Apparatus, system, and method for a storage area network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9824027-B2
Application number	US-201313939927-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2013
Priority date	Dec 6, 2006
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus and system are disclosed for a storage area network (“SAN”). In one embodiment, a computer system includes an internal storage device and an internal storage controller. In this embodiment, the internal storage controller is configured to implement a SAN that includes at least the internal storage device and a storage device external to the computer system. In this embodiment, the internal storage controller is further configured to service a storage request received from a client that involves data stored by the internal storage device. In this embodiment, the internal storage controller is configured to communicate with the external storage device via a network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A server, comprising:
an internal storage device; and
an internal storage controller configured to:
implement a storage area network (SAN) that includes at least the internal storage device and a storage device external to the server;
service a storage request received from a client, wherein the storage request involves data stored by the internal storage device; and
communicate with the external storage device via a network;

wherein the internal storage controller is configured to transfer data between the internal storage device and the external storage device using remote direct memory access (RDMA), the internal storage controller is within the internal storage device on a same card as a storage medium of the internal storage device, and the internal storage controller is configured to communicate with another storage controller included within the external storage device.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a network interface configured for communication over the network; and
a server configured to communicate over the network by way of the network interface;
wherein the internal storage controller is configured to communicate with the external storage device by way of the network interface.

3. The computer system of claim 2 , wherein the server is configured to manage the network interface to receive the storage request received from the client.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the internal storage device is configured such that a first partition of the internal storage device is accessible using the SAN and a second partition of the internal storage device is not accessible using the SAN, wherein the first and second partitions of the internal storage device are accessible by way of a server that includes the internal storage device.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory storing a driver module configured to implement the internal storage controller.

6. An apparatus, comprising:
an internal storage device; and
an internal storage controller;
wherein the apparatus is configured to couple to a computer system and communicate with the computer system using a bus protocol;
wherein the internal storage controller is configured to:
implement a storage area network (SAN) that includes at least the internal storage device and a storage device external to the apparatus;
receive a first storage request via the SAN;
process data for a second storage request received by the computer system from a client, wherein the second storage request involves data stored by the internal storage device or the external storage device; and
communicate with the external storage device via a network coupled to the computer system;

wherein the internal storage controller is configured to transfer data between the internal storage device and the external storage device using remote direct memory access (RDMA), the internal storage device comprises a solid-state storage medium, the internal storage controller is included within the internal storage device, and the internal storage controller and the solid-state storage medium are on a same card.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the internal storage controller is configured to control a network interface of the computer system to communicate with the external storage device independent of a server coupled to the network interface.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
a network interface;
a server coupled to the network interface and configured to control the network interface to communicate via the network including communication not associated with the storage network;
wherein the internal storage controller is configured to control the network interface to communicate with the external storage device.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the internal storage controller comprises a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable to receive the first storage request, process data for the second storage request, and communicate with the external storage device.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the storage request is received from an internal client.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing system to perform operations comprising:
communicating using a storage area network (SAN) that includes an internal storage device and an external storage device, wherein the SAN is implemented on a server that comprises the internal storage device, and the external storage device is external to the server;
servicing a storage request received from a client using data stored by the internal storage device; and
sending a storage request to the external storage device via a network;
wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is configured to transfer data between the internal storage device and the external storage device using remote direct memory access (RDMA), the internal storage device comprises an internal storage controller, the internal storage controller and the internal storage device are on a same card, and the internal storage controller is configured to communicate with another storage controller included within the external storage device.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
servicing another storage request received from the external storage device via the network.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
transferring data from the external storage device to the internal storage device via the network.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the sending the storage request to the external storage device includes accessing a network interface independently of a server of the computer system.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
communicating with the computer system using a bus protocol; and
communicating with the external storage device using a network protocol.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is included in the internal storage device.

Assignees

• Intelligent Ip Holdings 2 Llc
• Sandisk Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Flynn David
• Atkisson David
• Lagerstedt Bert
• Strasser John
• Thatcher Jonathan
• Zappe Michael

Classifications

• G06F3/0688

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays · CPC title

• G06F12/0804

  with main memory updating (G06F12/0806 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F12/0246

  in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory · CPC title

• G06F3/0619

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

• G06F12/123

  with age lists, e.g. queue, most recently used [MRU] list or least recently used [LRU] list · CPC title