Information packet communication with virtual objects

• US 8,726,363 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2012
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Rateze Remote Mgmt. L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Frank, Charles William, Ludwig, Thomas Earl, Babbitt, William R. Jr., Adams, Mark, Witchey, Nicholas James
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAIFER HARRIMAN, DANT B
• Application Number:
  US13/363,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20120195315A1
• Time in Patent Office: 833 Days
• Field of Search: 726/15
• US Class Current: 726/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating, with a processor, a first virtual device with a plurality of storage devices and a second virtual device with a physical device element, wherein the first virtual device is a multicast group of logical partitions distributed over the plurality of storage devices;

assigning, by the processor, the first virtual device a first host address and the second virtual device a second host address, wherein the first and second host addresses are different network addresses that are both associated with an address that corresponds to a network interface, and wherein the network interface communicatively couples the processor to a network; and

responsive to an information packet received from the network interface, the information packet having a control portion including the first host address, routing, by the processor, the information packet to the first virtual device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

routing the information packet to the first virtual device via a virtual bus tunnel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information packet is a first information packet and the method further comprises:

receiving a second information packet from the second virtual device;

determining that the second information packet has a device format;

configuring the second information packet with a third host address of a third virtual device; and

transmitting the second information packet to the third virtual device via a virtual bus tunnel.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a localized domain name server system; and

routing the information packet based on said accessing.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second host addresses are first and second Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, respectively.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the address that corresponds to the network interface is a frame address and the method further comprises:

receiving a framing packet including the frame address and the information packet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information packet further includes an encapsulated portion having the second host address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first host address is a group identifier and the information packet further includes one or more additional identifiers, the one or more additional identifiers including a device identifier or a target identifier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more additional identifiers includes a logical block address.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, based on the information packet, one or more device-level requests that are in a device format compatible with a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices; and

issuing the one or more device-level requests to the first storage device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, based on the information packet, at least two device-level requests that are in a device format compatible with at least two storage devices of the plurality of storage devices; and

issuing the at least two device-level requests to the at least two storage devices.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical device element is a processing unit.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the different network addresses are different network routable addresses.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface having an address and configured to communicatively couple the apparatus to a network; and

a processor coupled with the network interface, wherein the processor is configured to;

associate a first virtual device with a plurality of storage devices and a second virtual device with a physical device element, wherein the first virtual device is a group of logical partitions distributed over the plurality of storage devices;

assign the first virtual device a first host address and the second virtual device a second host address, wherein the first and second host addresses are different network addresses; and

provide an information packet to the first virtual device in response to receiving the information packet from the network interface, the information packet having a control portion including the first host address.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first virtual device is an application, a program, a task, a thread, a function, or a device driver.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first host address comprises an Internet Protocol address.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a target device interface that provides access to the plurality of storage devices and the physical device element.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the target device interface includes a serial AT attachment (SATA) interface, a parallel AT attachment (PATA) interface, a small computer system interface (SCSI), or a fiber channel interface.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the target device interface is a heterogenous interface.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the address of the network interface is a frame address and the network interface is configured to receive a framing packet including the frame address and the information packet.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the information packet further includes an encapsulated portion having the second host address.

21. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first host address is a group identifier and the information packet further includes one or more additional identifiers, the one or more additional identifiers including a device identifier or a target identifier.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the one or more additional identifiers includes a logical block address.

23. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate, based on the information packet, one or more device-level requests that are in a device format compatible with a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices; and

issue the one or more device-level requests to the first storage device.

24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate, based on the information packet, at least two device-level requests that are in a device format compatible with at least two storage devices of the plurality of storage devices; and

issue the at least two device-level requests to the at least two storage devices.

25. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the group of logical partitions is a span group, a stripe group, or a mirror group.

33. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the different network addresses are different network routable addresses.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer executable instructions that when executed cause a module to:

associate a first virtual device with a plurality of storage devices and a second virtual device with a physical device element, wherein the first virtual device corresponds to a multicast group of logical partitions distributed over the plurality of storage devices;

assign the first virtual device a first host address and the second virtual device a second host address, wherein the first and second host addresses are different network addresses that are both associated with an address that corresponds to a network interface, and wherein the network interface communicatively couples the module to a network; and

responsive to an information packet received from the network interface, the information packet having a control portion including the first host address, route the information packet to the first virtual device.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the information packet is a first information packet and the instructions when executed further cause the module to:

responsive to receipt of a second information packet from the second virtual device, determine that the second information packet has a device format;

configure the second information packet with a third host address of a third virtual device; and

transmit the second information packet to the third virtual device via a virtual bus tunnel.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the address that corresponds to the network interface is a frame address and the instructions when executed further cause the module to:

decapsulate a framing packet, which includes the frame address, to provide the information packet.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the first host address is a group identifier and the information packet further includes one or more additional identifiers, the one or more additional identifiers including a device identifier or a target identifier.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the one or more additional identifiers includes a logical block address.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the different network addresses are different network routable addresses.