Netapp, Inc.

Network Appliance, Inc.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP

Dell Products Inc.

Peter Frank Corbett

Robert M English

Steven Robert Kleiman

Michael Kazar

Atul Goel

Srishylam Simharajan

Richard Parvin Jernigan, Iv

Eric C Hamilton

Alan Stuart Driscoll

Devang Kundanlal Shah

Toby Smith

John K Edwards

Blake H Lewis

Bruce Leverett

Pranab Patnaik

Michael Robin Eisler

Kai Tan

Vivek Venkatesan

J Christopher Wagner

Srikumar Natarajan

Geoffrey Stewart Brown

Bradford B Glade

David Slik

Santosh Ananth Rao

Robert Wyckoff Hyer, Jr

David Noveck

Daniel S Nydick

Faramarz Rabii

Keith Allen Arner

Steven C Miller

Suparna Bhattacharya

William Emmett Lynn

Cheryl Marie Thompson

Balaji Ramani

Gareth Richards

John Russell Boyles

Lin A Nease

Vani Vully

Jeffrey L Heller

Michael Healey

Hooman Vassef

Allen E Tracht

Christopher Wagner

Benjamin T H Cox

Saadia Khan

Joe Warren Dukes, Jr

Vadim Finkelstein

Mukesh Kacker

Santosh Anath Rao

John K Edwars

Allen Tracht

Richard P Iv Jernigan

A drive-assisted RAID storage system includes a RAID storage controller device coupled to RAID primary data storage devices each storing primary data for a stripe, and a RAID parity data storage device storing parity data for the stripe. The RAID parity data storage device receives stripe parity data update commands from the RAID storage controller device that cause it to retrieve respective interim parity data generated by each of the RAID primary data storage devices and including respective stripe update sequence identifiers. The RAID parity data storage device uses the respective interim parity data to generate updated parity data. When the respective stripe update sequence identifiers in the respective interim parity data that was used to generate the updated parity data indicate that parity update operations for the stripe are complete, the RAID parity data storage device transmits a stripe parity update completion message to the RAID storage controller device.

Drive-assisted RAID system

A method and apparatus for replicating a data container of a source storage server at the logical level in an unordered stream of individual data units are described. In certain embodiments, the replication operations can be performed without regard to the differences in geometry of physical persistent storage of the source and destination storage servers and without regard to the differences in data container format of the source and destination storage servers. An initial replication operation of the source data container is performed by transferring the data objects within the source data container to a replica data container in the destination storage server as an unordered stream of individual data units while preserving data object identifiers of the source data objects. Afterwards, incremental replication operations can be performed to capture modifications to the source data container over time after the initial replication operation.

Unordered idempotent logical replication operations

A storage area network (SAN)-attached storage system architecture is disclosed. The storage system provides strongly consistent distributed storage communication protocol semantics, such as SCSI target semantics. The system includes a mechanism for presenting a single distributed logical unit, comprising one or more logical sub-units, as a single logical unit of storage to a host system by associating each of the logical sub-units that make up the single distributed logical unit with a single host visible identifier that corresponds to the single distributed logical unit. The system further includes mechanisms to maintain consistent context information for each of the logical sub-units such that the logical sub-units are not visible to a host system as separate entities from the single distributed logical unit.

Storage area network attached clustered storage system

Example implementations relate to preserving data availability in a constrained deployment of an HA system (e.g., an HA storage system) in the presence of pending faults. According to an example, a first arbiter, acting as a witness to facilitate maintaining quorum for the HA system, and a first node are provided within a first failure domain; and a second arbiter, serving as a backup arbiter, and a second node are provided within a second failure domain. Responsive to receipt of an indication of a pending fault impacting the first failure domain by a member of the current configuration of the HA system, establishment of a new configuration, excluding the first arbiter and including the second arbiter, is initiated. Responsive to a majority of the current configuration installing the new configuration, the second arbiter is enabled to serve as the active arbiter by transferring state information to the second arbiter.

Data availability in a constrained deployment of a high-availability system in the presence of pending faults

A source system generates snapshots of collected data. The snapshots have respective associated time references. Responsive to a request from a target system for data collected over a time interval, the source system generates a subset of the data collected by determining a start snapshot and an end snapshot. The start snapshot and the end snapshot are determined as a pair of snapshots that have respective associated time references that are most closely spaced and are inclusive of the time interval. The source system determines a difference in the data included in the end snapshot and the start snapshot and provides the subset of the data as the difference in the data included in the end snapshot and the start snapshot.

Data transfer using snapshot differencing from edge system to core system

Cluster groups define a relationship between clusters in an HCI system. New cluster groups may be created, and a cluster may be added or removed from an existing cluster group. A method and system are disclosed to support a dynamically scaled hyperconverged system with non-overlapping and overlapping cluster groups. A dynamically scalable hyperconverged system may allow for piece-wise upgrades while supporting inter-operable and non-interoperable components having a secure intercommunication capability. A system is disclosed for scaling a single managed hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) where all components are allowed to run a compatible communication protocol (e.g., interoperable communication protocol) but are not required to operate an interoperable software version. Further, methods are disclosed to a) illustrate consolidation of backups for a cluster of HCI nodes running interoperable and non-interoperable data exchange protocols; and b) dynamically organize groups of clusters to enforce interoperability requirements and simplify network configuration among these clusters.

Dynamically scaled hyperconverged system establishing minimum supported interoperable communication protocol between clusters in a cluster group

A storage system includes data storage devices, bus conductors, and mobile reader/writer devices. Each of the storage devices is positioned between insulators, is at one of a plurality of locations on one of one or more shelf assemblies, and comprises a processor coupled to a memory and an interface device. One of the bus conductors is adjacent each of the insulators. Each of the reader/writer devices includes a transport apparatus, a processor and a memory. The transport apparatus is configured to move one of the reader/writer devices to one or more of the locations when engaged. The processor is coupled to the transport apparatus and the memory and is configured to execute machine executable code to: engage the transport apparatus to position one of the reader/writer devices to one of the locations in response to a received operation; couple power to one of the storage devices; and execute the operation.

Storage warehouse systems and methods thereof

A flash-based storage warehouse system includes flash memory devices and reader/writer devices that are moveable to different locations in a structure. Each of the flash memory devices are at one of the different locations in the structure. Each of the reader/writer devices includes a locomotion apparatus configured to move the corresponding one of the reader/writer devices to a different location in the structure and a processor coupled to a memory and the locomotion apparatus that is configured to execute machine executable code to: engage the locomotion apparatus to adjustably position one of reader/writer devices to one of the locations in the structure in response to a received operation; couple power via the corresponding one of the reader/writer devices to one of the flash memory devices at the one of the locations in the structure; and execute the operation on the flash memory device at the location in the structure.

Flash-based storage warehouse apparatuses and methods thereof

A system and method generates a message integrity check. The message integrity check value is computed by hashing one or more block checksums from procedure specific parameters of an RPC and then encrypting the resulting hash value. The computed message integrity check is appended to the RPC to thereby provide a level of security approaching or equal to the level of Integrity defined by the RPCSEC_GSS protocol specification.

Insuring integrity of remote procedure calls used in a client and server storage system

A file system layout apportions an underlying physical volume into one or more virtual volumes (vvols) of a storage system. The underlying physical volume is an aggregate comprising one or more groups of disks, such as RAID groups, of the storage system. The aggregate has its own physical volume block number (pvbn) space and maintains metadata, such as block allocation structures, within that pvbn space. Each vvol has its own virtual volume block number (vvbn) space and maintains metadata, such as block allocation structures, within that vvbn space. Notably, the block allocation structures of a vvol are sized to the vvol, and not to the underlying aggregate, to thereby allow operations that manage data served by the storage system (e.g., snapshot operations) to efficiently work over the vvols. The file system layout extends the file system layout of a conventional write anywhere file layout system implementation, yet maintains performance properties of the conventional implementation.

Extension of write anywhere file system layout

Growing community of inventors

Lexington, MA, United States of America

Peter Frank Corbett