Caching system and method for a network storage system
First Claim
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1. A cache system, comprising:
- a computer network;
two or more cache systems connected to the computer network wherein each cache system is connected to at least one computer host and at least one storage device;
each cache system further comprising a storage-side cache (SSC) for servicing data requests for data stored on the storage device associated with the cache system, a host-side cache (HSC) for servicing data requests from computer hosts associated with the cache system and a cache manager for controlling the operation of the first and second caches; and
wherein the cache manager further comprises means for performing a read operation on the HSC and means for performing a write operation on the HSC and wherein the write performing means further comprises means for determining a write operation byte limit, means for invalidating the HSC in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write exceeds the write operation byte limit and means for updating the HSC cache in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write does not exceed the write operation byte limit.
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Abstract
A cache system and method in accordance with the invention includes a cache near the target devices and another cache at the requesting host side so that the data traffic across the computer network is reduced. A cache updating and invalidation method are described.
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Citations
55 Claims
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1. A cache system, comprising:
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a computer network;
two or more cache systems connected to the computer network wherein each cache system is connected to at least one computer host and at least one storage device;
each cache system further comprising a storage-side cache (SSC) for servicing data requests for data stored on the storage device associated with the cache system, a host-side cache (HSC) for servicing data requests from computer hosts associated with the cache system and a cache manager for controlling the operation of the first and second caches; and
wherein the cache manager further comprises means for performing a read operation on the HSC and means for performing a write operation on the HSC and wherein the write performing means further comprises means for determining a write operation byte limit, means for invalidating the HSC in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write exceeds the write operation byte limit and means for updating the HSC cache in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write does not exceed the write operation byte limit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A cache unit capable of caching data requested by a computer host and capable of caching data requested from a storage device, the cache unit comprising:
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a memory for storing cached data that is requested by a computer host;
a cache manager for servicing the read and write requests from the computer host for data located on a storage device; and
wherein the cache further comprises a host side cache (HSC) for caching data requested by one or more computer hosts and a storage side cache (SSC) for caching data stored on one or more storage devices and wherein the cache manager further comprises means for performing a read operation on the HSC and means for performing a write operation on the HSC and wherein the write performing means further comprises means for determining a write operation byte limit, means for invalidating the HSC in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write exceeds the write operation byte limit and means for updating the HSC cache in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write does not exceed the write operation byte limit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A cache unit capable of caching data requested by a computer host and capable of caching data requested from a storage device, the cache unit comprising:
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a memory for storing cached data that is stored in a storage device;
a cache manager for servicing the read and write requests for data located in the storage device; and
wherein the cache further comprises a host side cache (HSC) for caching data requested by one or more computer hosts and a storage side cache (SSC) for caching data stored on one or more storage devices and wherein the cache manager further comprises means for performing a read operation on the HSC and means for performing a write operation on the HSC and wherein the write performing means further comprises means for determining a write operation byte limit, means for invalidating the HSC in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write exceeds the write operation byte limit and means for updating the HSC cache in response to a HSC cache write if the number of bytes in the cache write does not exceed the write operation byte limit. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification