying the initiating device and the storage.

74. The server of claim 66, wherein the protocol comprise a protocol compliant with a SCSI standard.

75. The server of claim 66, wherein the protocol comprise a protocol compliant with a FCP standard.

76. The server of claim 72, wherein the protocol comprise a protocol compliant with a SCSI standard.

77. The server of claim 72, wherein the protocol comprise a protocol compliant with a FCP standard.