Host bus adapter with built-in storage for local boot-up

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016299767-A1
Application number	US-201615058095-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 1, 2016
Priority date	Apr 7, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of a storage area network (SAN) includes storing and communicating data received from a server at a host bus adapter via a bus controller of the adapter. In a case where the data is associated with an address corresponding to a default boot logical unit (LUN) of a non-volatile memory (NVM) of the adapter, the data is stored in the NVM. In a case where the data is not associated with an address corresponding to a boot LUN of the NVM, the data is communicated over the SAN. During power up of the adapter, in a case where it is determined that the NVM includes an image of an operating system, the adapter uses the bus controller to provide the server with information to select the NVM as a boot LUN for booting the operating system.

First claim

1 . An adapter for a disk-less server in a storage area network, the adapter comprising:
a printed circuit board including an edge connector and a plurality of wire traces; a processor mounted to the printed board and coupled to one or more of the plurality of wire traces; a non-volatile memory controller mounted to the printed board and coupled in communication with the processor and the edge connector; a read-writeable non-volatile storage memory mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the non-volatile memory controller, wherein the read-writeable non-volatile storage memory stores a stored operating system software to boot up the server; and a network communication controller mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the processor and the edge connector, wherein the network communication controller couples the server in communication with a computer network and communicates information over the computer network using one or more data communication protocols; wherein the processor manages information communicated between the adapter and the computer network and between the read-writeable non-volatile storage memory and the server.

2 . The adapter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a volatile storage memory mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the processor, the network communication controller, and the edge connector, wherein the volatile storage memory temporarily stores information for communication between the server and the computer network.

3 . The adapter of claim 1 , wherein
the one or more data communication protocols to communicate information over the computer network comprises an Ethernet protocol, an iSCSI protocol, a Fibre Channel (FC) protocol, a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol, and any combination thereof.

4 . The adapter of claim 1 , further comprising:
firmware instructions stored in a storage device coupled in communication with the processor, when the firmware instructions are executed by the processor, the processor reveals the read-writeable non-volatile storage memory as a default boot logical unit (LUN) to the server and allows reading of the stored operating system software to boot up the server and execution of the operating system software.

5 . The adapter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a bus controller coupled between pads of the edge connector and the processor, the non-volatile memory controller, and the network communication controller, the bus controller to communicate information between the adapter card and the server over the pads of the edge connector using a bus communication protocol.

6 . The adapter of claim 5 , wherein
the information communicated over the pads of the edge connector is data, address and control signals; and the bus communication protocol is a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express bus communication protocol.

7 . The adapter of claim 1 , wherein
the read-writeable non-volatile storage memory comprises one or more read-writeable non-volatile memory integrated circuit devices mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the non-volatile memory controller.

8 . The adapter of claim 7 , wherein
the one or more read-writeable non-volatile memory integrated circuit devices comprises electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) devices, resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices, phase-change memory (PCM) devices, and conductive-bridging random access memory (CBRAM) devices.

9 . The adapter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory socket mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the non-volatile memory controller, and wherein the read-writeable non-volatile storage memory is a read-writeable non-volatile memory module having an edge connector plugged into the memory socket, the read-writeable non-volatile memory module including a daughter printed circuit board with and wire traces coupled to the edge connector, and one or more read-writeable non-volatile memory integrated circuit devices mounted to the daughter printed circuit board electrically coupled to the edge connector by the wire traces.

10 . The adapter of claim 1 , further comprising:
an Ethernet socket mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the network communication controller, the Ethernet socket to receive a plug of an Ethernet cable coupled to the computer network to couple the adapter to computer network.

11 . The adapter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a socket mounted to the printed circuit board and coupled in communication with the network communication controller, the socket to receive a connector of a fiber optic transceiver module to couple the adapter to the computer network with optical fibers or a connector of a wired transceiver module to couple the adapter to the computer network with wired cables.

12 . A method of a storage area network comprising:
responsive to data received from a server at a host bus adapter via a bus controller of the adapter:
in a case where the data is associated with an address corresponding to a default boot logical unit (LUN) of a non-volatile memory (NVM) of the adapter, storing the data in the NVM; and
in a case where the data is not associated with an address corresponding to a boot LUN of the NVM, communicating the data over the storage area network.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein
the address is an I/O address of the bus controller.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein
the address corresponds to a memory location of the NVM that is associated with the default boot LUN.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
during power up of the adapter, in a case where it is determined that the NVM includes an image of an operating system, controlling the adapter to use the bus controller to provide the server with information to select the NVM as a boot LUN for booting the operating system.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein
the adapter determines whether the NVM stores an image of an operating system based on at least one of a format of data stored in the NVM, based on content of data stored on the NVM, and presence of data on the NVM at the memory location associated with the default boot LUN.

17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
during installation of an operating system at the server, providing an operating system storage stack with information for installing an image of the operating system onto the NVM at the memory location associated with the default boot LUN.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein
storing the data in the NVM comprises: controlling an adapter processor of the adapter to store the data by controlling an NVM controller of the adapter to store the data in the NVM at the memory location that is associated with the default boot LUN.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising
storing the address of the default boot LUN in association with the memory location of the default boot LUN in a firmware storage device of the adapter.

20 - 27 . (canceled)

28 . A server system comprising:
an adapter device of a disk-less server in a storage area network (SAN), the adapter device constructed to:
responsive to data received from a server at a host bus adapter via a bus controller of the adapter:
in a case where the data is associated with an address corresponding to a default boot logical unit (LUN) of a non-volatile

Assignees

• Avago Technologies General Ip

Inventors

• Mukadam Ketan

Classifications

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• H04L12/40013

  Details regarding a bus controller · CPC title

• G06F9/4416 Primary

  Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL] · CPC title

• G06F13/426

  using an embedded synchronisation, e.g. Firewire bus, Fibre Channel bus, SSA bus · CPC title