Cluster control protocol
First Claim
1. A method for managing a group of storage control systems in communication with clients and storage arrays, each storage control system having tiering media and a coherence controller, comprising:
- discovering a master storage control system of the group of storage control systems;
discovering connection information between clients and disks of the storage arrays established through the storage control systems;
sending the connection information to the master storage control system;
updating a connection table in the master storage control system that identifies the connection information discovered by each of the group of storage control systems;
sending the connection information of the connection table to the group of storage control systems;
using the connection information to maintain coherency between tiering media contained in the group of storage control systems; and
generating a mapping table that maps different portions of a same virtual address range with tiering media located in different storage control systems of the group of storage control systems,wherein the mapping table maps different portions of a same logical address range with different tiering media operated by the different storage control systems;
the mapping table includes address offsets for the different portions of the logical address range; and
, the logic circuitry is configured to generate virtual addresses by adding the address offsets to physical addresses contained in the storage operations.
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Abstract
A cluster of storage control members connect different clients to different storage disks. Connection path information between the different clients and disks is discovered and distributed to the storage cluster members. The connection path information is then used to maintain coherency between tiering media contained in the different storage cluster members. Unique Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) identifiers may be associated with the different connection paths to uniquely identify particular storage disks connected to the clients.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for managing a group of storage control systems in communication with clients and storage arrays, each storage control system having tiering media and a coherence controller, comprising:
- discovering a master storage control system of the group of storage control systems;
discovering connection information between clients and disks of the storage arrays established through the storage control systems; sending the connection information to the master storage control system; updating a connection table in the master storage control system that identifies the connection information discovered by each of the group of storage control systems; sending the connection information of the connection table to the group of storage control systems; using the connection information to maintain coherency between tiering media contained in the group of storage control systems; and generating a mapping table that maps different portions of a same virtual address range with tiering media located in different storage control systems of the group of storage control systems, wherein the mapping table maps different portions of a same logical address range with different tiering media operated by the different storage control systems;
the mapping table includes address offsets for the different portions of the logical address range; and
, the logic circuitry is configured to generate virtual addresses by adding the address offsets to physical addresses contained in the storage operations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- discovering a master storage control system of the group of storage control systems;
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8. An apparatus, comprising:
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a plurality of storage control systems; tiering media located in the storage control systems; a master storage control system of the plurality of storage control systems configured to maintain and send a mapping table of storage paths of the plurality of storage control systems to the plurality of storage control systems; and logic circuitry configured to receive storage operations and forward the storage operations to the storage control systems having storage paths in the mapping table corresponding with connection information for the storage operations, wherein the mapping table maps different portions of a same logical address range with different tiering media operated by the different storage control systems;
the mapping table includes address offsets for the different portions of the logical address range; and
, the logic circuitry is configured to generate virtual addresses by adding the address offsets to physical addresses contained in the storage operations. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A storage control system, comprising:
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a plurality of storage controllers in communication with clients; and
storage disks, comprising;tiering media; and a coherency controller, further comprising; a configuration interface configured to monitor communications between the clients and the storage disks and generate a configuration table identifying connection paths between the clients and the storage disks; and an operational interface configured to use the tiering media to store data associated with the storage operations according to the connection paths identified in the configuration table wherein a storage controller of the plurality of storage controllers is a master storage controller and the configuration table is in the master storage controller;
the coherency controller further comprises a discovery interface configured to identify different members of a same group of storage control systems that each contain associated tiering media;
the configuration interface is configured to derive a mapping table that maps the connection paths with the tiering media in the group of storage control systems;
the mapping table maps different portions of a same logical address range with different tiering media operated by the different storage control systems with address offsets for the different portions of the logical address range; and
, the logic circuitry is configured to generate virtual addresses by adding the address offsets to physical addresses contained in the storage operations. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification