Istor Networks, Inc.

Promise Technology, Inc.

Erasmo Javier Brenes

Roger Thorpe

Alec Shen

Stephen F O'Neil

Jeffrey Oliver Thomas

Itsik Yomorta

Ting-Kuo Yu

Disclosed is a system and methods for acceleration of the TCP/IP and the iSCSI protocols. The methods may be adapted to a wide variety of systems and applications that employ communications protocols including TCP, with or without iSCSI. Using a hardware-based acceleration approach, common case network traffic is rapidly processed at near line rate thereby improving overall performance and alleviating processing bottlenecks.

Hardware-accelerated high availability integrated networked storage system

A bi-directional reflective memory channel between a pair of storage controllers is used to maintain a mirrored copy of each storage controller's native buffer contents within the buffer of the other storage controller. To maintain such mirrored copies, buffer write operations that fall within a reflective memory segment of one storage controller are automatically reflected across this channel to the other storage controller for execution, and vice versa. The write operations are preferably transmitted across the reflective memory channel using a protocol that provides for error checking, acknowledgements, and retransmissions. This protocol is preferably implemented entirely in automated circuitry, so that the mirrored copies are maintained without any CPU intervention during error-free operation. When a failover occurs, the surviving storage controller uses the mirrored copy of the failed storage controller's native buffer contents to assume control over the failed storage controller's disk drives.

Storage controller redundancy using bi-directional reflective memory channel

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Erasmo Javier Brenes