Methods and systems for accessing virtual storage servers in a clustered environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016119421-A1
Application number	US-201414524816-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2014
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing access to virtual storage systems is provided. A listening socket is configured for an application for detecting communication for a plurality of virtual storage systems presented by a clustered storage system having a plurality of nodes. A packet is received at a node of the clustered storage system from a client system for a virtual storage system from among the plurality of virtual storage systems. An identifier for the virtual storage system for which the packet is destined is determined. A connection socket is cloned for the virtual storage system such that any other packet for a same connection and for the virtual storage system can be forwarded to the virtual storage system. Thereafter, the packet is processed by the application on behalf of the virtual storage system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A machine implemented method, comprising:
configuring a listening socket for an application for detecting communication for a plurality of virtual storage systems presented by a clustered storage system having a plurality of nodes; receiving a packet at a node of the clustered storage system from a client system for a virtual storage system from among the plurality of virtual storage systems; determining an identifier for the virtual storage system for which the packet is destined; cloning a connection socket for the virtual storage system such that any other packet for a same connection and for the virtual storage system can be forwarded to the virtual storage system; and processing the packet by the application on behalf of the virtual storage system.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein to determine the virtual storage system, the node extracts a network access address and a port identifier identifying a port that received the packet.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the node determines a network address space within which the network access address is unique and the virtual storage system identifier is associated with the network address space.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the node maintains a connection control block for the cloned connection socket and the connection control block includes the virtual storage system identifier.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the node maintains connection control blocks for each cloned socket for the plurality of virtual storage systems such that a same instance of the application can be used by the plurality of virtual storage systems.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the application offers different services and each service is associated with its own connection control blocks.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network access address is an Internet Protocol address.

8 . A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method, comprising machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine, causes the machine to:
configure a listening socket for an application for detecting communication for a plurality of virtual storage systems presented by a clustered storage system having a plurality of nodes; receive a packet at a node of the clustered storage system from a client system for a virtual storage system from among the plurality of virtual storage systems; determine an identifier for the virtual storage system for which the packet is destined; clone a connection socket for the virtual storage system such that any other packet for a same connection and for the virtual storage system can be forwarded to the virtual storage system; and process the packet by the application on behalf, of the virtual storage system.

9 . The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein to determine the virtual storage system, the node extracts a network access address and a port identifier identifying a port that received the packet.

10 . The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the node determines a network address space within which the network access address is unique and the virtual storage system identifier is associated with the network address space.

11 . The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the node maintains a connection control block for the cloned connection socket and the connection control block includes the virtual storage system identifier.

12 . The storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the node maintains connection control blocks for each cloned socket for the plurality of virtual storage systems such that a same instance of the application can be used by the plurality of virtual storage systems.

13 . The storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the application offers different services and each service is associated with its own connection control blocks.

14 . The storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the network access address is an Internet Protocol address.

15 . A system comprising:
a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions; and a processor module coupled to the memory, the processor module configured to execute the machine executable code to:
configure a listening socket for an application for detecting communication for a plurality of virtual storage systems presented by a clustered storage system having a plurality of nodes;
receive a packet at a node of the clustered storage system from a client system for a virtual storage system from among the plurality of virtual storage systems;
determine an identifier for the virtual storage system for which the packet is destined;
clone a connection socket for the virtual storage system such that any other packet for a same connection and for the virtual storage system can be forwarded to the virtual storage system; and
process the packet by the application on behalf of the virtual storage system.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein to determine the virtual storage system, the node extracts a network access address and a port identifier identifying a port that received the packet.

17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the node determines a network address space within which the network access address is unique and the virtual storage system identifier is associated with the network address space.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the node maintains a connection control block for the cloned connection socket and the connection control block includes the virtual storage system identifier.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the node maintains connection control blocks for each cloned socket for the plurality of virtual storage systems such that a same instance of the application can be used by the plurality of virtual storage systems.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the application offers different services and each service is associated with its own connection control blocks.

21 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the network access address is an Internet Protocol address.

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Semke Jeffrey Eric
• Hariharan Prabhu
• Ramani Balaji
• Syamala Bindiya Vasudevan

Classifications

• 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