Replicating data using dual-port non-volatile dual in-line memory modules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017242593-A1
Application number	US-201515500072-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 30, 2015
Priority date	Apr 30, 2015
Publication date	Aug 24, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to an example, data may be replicated using a dual-port nonvolatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM). A processor may request, through a first port of the dual-port NVDIMM, to store data to universal memory of the dual-port NVDIMM and to commit the data to remote storage according to a high-availability storage capability of the dual-port NVDIMM. The process may then receive a notification from the dual-port NVDIMM that the data has been transparently committed to the remote storage through a second port of the dual-port NVDIMM.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for replicating data using a dual-port non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM), comprising:
requesting, by a processor through a first port of the dual-port NVDIMM, to store data to universal memory of the dual-port NVDIMM; requesting, through the first port of the dual-port NVDIMM, to commit the data to remote storage according to a high-availability storage capability of the dual-port NVDIMM; and receiving a notification from the dual-port NVDIMM that the data has been committed to the remote storage, wherein committing the data comprises transparently replicating the data to the remote storage through a second port of the dual-port NVDIMM.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transparently replicating the data to the remote storage comprises bypassing at least one of an operating system stack and a network stack.

3 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
presenting the high-availability storage capability to at least one of an application program and operating system; and receiving a request from the at least one of the application program and operating system to store and replicate data according to the presented high-availability storage capability.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the high-availability storage capability of the dual-port NVDIMM comprises at least one of an active-active redundancy flow and an active-passive redundancy flow.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein requesting to commit the data to remote storage according to an active-active redundancy flow, comprises:
requesting the dual-port DVDIMM to set both the first port and the second port of the dual-port NVDIMM to an active state so that the processor can access the first port and a NVDIMM manager circuit can access the second port simultaneously.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein requesting to commit the data to remote storage according to an active-passive redundancy flow, comprises:
requesting the dual-port NVDIMM to set the first port of the dual-port NVDIMM to an active state so that the processor can access the dual-port NVDIMM; and requesting the dual-port NVDIMM to set the second port of the dual-port NVDIMM to a passive state to designate a NVDIMM manager circuit as a standby failover server.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote storage comprises at least one of a memory array server and a replica memory application server in a memory fabric.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote storage comprises persistent storage within an interconnect module bay of a blade memory enclosure.

9 . A system for replicating data, comprising:
a dual-port non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM) storing machine readable instructions; and a processor to execute the machine readable instructions, the processor comprising:
an access module to issue a store command to store data to universal memory of the dual-port NVDIMM and issue a replicate command to replicate the data to external storage according to dual-port activation settings of the dual-port NVDIMM, wherein the store command and the replicate command are transmitted through a first port of the dual-port NVDIMM;
a notification module to acknowledge a notification from the dual-port NVDIMM that the data has been replicated to the external storage, wherein replicating the data comprises a transparent replication of the data to the external storage through a second port of the dual-port NVDIMM; and
a dual-port module to issue the dual-port activation settings for the dual-port NVDIMM.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein to issue the replicate command, the access module is to initiate a bypass of at least one of an operating system stack and a network stack.

11 . The system of claim 9 , comprising a presentation module to:
present the dual-port activation settings to at least one of an application program and operating system; and receive a request from the at least one of the application program and operating system to store and replicate data according to the dual-port activation settings.

12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the dual-port module is to issue the dual-port activation setting to implement at least one of an active-active redundancy flow and an active-passive redundancy flow.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein to issue the dual-port setting, the dual-port module is to at least one of:
request the dual-port DVDIMM to set both the first port and the second port of the dual-port NVDIMM to an active state so that the processor can access the first port and a NVDIMM manager circuit can access the second port simultaneously; and request the dual-port NVDIMM to set the first port of the dual-port NVDIMM to an active state so that the processor can access the dual-port NVDIMM and set the second port of the dual-port NVDIMM to a passive state to designate a NVDIMM manager circuit as a standby failover server.

14 . A non-transitory computer readable medium to replicating data using a dual-interface non-volatile dual in-line memory module (NVDIMM), including machine readable instructions executable by a processor to:
present a high-availability storage capability of the dual-interface NVDIMM to at least one of an application program and operating system; receive a request from the at least one of the application program and operating system to replicate data according to the high-availability storage capability; transmit, through the first interface of the dual-interface NVDIMM, a request to commit data to remote storage according to the high-availability storage capability; and acknowledge a notification from the dual-interface NVDIMM that the data has been committed to the remote storage, wherein committing the data to remote storage includes transparently replicating the data to the remote storage through a second interface of the dual-interface NVDIMM.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein to transparently replicate the data to the remote storage through the second interface, the machine readable instructions are executable by a processor to initiate a bypass of at least one of an operating system stack and a network stack.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Riley Dwight D
• Foster Joseph E
• Fevrier Thierry

Classifications

• G06F11/2071 Primary

  using a plurality of controllers · CPC title

• G06F11/14

  Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16) · CPC title

• G06F3/0679

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP] · CPC title

• G06F3/0688

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays · CPC title

• G06F13/28

  using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access {DMA}, cycle steal (G06F13/32 takes precedence) · CPC title