Storage system architecture

• US 9,525,738 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2016
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Inventors: Hayes, John, Colgrove, John, Davis, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): ELMORE, STEPHEN C
• Application Number:
  US15/167,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20160277503A1
• Time in Patent Office: 207 Days
• Field of Search: 711/103, 711/154, 711/156, 711/158, 711/170, 713/340, 714/6.2, 714/6.24, 714/6.32, 365/185.33
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1068 in sector programmable memories, e.g. flash disk G06F11/1072 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/108 Parity data distribution in semiconductor storages, e.g. in SSD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2092 Techniques of failing over between control units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/805 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/845 Systems in which the redundancy can be transformed in increased performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7206 Reconfiguration of flash memory system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7207 management of metadata or control data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 : Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 : Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 : Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/52 : Protection of memory contents; Detection of errors in memory contents
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/154 : Error and erasure correction, e.g. by using the error and erasure locator or Forney polynomial
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40169 : Flexible bus arrangements arrangements for maintenance or administration involving management of faults; events, alarms H04L41/06; automatic restoration of network faults H04L41/0654
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/10 : characterised by the switching fabric construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/111 : Switch interfaces, e.g. port details
• 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: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A storage system is provided. The storage system includes a plurality of storage units, each of the plurality of storage units having storage memory for user data and a plurality of storage nodes, each of the plurality of storage nodes configured to have ownership of a portion of the user data. The storage system includes a first pathway, coupling the plurality of storage units such that each of the plurality of storage units can communicate with at least one other of the plurality of storage units via the first pathway without assistance from the plurality of storage nodes.

Claims

1. A storage system, comprising:

a first storage cluster, in a first chassis, the first storage cluster having a first plurality of storage nodes coupled together, each storage node of the first plurality of storage nodes having one or more storage units;

a second storage cluster, in a second chassis, the second storage cluster having a second plurality of storage nodes coupled together, each storage node of the second plurality of storage nodes having one or more storage units;

a chassis-to-chassis interconnect coupling the first storage cluster and the second storage cluster, with the first storage cluster and the second storage cluster configurable as a single logical unit; and

the first storage cluster, the second storage cluster and the chassis-to-chassis interconnect having a pathway coupling storage units such that a first storage unit in the first storage cluster is configurable to communicate with at least one other storage unit in the first storage cluster and communicate with at least one storage unit in the second storage cluster, via the pathway without storage node processor assistance.