Data engine with metadata processor

• US 6,754,773 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2002
• Issued: 06/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Braodband Storage LLC, Overland Storage Incorporated (Silicon Valley Technology Partners LLC)
• Original Assignee: Snap Appliance, Inc. (Silicon Valley Technology Partners LLC)
• Inventors: Schweitzer, James R., Bolstad, Gregory D., Staub, John R., Randall, Jay G., Ulrich, Thomas R., Priester, George W., Barry, David H., Godshalk, Ronald K. Jr., Lam, Danny, Olsen, Leonard D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Padmanabhan, Mano
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ho, Thang H
• Application Number:
  US10/060,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20020161973A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 711/118, 709/203, 709/219, 707/10, 714/6, 710/22
• US Class Current: 711/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1028 Distributed, i.e. distributed RAID systems with parity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system

Abstract

A programmable data path accelerator is described. The programmable data path accelerator operates on a file server that includes a network interface for communicating with one or more clients. The network interface includes a network transaction queue. A metafile processor is configured to communicate with the network interface across a first memory-mapped bus and is configured to communicate with the storage interface across a second memory-mapped bus. A data engine configured to communicate with the network interface across the first memory-mapped bus and to communicate with the storage interface across the second memory-mapped bus.

Claims

1. A file server comprising:

a network interface for communicating with one or more clients, said network interface comprising a network transaction queue;

a storage interface for communicating with one or more disk drives, said storage interface comprising a storage transaction queue;

a metadata processor configured to communicate with said network interface across a first memory-mapped bus and configured to communicate with said storage interface across a second memory-mapped bus, said metadata processor configured to queue network transaction requests to said network interface in response to file access requests from said clients, said metadata processor configured to queue storage transaction requests in response to file access requests from said clients, said network transaction requests and said storage transaction requests comprising address information and opcode information; and

a data engine configured to communicate with said network interface across said first memory-mapped bus, said data engine configured to communicate with said storage interface across said second memory-mapped bus, said data engine configured to receive first address words and third address words from said network interface and to receive second address words and fourth address words from said storage interface, said first address words comprising first address bits and first opcode bits, said second address words comprising second address bits and second opcode bits, said third address words comprising third address bits and third opcode bits, said fourth address words comprising fourth address bits and fourth opcode bits, said data engine receiving first data from said first memory-mapped bus and storing said first data in a data cache according to said first address bits and said first opcode bits, said data engine receiving second data from said second memory-mapped bus and storing said second data in said data cache according to second address bits and said second opcode bits, said data engine providing third data to said first memory-mapped bus from said data cache according to said third address bits and said third opcode bits, said data engine providing fourth data to said second memory-mapped bus from said data cache according to said fourth address bits and said fourth first opcode bits.

2. The file server of claim 1, wherein said network interface comprises a Fibre Channel interface.

3. The file server of claim 1, wherein said storage interface comprises a Fibre Channel interface.

4. The file server of claim 1, wherein said storage interface comprises a SCSI interface.

5. The file server of claim 1, wherein said storage interface comprises an IDE interface.

6. The file server of claim 1, wherein at least one of said storage interface and said network interface comprises an InfiniBand interface.

7. The file server of claim 1, said data engine further configured to generate a parity block from one or more data blocks.

8. The file server of claim 1, wherein said data engine is further configured to generate an exclusive-or parity block from one or more data blocks.

9. The file server of claim 1, wherein said data engine is further configured to regenerate lost data at least in part from parity data.

10. The file server of claim 1, wherein said first opcode bits comprise a code to specify at least one of a read from cache, a write to cache, an XOR write to cache, a write to a first cache with an XOR write to a second cache, and a write to said first cache and said second cache.

11. The file server of claim 1, wherein said first memory-mapped bus comprises a PCI bus.

12. The file server of claim 1, wherein said second memory-mapped bus comprises a PCI bus.

13. The file server of claim 1, further comprising a metadata cache operably connected to said metadata processor.

14. The file server of claim 1, wherein said metadata processor manages file system metadata, said file system metadata comprising directory information that describes a directory structure of at least a portion of a network file system.

15. The file server of claim 1, wherein said metadata processor manages file system metadata, said file system metadata configured to describe a directory structure of a portion of a distributed file system that aggregates files across a plurality of servers, said metadata comprising location information for files catalogued in said directory structure, said location information comprising server identifiers, disk identifiers, and logical block identifiers.

16. The file server of claim 1, wherein said metadata processor manages file system metadata, wherein said file system metadata identifies data blocks stored on one or more disk drives and corresponding parity blocks stored on one or more of said disk drives.

17. The file server of claim 1, wherein said metadata processor manages file system metadata, and wherein said file system metadata identifies parity groups, said parity groups comprising a plurality of information blocks, said information blocks comprising one or more data blocks, said information blocks further comprising a parity block, each of said information blocks stored on a different disk drive, said file system metadata identifying a disk drive and a logical block location of each information block.

18. The file server of claim 17, wherein a number of information blocks in a first parity group in a file is independent of a number of information blocks of a second parity group in said file.