System and method for proxying data access commands in a clustered storage system

• US 8,060,695 B1
• Filed: 02/20/2008
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Lee, Herman, Rajan, Vijayan
• Primary Examiner(s): Gu; Shawn X
• Application Number:
  US12/033,985
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A system and method proxies data access commands across a cluster interconnect between storage appliances in a cluster. Each storage appliance activates two ports for data access, a local port for data access requests directed to clients of the storage appliance and a proxy port for data access requests directed to the partner storage appliance. Clients utilizing multi-pathing software may send data access requests to either the local port of the storage appliance or the proxy port of the storage appliance.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a partner storage system connected to a set of storage devices; and

a local storage system with a local port and a proxy port, wherein the proxy port is configured to receive a request directed to the partner storage system in response to a failure in communication between a client and the partner storage system, and forward the request to the partner storage system to process the request, wherein the local port is configured to receive requests from clients directed to the local storage system.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprises a cluster interconnect link between the partner storage system and the local storage system.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the partner storage system is configured to send a response to the local storage system over the cluster interconnect.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the local storage system is configured to send the response to a client.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the response comprises requested read data.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the response comprises an acknowledgement of a write operation.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the response comprises a predetermined set of read data.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the cluster interconnect comprises a direct link between the local storage system and the partner storage system.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the local storage system forwards the request directed to the partner storage system to the partner storage system using the cluster interconnect.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy port is an alternative network path to the set of storage devices connected to the partner storage system.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy port comprises a physical port.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy port comprises a virtual port associated with a physical port.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the request directed to the partner storage system is sent to the proxy port in response to a failure in communication between a client and the partner storage system.

14. A method, comprising:

configuring a partner storage system with a set of storage devices;

configuring a local storage system with a local port and a proxy port;

in response to a failure in communication between a client and the partner storage system, receiving a request at the proxy port, wherein the request is directed to the partner storage system; and

forwarding, by the local storage system, the request to the partner storage system to process the request, wherein the local port is configured to receive requests from clients directed to the local storage system.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprises sending a response to the local storage system over a cluster interconnect by the partner storage system.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprises sending, by the local storage system, the response to a client.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the cluster interconnect comprises a direct link between the local storage system and the partner storage system.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the local storage system forwards the request directed to the partner storage system to the partner storage system using the cluster interconnect.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the proxy port is an alternative network path to the set of storage devices connected to the partner storage system.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the proxy port comprises a physical port.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the proxy port comprises a virtual port associated with a physical port.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the request directed to the partner storage system is sent to the proxy port in response to a failure in communication between a client and the partner storage system.