BLOCK BASED ACCESS TO A DISPERSED DATA STORAGE NETWORK

• US 20110072115A1
• Filed: 11/19/2010
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cleversafe Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Thornton, Vance, Resch, Jason, Quigley, John, Dhuse, Greg, Volvovski, Ilya, Bellanca, Jamie, Motwani, Mainsh, Gladwin, S. Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 9,578,097 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1004 to protect a block of data words, e.g. CRC or checksum G06F11/1076 takes precedence; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorized activity G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• 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: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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]

Abstract

A computer includes a data transform algorithm, a data dispersal algorithm, and a network port. The data transform algorithm performs a data transformation on a data block to produce a transformed data block. The data dispersal algorithm performs a data dispersal function on the transformed data block to produce a plurality of data slices, wherein each of the plurality of data slices includes less than all data contained in the transformed data block. The network port is operable to transmit a plurality of write commands to a plurality of slice servers, wherein each of the plurality of write commands includes a corresponding one of the plurality of data slices. The network port is further operable to receive verification of storage of at least some of the plurality of data slices from at least some of the plurality of slice servers.

Claims

1. A method of writing data to a dispersed data network, said method operating on at least one computer and comprising the steps of:

performing a data transformation on a data block to produce a transformed data block;

performing a data dispersal algorithm on the transformed data block to produce a plurality of data slices, wherein each of said data slices includes less than all data contained in said transformed data block;

transmitting a plurality of write commands to a plurality of slice servers, wherein each of the plurality of write commands includes a corresponding one of the plurality of data slices; and

receiving verification of storage of at least some of the plurality of data slices from at least some of the plurality of slice servers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing the data transformation comprising at least one of:

encrypting the data block;

compressing the data block; and

calculating a checksum of the data block.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

performing a data transformation on at least one of the plurality of data slices prior to transmitting the plurality of write commands.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data dispersal algorithm comprises an information dispersal algorithm.

5. A computer comprises:

an operating system including a file system for creating, updating, maintaining and organizing digital files in block format;

a data dispersal software component receiving blocks from said file system and generating a plurality of data slices for each received block, wherein said received block can be reconstructed from less than all of said data slices; and

a network layer forwarding each of said plurality of data slices to a separate network address of a plurality of network addresses.

6. The computer of claim 5, wherein the data dispersal software component is implemented as an iSCSI target.

7. The computer of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of network addresses comprises a network address of a corresponding one of a plurality of slice servers.

8. The computer of claim 5, wherein said data dispersal software component is implemented as a device driver.

9. A computer comprises:

a data transform algorithm for performing a data transformation on a data block to produce a transformed data block;

a data dispersal algorithm performing a data dispersal function on the transformed data block to produce a plurality of data slices, wherein each of the plurality of data slices includes less than all data contained in the transformed data block; and

a network port operable to;

transmit a plurality of write commands to a plurality of slice servers, wherein each of the plurality of write commands includes a corresponding one of the plurality of data slices; and

receive verification of storage of at least some of the plurality of data slices from at least some of the plurality of slice servers.

10. The computer of claim 9, wherein the data transform algorithm comprising at least one of:

an encryption algorithm;

a compression algorithm; and

an integrity check algorithm.

11. The computer of claim 9 further comprises:

a second data transform algorithm for performing a data transformation on at least one of the plurality of data slices prior to transmitting the plurality of write commands.

12. The computer of claim 9, wherein the data dispersal algorithm comprises an information dispersal algorithm.

13. A method comprises:

performing a data dispersal algorithm on a data block to produce a plurality of data slices, wherein each of the plurality of data slices includes less than all data contained in the data block;

performing a data transformation on at least some of the plurality of data slices to produce a plurality of transformed data slices;

transmitting a plurality of write commands to a plurality of slice servers, wherein each of the plurality of write commands includes a corresponding one of the plurality of transformed data slices or a corresponding one of the plurality of data slices; and

receiving verification of storage of at least some of the plurality of transformed data slices from at least some of the plurality of slice servers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the performing the data transformation comprising at least one of:

encrypting each of the at least some of the plurality of data slices;

compressing each of the at least some of the plurality of data slices; and

calculating a checksum of each of the at least some of the plurality of data slices.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the data dispersal algorithm comprises an information dispersal algorithm.

16. A computer comprises:

a data dispersal algorithm performing a data dispersal function on a data block to produce a plurality of data slices, wherein each of said data slices includes less than all data contained in the data block;

a data transform algorithm for performing a data transformation on at least some of the plurality of data slices to produce a plurality of transformed data slices; and

a network port operable to;

transmit a plurality of write commands to a plurality of slice servers, wherein each of the plurality of write commands includes a corresponding one of the plurality of transformed data slices or a corresponding one of the plurality of data slices; and

receive verification of storage of at least some of the plurality of transformed data slices from at least some of the plurality of slice servers.

17. The computer of claim 16, wherein the data transform algorithm comprising at least one of:

an encryption algorithm;

a compression algorithm; and

an integrity check algorithm.

18. The computer of claim 16, wherein the data dispersal algorithm comprises an information dispersal algorithm.