Emc Corporation

James A Wentworth

David W Harvey

Bradford B Glade

Matthew D Waxman

Jeffrey Alan Brown

Peter John McCann

Fernando Oliveira

Lee W VanTine

Walter M Caritj

Jack Justin Stiffler

Stuart P MacEachern

James M Nolan

Raju C Bopardikar

Jacob Y Bast

Gary A Cardone

Zdenek Radouch

David E Kaufman

Bruce D McLeod

Michael J McCarthy

John Kemeny

William B Whalen

A data system architecture is described that allows multiple processing and storage resources to be connected to multiple clients so as 1) to distribute the clients' workload efficiently across the available resources; and 2) to enable scaleable expansion, both in terms of the number of clients and in the number of resources. The major features of the architecture are separate, modular, client and resource elements that can be added independently, a high-performance cross-bar data switch interconnecting these various elements, separate serial communication paths for controlling the cross-bar switch settings, separate communication paths for passing control information among the various elements and a resource utilization methodology that enables clients to distribute processing or storage tasks across all available resources, thereby eliminating 'hot spots' resulting from uneven utilization of those resources.

Method and apparatus for implementing high-performance, scaleable data processing and storage systems

This invention is a system and method for managing one or more data storage networks using a new architecture. A method for handling logical to physical mapping is included in one embodiment with the new architecture. A method for handling errors is included in another embodiment with the new architecture.

System and method for managing storage networks and providing virtualization of resources in such a network

A point in time copy of a data set is provided using a two-phase snapshot copy operation. When a write request is received, as part of the first phase, a chunk including the target location of the write request is determined. Using a 'copy on first write' technique, the data at the target location is copied to a snap data area in an allocated data area that is the size of the chunk. A first map for the data set is updated to include up to three entries representing a mapping of the segment including the target location. A second map for the snap data area is updated to include a single entry for the copy of the data from the target location. As part of the second phase, the multiple entries in the first map are coalesced into a single entry after the remaining portions of the chunk are copied to the data area in the snap data area.

Two-phase snap copy

System and method for managing storage networks and for managing scalability of volumes in such a network

System and method for managing storage networks and for handling errors in such a network

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Shrewsbury, MA, United States of America

James A Wentworth