Network Appliance, Inc.

Netapp, Inc.

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Other

Srinivasan Viswanathan

Douglas P Doucette

Rajesh Sundaram

Stephen H Strange

Scott A Schoenthal

James Leong

Steven Robert Kleiman

John K Edwards

Blake H Lewis

Siamak Nazari

Yousef A Khalidi

Andy Kahn

Madhusudhan Talluri

Marshall C Pease

Anil Swaroop

Kayuri Hasmukh Patel

Jagannathdas Rath

Raymond C Chen

In an embodiment, a mapping method of an accelerated application-oriented middleware layer is provided. The method includes, using a first mapper, determining for an input output operation whether a data storage location has been designated for storing a corresponding data in a virtual storage object, the input output operation involving the corresponding data. The method further includes, using the first mapper and at least one processor, acquiring the virtual element identification of the corresponding data. The method also includes, using the virtual element identification and the corresponding data, performing the input output operation.

Mapping systems and methods of an accelerated application-oriented middleware layer

In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes the step of instantiating, with at least one processor, a storage object. The storage object includes a unique identifier, a data element and a virtual storage object. The virtual storage object is formed in the storage object. The virtual storage object includes a virtual data element. A set of kernel functions of a client-side computing system utilizing the application-orientedmiddleware layer are invoked. The set of kernel functions implement formation of an application data object. The application data object maps files and directories to the virtual storage object and integrates into a filesystem interface of an operating system of the client-side computing system. The application data object is formed. A data routing service of the application data object is initiated.

Method and system of an accelerated application-oriented middlewarelayer

A data access request to a file system is decomposed into a plurality of lower-level I/O tasks. A logical combination of physical storage components is represented as a hierarchical set of objects. A parent I/O task is generated from a first object in response to the data access request. A child I/O task is generated from a second object to implement a portion of the parent I/O task. The parent I/O task is suspended until the child I/O task completes. The child I/O task is executed in response to an occurrence of an event that a resource required by the child I/O task is available. The parent I/O task is resumed upon an event indicating completion of the child I/O task. Scheduling of any child I/O task is not conditional on execution of the parent I/O task, and a state diagram regulates the child I/O tasks.

Method and apparatus for decomposing I/O tasks in a RAID system

A computer storage system is described. A range of volume block numbers (VBNs) is assigned to a volume. A range of storage device block numbers (DBNs) is assigned to each of a plurality of storage devices. A first mapping parameters are created to map a first range of VBN numbers to a first selected range of DBNs using a first portion of a new storage device. A second mapping parameters are created to map a second range of VBN numbers to a second range of DBNs on a second portion of the new storage device.

Location-independent raid group virtual block management

The invention features a method for controlling storage of data in a plurality of storage devices each including storage blocks, for example, in a RAID array. The method includes receiving a plurality of write requests associated with data, and buffering the write requests. A file system defines a group of storage blocks, responsive to disk topology information. The group includes a plurality of storage blocks in each of the plurality of storage devices. Each data block of the data to be written is associated with a respective one of the storage blocks, for transmitting the association to the plurality of storage devices.

Method for writing contiguous arrays of stripes in a RAID storage system

A method for storing data on a plurality of storage devices of a storage system is disclosed. The data is received as data blocks from a plurality of write requests. The data blocks are saved as buffered data for writing to the storage devices in a single write request. An indication is received indicating the available storage blocks on the plurality of storage devices which are available for writing. The buffered data is associated with selected storage blocks of the storage blocks which are available for writing. The buffered data is written to the selected storage blocks in a single write request.

Method for writing contiguous arrays of stripes in a RAID storage system using mapped block writes

The invention provides a method and system for persistent context-based behavior injection in a computing system, such as in a redundant storage system or another system having a layered or modular architecture. Behaviors that are injected can be specified to have triggering conditions, such that the behavior is not injected unless the conditions are true. Triggering conditions may include a selected ordering of conditions and a selected context for each behavior. In a system having a layered architecture, behavior injection might be used to evaluate correct responses in the face of cascaded errors in a specific context or thread, other errors that are related by context, concurrent errors, or multiple errors. Behavior injection uses non-volatile memory to preserve persistence of filter context information across possible system errors, for reporting of the results of behavior injection, and to preserve information across recovery from system errors. Multiple behavior injection threads are also provided. Behavior injection can also be performed in a logically distributed system or from a logically remote system.

Persistent context-based behavior injection or testing of a computing system

A method for operating a data storage system is described. The method first constructs an I/O tree representing a logical configuration of storage devices coupled to the storage system, the I/O tree representing a flow of I/O operations to the storage devices. Elements of the I/O tree are represented by objects. A freeze condition is imposed on a selected object of the I/O tree in order to disable a portion of the storage devices serviced by the selected object. Configuration management operations are performed on the portion of the storage devices serviced by the selected object. The freeze condition is removed from the selected object in response to completion of the configuration management, in order to resume I/O operations to the portion of the storage devices serviced by the selected object.

Technique for coherent suspension of I/O operations in a RAID subsystem

A storage operating system is configured to assign volume block numbers (VBNs) to a volume. The system has a plurality of disks, and each disk of the plurality of disks is assigned disk block numbers (DBNs). A raidmap is configured to map the VBNs to the DBNs of the plurality of physical disks, the mapping for a particular disk stored in a disk label for the particular disk. The disk label for the particular disk is then written to the particular disk.

Location-independent RAID group virtual block management

The present invention implements an I/O task architecture in which an I/O task requested by the storage manager, for example a stripe write, is decomposed into a number of lower-level asynchronous I/O tasks that can be scheduled independently. Resources needed by these lower-level I/O tasks are dynamically assigned, on an as-needed basis, to balance the load and use resources efficiently, achieving higher scalability. A hierarchical order is assigned to the I/O tasks to ensure that there is a forward progression of the higher-level I/O task and to ensure that resources do not become deadlocked.

Method and apparatus for decomposing I/O tasks in a raid system

The invention provides an improved method and apparatus for creating a snapshot of a file system. A 'copy-on-write' mechanism is used. The snapshot uses the same blocks as the active file system until the active file system is modified. Whenever a modification occurs, the modified data is copied to a new block and the old data is saved. In this way, the snapshot only uses space where it differs from the active file system, and the amount of work required to create the snapshot is small. A record of which blocks are being used by the snapshot is included in the snapshot itself, allowing effectively instantaneous snapshot creation and deletion. A snapshot can also be deleted instantaneously simply by discarding its root inode.

Growing community of inventors

Fremont, CA, United States of America

Srinivasan Viswanathan