COMPUTER ARCHITECTURES USING SHARED STORAGE

• US 20120185652A1
• Filed: 03/28/2012
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Peters, Marc A., Kuehn, Dennis L., Bettger, David D., Stone, Kevin A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,601,308 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/152
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0813 with a network or matrix configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4221 being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/28 Databases characterised by their database models, e.g. relational or object models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• 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 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]

Abstract

A method providing a persistent common view of data, services, and infrastructure functions accessible via a plurality of shared storage systems of a virtual shared storage system. The method includes applying different governance policies at two or more shared storage systems of the virtual shared storage system. The method includes transferring content from a particular shared storage system to a requesting device without using at least one of a server session, an application-to-server session, and an application session. The content corresponds to at least one of data, a service, and an infrastructure function provided via the particular shared storage system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a persistent common view of data, services, and infrastructure functions accessible via a plurality of shared storage systems of a virtual shared storage system;

applying different governance policies at two or more shared storage systems of the virtual shared storage system; and

transferring content from a particular shared storage system of the virtual shared storage system to a requesting device without using at least one of a server session, an application-to-server session, and an application session, wherein the content corresponds to at least one of data, a service, and an infrastructure function provided via the particular shared storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual shared storage system includes at least a first shared storage system located at a first location and a second shared storage system located at a second location that is remote from first location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the services accessible via the plurality of shared storage systems are stateless services, wherein, when the content transferred to the requesting device corresponds to a particular service provided via the particular shared storage system, the requesting device instantiates an instance of the particular service at the requesting device, and wherein information associated with use of the particular service, a state of the particular service, and a security level of the particular service are not retained at the requesting device after the instance of the particular service is terminated.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein use of the particular service at the requesting device does not modify the particular service stored at the particular shared storage system.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising transferring the content from the particular shared storage system to a second requesting device without using at least one of a second server session, a second application-to-server session, and a second application session, wherein the second requesting device instantiates a second instance of the particular service at the second requesting device, wherein second information associated with use of the particular service, a state of the particular service, and a security level of the particular service are not retained at the second requesting device after the second instance of the particular service is terminated.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the instance of the particular service and the second instance of the particular service are instantiated concurrently.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the particular service is one of a media streaming service, a collaboration application, an instant messaging application, and a communication application.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the particular service is a media streaming service, the method further comprising:

receiving a request to access particular data stored at the particular shared storage system from the requesting device, wherein the particular data corresponds to media content stored at the particular shared storage system, wherein the request is generated by the instance of the particular service, and wherein the request is a request to stream the media content; and

transmitting the particular data to the requesting device.

9. The method of claim 3, further comprising modifying the particular service stored at the particular shared storage system while the instance of the particular service is instantiated at the requesting device, wherein use of the particular service by the requesting device is not affected by the modification of the particular service.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the particular service is a subscription service.

11. A system comprising:

a control device communicatively coupled to a plurality of shared storage systems, wherein the control device is configured to;

provide a persistent common view of data, services, and infrastructure functions accessible via the plurality of shared storage systems;

apply different governance policies at two or more shared storage systems of the plurality of shared storage systems; and

transfer content from a first shared storage system of the plurality of shared storage systems to a requesting device without using at least one of a server session, an application-to-server session, and an application session, wherein the content corresponds to at least one of data, a service, and an infrastructure function provided via the first shared storage system.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein a first governance policy applied to the first shared storage system includes one or more first policies associated with computer usage, data usage, access to the first shared storage system, data retention, malware scanning, or a combination thereof, and wherein the control device is further configured to determine, prior to transferring the content to the requesting device, whether the requesting device is authorized to access the first shared storage system based on the first governance policy.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein a second governance policy applied to a second shared storage system of the plurality of shared storage systems includes one or more second policies associated with computer usage, data usage, access to the second shared storage system, data retention, malware scanning, or any combination thereof, and wherein at least one of the one or more second policies is different than a corresponding policy of the one or more first policies.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the second policies is the same as a corresponding policy of the one or more first policies.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein a first governance policy is associated with restricting access to the data, the services, and the infrastructure functions accessible via the plurality of shared storage systems and a second governance policy is associated with monitoring performance and availability of the data, the services, and the infrastructure functions accessible via the plurality of shared storage systems.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control device is one of a server and a metadata controller.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

provide a persistent common view of data, services, and infrastructure functions accessible via a plurality of shared storage systems of a virtual shared storage system;

apply different governance policies at two or more shared storage systems of the virtual shared storage system; and

transfer content from a first shared storage system to a requesting device without using at least one of a server session, an application-to-server session, and an application session, wherein the content corresponds to at least one of data, a service, and an infrastructure function provided via the first shared storage system.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein a first governance policy applied to the first shared storage system relates to one or more of computer usage, data usage, access to the first shared storage system, data retention, and malware scanning, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine, prior to transferring the content to the requesting device, whether the requesting device is authorized to access the first shared storage system based on the first governance policy,

wherein transferring the content from the first shared storage system to the requesting device comprises enabling the requesting device to read the content from one or more storage devices of the first shared storage system.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein, when the requesting device is authorized to access the first shared storage system, the requesting device reads the content from the one or more storage devices of the first shared storage system without using protocol conversion.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the content is read in a written order by the requesting device from the one or more storage devices, wherein the written order is determined based on information stored at the first shared storage system, and wherein the information indicates one or more storage locations associated with one or more portions of the content and an order in which each of the one or more portions of the content was written to the one or more storage locations.