Data request servicing using smart network interface cards

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11245762-B1
Application number	US-202117324228-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 19, 2021
Priority date	May 19, 2021
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

Data requests can be serviced by smart network interface cards (NICs). For example, a smart NIC can receive a request for data at a hardware-implemented path of the smart network interface card (NIC). The smart NIC can determine, based on a mapping table accessible by the hardware-implemented path of the smart NIC, a first storage node includes the data. The smart NIC can transmit the request to the first storage node for determining a second storage node, rather than the first storage node, includes the data and transmitting at least a portion of the request to the second storage node.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a request for data at a hardware-implemented path of a smart network interface card (NIC);
determining, based on a mapping table accessible by the hardware-implemented path of the smart NIC, a first storage node includes the data; and
transmitting the request to the first storage node for:
determining a second storage node, rather than the first storage node, includes the data; and
transmitting at least a portion of the request to the second storage node.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based on the mapping table, the first storage node includes a first portion of the data and the second storage node includes a second portion of the data; and
transmitting the request to the first storage node.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing an updated version of the mapping table, wherein the updated version of the mapping table is generated subsequent to a predetermined event.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the predetermined event comprises an addition of a storage node or an elapsing of a predefined amount of time.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the request to the first storage node for:
determining the first storage node includes a first portion of the data and the second storage node includes a second portion of the data;
generating, from the request, a first partial request for the first portion of the data and a second partial request for the second portion of the data; and
transmitting the second partial request to the second storage node.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the request to the first storage node for:
subsequent to transmitting the at least a portion of the request to the second storage node, determining the second storage node includes the data of the request; and
retrieving the data in the second storage node.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first storage node stores an association between each storage node and data stored on each storage node that is updated automatically in real time.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program code that is executable by a processor for causing the processor to:
receive a request for data at a hardware-implemented path of a smart network interface card (NIC);
determine, based on a mapping table accessible by the hardware-implemented path of the smart NIC, a first storage node includes the data of the request; and
transmit the request to the first storage node for:
determining a second storage node, rather than the first storage node, includes the data of the request; and
transmitting at least a portion of the request to the second storage node.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor for causing the processor to:
determine, based on the mapping table, the first storage node includes a first portion of the data and the second storage node includes a second portion of the data; and
transmit the first partial request to the first storage node.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor for causing the processor to access an updated version of the mapping table, wherein the updated version of the mapping table is generated subsequent to a predetermined event.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the predetermined event comprises an addition of a storage node or an elapsing of a predefined amount of time.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor for causing the processor to transmit the request to the first storage node for:
determining the first storage node includes a first portion of the data and the second storage node includes a second portion of the data;
generating, from the request, a first partial request for the first portion of the data and a second partial request for the second portion of the data; and
transmitting the second partial request to the second storage node.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising program code that is executable by the processor for causing the processor to transmit the request to the first storage node for:
subsequent to transmitting the at least a portion of the request to the second storage node, determining the second storage node includes the data of the request; and
retrieving the data in the second storage node.

14. A system comprising:
a smart network interface card (NIC) configured to:
receive a request for data at a hardware-implemented path of the smart NIC;
determine, based on a mapping table accessible by the hardware-implemented path of the smart NIC, a first storage node includes the data of the request; and
transmit the request to the first storage node;

the first storage node comprising:
a processor; and
a memory including instructions that are executable by the processor for causing the processor to:
receive the request from the smart NIC;
determine a second storage node, rather than the first storage node, includes the data; and
transmit at least a portion of the request to the second storage node.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the smart NIC is further configured to:
determine, based on the mapping table, the first storage node includes a first portion of the data and the second storage node includes a second portion of the data; and
transmit the first partial request to the first storage node.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the memory further includes instructions that are executable by the processor for causing the processor to:
determine, at the first storage node, the first storage node includes a first portion of the data and the second storage node includes a second portion of the data;
generate, at the first storage node and from the request, a first partial request for the first portion of the data and a second partial request for the second portion of the data; and
transmit the second partial request to the second storage node.

17. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a management node comprising:
a second processor; and
a second memory including instructions that are executable by the second processor for causing the second processor to:
generate an updated version of the mapping table subsequent to a predetermined event; and
replace the mapping table accessible by the hardware-implemented path of the smart NIC with the updated version of the mapping table.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the predetermined event comprises an addition of a storage node to the system or an elapsing of a predefined amount of time.

19. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first storage node stores an association between each storage node and data stored on each storage node and the memory further includes instructions that are executable by the processor for causing the processor to automatically update the association in real time.

20. The system of claim 14 , further comprising the second storage node comprising:
a third processor; and
a third memory including instructions that are executable by the third processor for causing the third processor to:
receive the at least a portion of the request from the first storage node;
determine the second storage node includes the data of the request; and
retrieve

Assignees

• Red Hat Inc

Inventors

• Benhanokh Gabriel Zvi
• Durgin Joshua

Classifications

• H04L67/60

  Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources (admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• H04L67/1097 Primary

  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 title

• H04L67/32

  Electricity · mapped topic