System and method for on-demand node creation for fabric devices
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for discovering fabric devices, comprising:
- receiving a list from a fabric driver of fabric devices available to a host system, wherein the fabric driver is part of an operating system for the host system;
receiving a request to select a subset of the fabric devices from the list;
requesting the fabric driver to create an operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of fabric devices through the operating system executing on the host system; and
creating the operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A fabric driver on a host system connected to a fabric may include an API for an administration application to query and obtain a list of devices connected to a fabric host adapter port(s). The fabric driver may execute this query and obtain the list of devices by querying a fabric name server. One or more direct attach devices may also be discovered. For direct attach devices, like private loop topologies, operating system device nodes may be created during driver attach. However, for fabric topologies the fabric driver provides a list of devices visible through the fabric host adapter port by querying the fabric name server and supplies this list to the administration application in response to the administration application'"'"'s request. A user may then select devices from this list to be onlined. A dynamic persistent repository may be maintained of devices onlined using this on-demand node creation process.
54 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for discovering fabric devices, comprising:
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receiving a list from a fabric driver of fabric devices available to a host system, wherein the fabric driver is part of an operating system for the host system; receiving a request to select a subset of the fabric devices from the list; requesting the fabric driver to create an operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of fabric devices through the operating system executing on the host system; and creating the operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for discovering fabric devices, comprising:
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providing a list of fabric devices available to a host system; receiving a request to create operating system device nodes in the host system for each fabric device in a selected subset of the fabric devices available to the host system; and creating an operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the selected subset not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of fabric devices through an operating system executing on the host System, and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for discovering devices attached to a storage network, comprising:
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receiving a request to identify devices attached to the storage network which are available to a host system; requesting the storage network to identify devices attached to the storage network which are available to the host system; receiving a list of the identified devices; receiving a request to on-line a subset of the identified devices; and creating an operating system device node within the host system for each of the identified devices in the subset that is not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of the identified devices through an operating system executing on the host system and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A host system, comprising:
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one or more adapter ports for connecting to a fabric; a tangible computer readable storage medium. encoded with program instructions computer-executable to implement; a fabric driver configured to interface the host system to the fabric, wherein the fabric driver is part of an operating system for the host system; an application configured to request the fabric driver to provide a list of fabric devices attached to the fabric that are visible to the host system through one of said adapter ports; wherein the fabric driver is further configured to provide the list of fabric devices to the application in response to the request from the application; wherein the application is further configured to indicate to the fabric driver a selected subset of the fabric devices from the list to be brought online for access from the host system; and wherein the fabric driver is further configured to online the selected subset of fabric devices so that the selected subset of fabric devices are accessible from the host system, wherein the fabric driver is further configured to create operating system device nodes within the host system for each device of the selected subset, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of fabric devices through the operating system executing on the host system. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, wherein the sequences of instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:
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receiving a list from a fabric driver of fabric devices available to a host system, wherein the fabric driver is part of an operating system for the host system; receiving a request to select a subset of the fabric devices from the list; requesting the fabric driver to create an operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of fabric devices through the operating system executing on the host system; and creating the operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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39. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, wherein the sequences of instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:
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providing a list of fabric devices available to a host system; receiving a request to create operating system device node in the host system for each fabric device in a selected subset of the fabric devices available to the host system; and creating an operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the selected subset not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of fabric devices through an operating system executing on the host system, and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, wherein the sequences of instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:
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receiving a request to identify devices attached to storage network which are available to a host system; requesting the storage network to identify devices attached to the storage network which are available to the host system; receiving a list of the identified devices; receiving a request to on-line a subset of the identified devices; and creating an operating system device node within the host system for each of the identified devices in the subset that is not already online, wherein each operating system device node provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of the identified devices through an operating system executing on the host system; and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A method for discovering fabric devices, comprising:
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viewing a list of fabric devices available to a host system; selecting a subset of the fabric devices from the list; and
requesting that each of the fabric devices in the subset be brought online if not already online for use from the host system, wherein each fabric device that is online has a corresponding operating system device node that provides a mechanism for accessing a corresponding one of the subset of the identified devices through an operating system executing on the host system;creating an operating system device node in the host system for each of the fabric devices in the subset not already online, and wherein said creating the operating system device node comprising writing the operating system device node into a memory; and wherein said viewing, selecting and requesting are performed via a computer system user interface. - View Dependent Claims (53)
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Specification