Servicing of storage device software components of nodes of a cluster storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11290545-B2
Application number	US-202016872459-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2020
Priority date	Feb 17, 2009
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

Described herein are method and apparatus for servicing software components of nodes of a cluster storage system. During data-access sessions with clients, client IDs and file handles for accessing files are produced and stored to clients and stored (as session data) to each node. A serviced node is taken offline, whereby network connections to clients are disconnected. Each disconnected client is configured to retain its client ID and file handles and attempt reconnections. Session data of the serviced node is made available to a partner node (by transferring session data to the partner node). After clients have reconnected to the partner node, the clients may use the retained client IDs and file handles to continue a data-access session with the partner node since the partner node has access to the session data of the serviced node and thus will recognize and accept the retained client ID and file handles.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a maintenance request from an administrative system over a message interface to service a first node;
identifying a second node capable of servicing access requests from a client device for a data container stored on shared storage accessible over a network to the first node and the second node;
transferring session data, of a prior session where the data container was accessed by the client device through the first node using a stored user identifier and a stored data container handle, from a first system aggregate to a second system aggregate as stored session data accessible to the second node, wherein the session data is transferred within a predetermined grace time period during which the client device is configured to retain the stored data container handle after an initial connection failure to the first node and before a threshold number of attempted reconnections by the client device to the first node has occurred;
offlining and servicing the first node based upon the maintenance request; and
routing a subsequent access request from the client device to the second node for validating the subsequent access request based upon the stored session data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stored session data comprises a client identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
upgrading a network element on the first node based upon the maintenance request specifying that the network element is to be upgraded.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
repairing a network element on the first node based upon the maintenance request specifying that the network element is to be repaired.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
re-installing a network element on the first node based upon the maintenance request specifying that the network element is to be re-installed.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent access request is denied based upon a user identifier and a data container handle within the subsequent access request not matching the stored user identifier and the stored data container handle within the stored session data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent access request is processed based upon a user identifier and a data container handle within the subsequent access request matching the stored user identifier and the stored data container handle within the stored session data.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
implementing the grace time period for the stored session data, wherein the stored data container handle is deleted upon expiration of the grace time period.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
migrating virtual interfaces of closed network ports of the first node to the second node.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
in response to bringing the first node online after being serviced, transferring new information collected and stored by the second node to the first node.

11. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
storing lock metadata associated with the stored session data, wherein the lock metadata specifies a user or user type that can obtain a lock on the data container for exclusive access to the data container.

12. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
migrating a virtual interface from a first closed network port of the first node to a second closed network port of the second node as a migrated virtual interface retaining a same identifier with respect to the client device.

13. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
repairing a network element and a disk element of the first node based upon the maintenance request specifying that the network and disk elements are to be serviced.

14. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
maintaining permission metadata specifying which users or user types have permission to access the data container.

15. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
maintaining lock metadata to specify what type of lock a user or user type can obtain when accessing the data container.

16. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions for performing a method, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:
receive a maintenance request from an administrative system over a message interface to service a first node;
identify a second node capable of servicing access requests from a client device for a data container stored on shared storage accessible over a network to the first node and the second node;
transfer session data, of a prior session where the data container was accessed by the client device through the first node using a stored user identifier and a stored data container handle, from a first system aggregate to a second system aggregate as stored session data accessible to the second node, wherein the session data is transferred within a predetermined grace time period during which the client device is configured to retain the stored data container handle after an initial connection failure to the first node and before a threshold number of attempted reconnections by the client device to the first node has occurred;
offline and service the first node based upon the maintenance request; and
route a subsequent access request from the client device to the second node for validating the subsequent access request based upon the stored session data.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the subsequent access request is denied based upon a user identifier and a data container handle within the subsequent access request not matching the stored user identifier and the stored data container handle within the stored session data.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the subsequent access request is processed based upon a user identifier and a data container handle within the subsequent access request matching the stored user identifier and the stored data container handle within the stored session data.

19. A computing device comprising:
a memory instructions for performing a method; and
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the processor to:
receive a maintenance request from an administrative system over a message interface to service a first node;
identify a second node capable of servicing access requests from a client device for a data container stored on shared storage accessible over a network to the first node and the second node;
transfer session data, of a prior session where the data container was accessed by the client device through the first node using a stored user identifier and a stored data container handle, from a first system aggregate to a second system aggregate as stored session data accessible to the second node, wherein the session data is transferred within a predetermined grace time period during which the client device is configured to retain the stored data container handle after an initial connection failure to the first node and before a threshold number of attempted reconnections by the client device to the first node has occurred;
offline and service the first node based upon the maintenance request; and
route a subsequent access request from the client device to the second node for validating the subsequent access request based upon the stored session data.

20. The computing device of claim 19 , wherein the subsequent access request is processed based upon a user identifier and a data container handle within the subsequent access request matching the stored user identifier and the stored data con

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Mu Paul Yuedong
• Le Nam
• Hoffmann John
• Boyles John

Classifications

• H04L63/10

  for controlling access to devices or network resources · CPC title

• H04L67/146 Primary

  Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  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] · CPC title

• H04L63/08

  for authentication of entities (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32) · CPC title