System and method for associating a network address with a storage device

• US 7,707,263 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2002
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Cramer, Samuel M., sen Sarma, Joydeep, Larson, Richard O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRUONG, LAN DAI T
• Application Number:
  US10/138,918
• Time in Patent Office: 2,916 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/201, 709/21, 709/220, 709/223, 709/204, 709/212
• US Class Current: 709/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• 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 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• 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 system and method for associating a network address with a volume, individual disk or collection of disks in a network storage system. Identifying information is stored on each volume or disk so that a file server can map a network address to a MAC address associated with a particular network interface controller of a file server. Input/output operations directed to the network address associated with a particular volume or disk is directed to the file server that is currently managing that volume or disk. In a system utilizing these address associated volumes, the name and address of data does not change as different file servers manage a particular volume or disk.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

configuring a cluster from a plurality of servers each server of the plurality of servers managing one or more storage devices;

assigning an IP address to each storage device,

connecting a storage device, having an assigned IP address to a first server of the plurality of servers, said first server managing said storage device;

connecting the remaining storage devices, having assigned IP addresses, to a second server, said second server managing the remaining storage devices;

storing a first table on each storage device, storing an association between the IP address and a logical name said logical name describing a set of network interface controllers that the IP address of the storage device should be advertised over, and the first table is stored in a predetermined location on the storage device that is accessible by other servers connected to the network, and wherein the logical name describing the set of network interface controllers is a group set by an administrator for assigning network interface controllers to a certain group of clients;

storing a second table on the first server, storing an association between the logical name and one or more network interface controllers;

advertising the IP address of the storage device over appropriate network interface controllers of the first server; and

configuring one or more clients, to address data access requests to a storage device using the IP address of the storage device, that relates to the logical name being accessed by said client.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

mapping the IP address of the storage device to a MAC address of a first network interface controller of the first server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to a failure of the first server, assigning the IP address of the storage device to a second network interface controller on a second server, wherein the-second network interface controller has the same logical name as the first network interface controller.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the IP address for the storage device from a domain name service (DNS).

5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

having a series of IP addresses assigned to the first server;

selecting one of the series of IP addresses as the IP address for the storage device.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

changing the server that is managing a particular storage device to a second server, and the transfer of said storage device, being transparent to the client.

7. A system, comprising:

a plurality of servers connected together to form a cluster;

a plurality of storage devices, each storage device having an assigned IP address;

a storage device connected to a first server of the plurality of servers, the storage device configured to store a first table, said first table storing an association between the IP address of the storage device and a logical name, said logical name describing a set of network interface controllers that the IP address of the storage device should be advertised over;

a first server configured to store a second table, said second table storing an association between the logical name and one or more network interface controllers of the first server; and

the first server further configured to advertise the IP address of the storage device over appropriate network interface controllers of the first server; and

a client configured to request access to the storage device using the IP address of the storage device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first server is further configured to map the IP address of the storage device to a MAC address of a first network interface controller of the first server.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to a failure of the first server, a second server configured to manage the storage devices of the first server and to assign the respective IP addresses of such storage devices to one or more second network interface controllers on the second server, wherein the second network interface controllers have the same logical name as the first network interface controller.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the logical name describing the set of network interface controllers is a group set by an administrator for assigning network interface controllers to a certain group of clients.

11. The system as in claim 7, wherein the IP address for the storage device is obtained from a domain name service (DNS).

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the predetermined location is sector 0 on the storage device, and is a location on the disk where data is not stored.

13. A system comprising computer executable instructions in a computer readable medium for managing a clustered storage system, the system comprising:

means for configuring a cluster from a plurality of servers, and a plurality of storage devices, the storage devices containing data that is accessible to one or more clients;

means for assigning an IP address to each storage device;

means for connecting one or more storage devices, each being assigned an IP address, to a first server;

means for connecting the remaining storage devices, each being assigned its own IP address, with a second server, said first and second servers each having access to the other servers storage devices;

means for configuring said first server with two or more network interface controllers, each controller being assigned to a group having a logical name;

means for configuring said second server with two or more network interface controllers, each controller being assigned to a group having a logical name;

memory means for storing a first table on each storage device, said first table for storing an association between respective IP addresses of each storage device and logical name describing a set of network interface controllers that IP addresses of the storage device should be advertised over;

memory means for storing a second table on the first server, said second table for string an association between each the logical name and one or more network interface controllers;

means for advertising the IP address of one or more storage devices over one or more network interface controllers; and

means for configuring one or more clients to address data access requests to storage devices, using the IP address of the storage devices.