Disk system adapted to be directly attached to network

• US 7,792,923 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2001
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SynKloud Technologies, LLC (SY Ventures)
• Original Assignee: Zhe Khi Pak
• Inventors: Kim, Han-Gyoo
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Application Number:
  US09/974,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20020069245A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,255 Days
• Field of Search: 709/250, 709/236, 709/246, 709217-219, 709/203, 709223-226, 707/204, 707/205, 710/5, 711/111
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/387 for adaptation of different data processing systems to different peripheral devices, e.g. protocol converters for incompatible systems, open system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A network-attached disk (NAD) system is disclosed that includes an NAD device for receiving a disk access command from a host through a network, and a device driver at the host for controlling the NAD device through the network, where the device driver creates a virtual host bus adapter so that the host recognizes the NAD device as if it is a local device to the host. The host may run the UNIX or Windows family of operating systems. The NAD device includes a disk for storing data, a disk controller for controlling the disk, and a network adapter for receiving a disk access command from the host through a network port.

Claims

1. A network-attached disk (NAD) device configured to be connected through a general purpose front-end network to a host having a system bus, wherein the host has a virtual host bus adapter that recognizes the device as a local device connected directly to the system bus of the host, the NAD device comprising:

a network adapter for receiving a disk access command in data link frames through the general purpose front-end network;

a disk controller, connected to the network adapter, for executing the disk access command;

a disk for storing data; and

a controller, connected to the network adapter and the disk controller, for controlling the operation of the NAD device;

wherein access to the disk is operatively controlled by the disk controller, no disk access command is required to be routed through a server, the NAD device is configured to be automatically discovered by the host when the NAD device is connected to the general purpose front-end network, the NAD device is not directly connected to a system bus of the host, and the NAD device is configured to be recognized by the virtual host bus driver created by a NAD device driver of the host, the NAD device driver comprising a device file and device driver routines for the device driver to register the device driver to the host.

2. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the network runs Ethernet.

3. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein said disk is formatted as a local disk.

4. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein said disk is partitioned as a local disk.

5. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the network adapter has a physical network interface for receiving data from a host and a media access control (MAC) controller.

6. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the controller has a state machine for controlling the operation of the NAD device.

7. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the controller has a filter for controlling access to the disk.

8. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the disk is partitioned into a plurality of disk partitions.

9. The NAD device of claim 8, wherein each disk partition is controlled by a separate driver.

10. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the NAD device is configured for connections with the NAD device driver having a network connection setting thread for making a connection between the device driver and the NAD device.

11. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the NAD device is configured to be controlled by the NAD device driver further including:

a bus driver for creating the virtual host adapter to access the NAD device as a local device connected directly to the system bus of the host; and

a port driver for communicating the disk access command from the host to the NAD device through a network port.

21. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the NAD device is configured to be accessed by the NAD device driver having a device accessing thread for accessing the NAD device.

22. The NAD device of claim 1, wherein the NAD device is configured to be identified by the NAD device driver having a device searching thread for identifying a device attached to the network.

12. A network-attached disk (NAD) device configured to be connected through a general purpose front-end network to a host computer having a system bus, the NAD device comprising:

a network adapter for receiving a disk access command through the general purpose front-end network, said network adapter including;

a physical network interface for interfacing with the general purpose front-end network to receive a disk I/O request packet from the host computer, and

a media access control (MAC) controller connected to the physical network interface to extract necessary data from the disk I/O request packet;

a disk controller, connected to the network adapter, for executing the disk access command;

a disk for storing data; and

a controller, connected to the network adapter and the disk controller, for controlling the operation of the NAD device;

wherein no disk access command is required to be routed through a server, the NAD device is not directly connected to a system bus of the host, and the NAD device is configured to be automatically recognized by a virtual host bus driver created by a NAD device driver of the host, the NAD device driver comprising a device file and device driver routines for the device driver to register the device driver to the host.

13. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein automatic discovery of the NAD device occurs when it is connected to the general purpose front-end network.

14. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein the general purpose front-end network runs Ethernet.

15. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein said disk is formatted as a local disk.

16. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein said disk is partitioned as a local disk.

17. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein the controller has a state machine for controlling the operation of the NAD device.

18. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein the controller has a filter for controlling access to the disk.

19. The NAD device of claim 12, wherein the disk is partitioned into a plurality of disk partitions.

20. The NAD device of claim 19, wherein each disk partition is controlled by a separate driver.