Method and apparatus for allocating resources among virtual filers on a filer

• US 20030191810A1
• Filed: 04/07/2003
• Published: 10/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Banga, Gaurav, Muhlestein, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,647,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/215
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

An architecture provides the ability to create and maintain multiple instances of virtual servers, such as virtual filers (vfilers), within a server, such as a filer. A vfiler is a logical partitioning of network and storage resources of the filer platform to establish an instance of a multi-protocol server. Each vfiler is allocated a subset of dedicated units of storage resources, such as volumes or logical sub-volumes (qtrees), and one or more network address resources. Each vfiler is also allowed shared access to a file system resource of a storage operating system. To ensure controlled access to the allocated and shared resources, each vfiler is further assigned its own security domain for each access protocol. A vfiler boundary check is performed by the file system to verify that a current vfiler is allowed to access certain storage resources for a requested file stored on the filer platform.

Claims

1. A method for allocating resources among virtual servers of a server, the method comprising the steps of:

mapping soft objects to the resources, the soft objects residing in a memory of the server and accessible by processing elements of the server; and

assigning the soft objects to the virtual servers to thereby provide a level of indirection that enables flexibility when allocating the resources among the virtual servers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of mapping comprises the step of linking the soft objects to data structures representative of the resources in a manner that enables flexibility when logically assigning the resources.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the soft objects comprise storage data structures and the resources comprise storage resources, and wherein the storage data structures correspond to dynamically adjustable portions of the storage resources.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a dynamically adjustable portion of a storage resource comprises one of a qtree and a volume.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of assigning comprises the steps of:

creating a context structure for each virtual server, the context structure containing configuration information used to establish an instance of a multi-protocol server; and

storing a list of the storage data structures allocated to the virtual server.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of mapping comprises the step of storing a pointer within each storage data structure, the pointer referencing a path to a dynamically adjustable portion of a storage resource.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the soft objects comprise network data structures and the resources comprise network resources, and wherein the network data structures correspond to dynamically adjustable portions of the network resources.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein a network resource comprises a network interface of the server and wherein a dynamically adjustable portion of the network interface comprises a network address.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of assigning comprises the steps of:

creating a context structure for each virtual server, the context structure containing configuration information used to establish an instance of a multi-protocol server; and

storing a list of the network data structures allocated to the virtual server.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of mapping comprises the step of storing a pointer within each network data structure, the pointer referencing an interface address data structure representing a dynamically adjustable portion of a network resource.

11. Apparatus configured to allocate resources to a virtual filer (vfiler) of a filer, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of soft objects configured to provide a mapping to the resources, the soft objects residing in a memory of the filer and accessible by processing elements of the filer; and

a context structure created for the vfiler, the context structure storing a list of the soft objects assigned to the vfiler to thereby provide a level of indirection that enables flexibility when allocating the resources to the vfiler.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the soft objects comprise storage data structures and the resources comprise storage resources, and wherein the storage data structures correspond to dynamically adjustable portions of the storage resources.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the storage resources comprise disks coupled to the filer and wherein the dynamically adjustable portions of the disks comprise one of qtrees and volumes defining a logical arrangement of space on the disks.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the storage data structures comprise vfiler storage (vfstore) structures, each vfstore structure having a pointer that references a path to one of a qtree and volume allocated to the vfiler.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the soft objects comprise network data structures and the resources comprise network resources, and wherein the network data structures correspond to dynamically adjustable portions of the network resources.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the network resources comprise network interfaces of the filer and wherein the dynamically adjustable portions of the network interfaces comprise network addresses.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the network addresses comprise Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the network data structures comprise vfiler network (vfnet) structures, each vfnet structure having a pointer that references an interface address (ifaddr) data structure representing an IP address allocated to the vfiler.

19. A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions for allocating resources among virtual filers (vfilers) of a filer, the executable program instructions comprising program instructions for:

mapping soft objects to the resources, the soft objects residing in a memory of the filer and accessible by processing elements of the filer; and

assigning the soft objects to the vfilers to thereby provide a level of indirection that enables flexibility when allocating the resources among the vfilers.

20. Apparatus configured to allocate resources among virtual servers of a server, the apparatus comprising:

means for mapping soft objects to the resources, the soft objects residing in a memory of the server and accessible by processing elements of the server; and

means for assigning the soft objects to the virtual servers to thereby provide a level of indirection that enables flexibility when allocating the resources among the virtual servers.