Tunneling SATA targets through fibre channel
First Claim
1. A method for enabling Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives to be utilized in Fibre Channel (FC) Storage Area Networks (SANs), comprising:
- at an initiator side of a FC link, integrating a translation module and a SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module in a controller, the translation module configured for translating Small Computer System Interconnect (SCSI) commands to SATA Frame Information Structures (FISs) and the SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module configured for encapsulating the SATA FISs into FC frames for commands being sent to the SATA disk drives, wherein the controller is configured to, for all FC frames received from the FC link, distinguish the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, the controller further configured for de-encapsulating the SATA FISs from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs and translating the SATA FISs to SCSI commands for commands being received from the SATA disk drives, and performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames that contain SCSI commands;
andat a target side of the FC link, integrating another SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module in a switch, wherein the switch is configured to, for all FC frames received from the FC link, distinguish the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, the switch further configured for de-encapsulating the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs to retrieve the SATA FISs and sending the SATA FISs to the SATA disk drives for commands being sent to the SATA disk drives, and performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames that contain SCSI commands, and wherein the switch is further configured for receiving the SATA FISs from the SATA disk drives and encapsulating the SATA FISs into FC frames for commands being sent from the SATA disk drives.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for enabling SATA drives to be utilized in FC SANs is disclosed. To send SATA FISs to a SATA drive over a FC SAN, a host sends SCSI commands encapsulated in FC frames over a standard FC link to a Fiber Channel Attached SATA Tunneling (FAST) RAID controller, where the SCSI commands are de-encapsulated from the FC frames and translated to SATA FISs. The SATA FISs are thereafter encapsulated into FC frames. The IOC that performs these functions is referred to as a FAST IOC. The SATA-encapsulated FC frames are sent to multiple disk drive enclosures over another standard FC link. The FC frames are de-encapsulated by FAST switches in disk drive enclosures to retrieve the SATA FISs, and the SATA FISs are sent to the SATA drives over a SATA connection.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for enabling Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives to be utilized in Fibre Channel (FC) Storage Area Networks (SANs), comprising:
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at an initiator side of a FC link, integrating a translation module and a SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module in a controller, the translation module configured for translating Small Computer System Interconnect (SCSI) commands to SATA Frame Information Structures (FISs) and the SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module configured for encapsulating the SATA FISs into FC frames for commands being sent to the SATA disk drives, wherein the controller is configured to, for all FC frames received from the FC link, distinguish the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, the controller further configured for de-encapsulating the SATA FISs from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs and translating the SATA FISs to SCSI commands for commands being received from the SATA disk drives, and performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames that contain SCSI commands; and at a target side of the FC link, integrating another SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module in a switch, wherein the switch is configured to, for all FC frames received from the FC link, distinguish the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, the switch further configured for de-encapsulating the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs to retrieve the SATA FISs and sending the SATA FISs to the SATA disk drives for commands being sent to the SATA disk drives, and performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames that contain SCSI commands, and wherein the switch is further configured for receiving the SATA FISs from the SATA disk drives and encapsulating the SATA FISs into FC frames for commands being sent from the SATA disk drives. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for enabling Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives to be utilized in Fibre Channel (FC) Storage Area Networks (SANs), comprising:
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a FC link; an initiator coupled to the FC link, the initiator comprising a controller that integrates a translation module for translating Small Computer System Interconnect (SCSI) commands to SATA Frame Information Structures (FISs) and a SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module for encapsulating the SATA FISs into FC frames when sending commands to the SATA disk drives over the FC link, wherein the controller is configured to distinguish the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, the controller further configured for de-encapsulating the SATA FISs from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs and translating the SATA FISs to SCSI commands when receiving commands from the SATA disk drives, and performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames detected to be encapsulating SCSI commands; and a target coupled to the FC link, the target comprising a switch that integrates another SATA encapsulation and/or de-capsulation module, wherein the target is configured to distinguish the FC frames that contain SCSI commands from the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs, the target further configured for de-encapsulating the FC frames that encapsulate SATA FISs to retrieve the SATA FISs and sending the SATA FISs to the SATA disk drives when receiving commands from the initiator, and performing low-level FC protocol handling for the FC frames that contain SCSI commands, and wherein the switch is further configured for receiving the SATA FISs from the SATA disk drives and encapsulating the SATA FISs into FC frames when sending commands to the initiator. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification