International Business Machines Corporation

Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Theodore Brian Vojnovich

Scott Neil Dunham

David W Cosby

Eric Richard Kern

Pravin S Patel

Josep Cors

Gregory William Dake

Jonathan Randall Hinkle

Andrew Boyce McNeill, Jr

Patrick Leo Caporale

Luke David Remis

William Gavin Holland

Gregory Brian Pruett

Sumeet Kochar

Joseph Edward Bolan

John Matthew Landry

Claude Basso

Gregg Steven Lucas

William Joseph Armstrong

Carlos Francisco Fuente

Daniel Gene Eisenhauer

Jesse Paul Arroyo

Robert Beverley Basham

Kyle Alan Lucke

Thomas M Brey

Norman Clark Strole

Andrew Gary Hourselt

Kenneth Robert Schneebeli

Ben-Ami Yassour

Teresa Shen Swingler

Ashaki Ayanna Ricketts

Rezaul Shah Mohammad Islam

Kelly Louise Hicks

Frank Bernhard Schmuck

Robert Akira Kubo

Carl Evan Jones

Soumitra Sarkar

Douglas J Griffith

Yi Zhou

Michael Robert Turner

Roger Lee Haskin

Shah Mohammad Rezaul Islam

Felipe Knop

Myung Mun Bae

Michael Neil Condict

Deanna Lynn Quigg Brown

Robert J Curran

Randolph Scot Kolvick

Mark Elliot Andresen

Thomas K Clark

Sudhir Gurunandan Rao

Martin Tross

George R Stilwell, Jr

Deanna L Q Brown

Roy Lee Draughn

Christopher Lee Durham

Anthony C Yu

Jose M Orro

Shah Mohammed Rezaul Islam

Shawn C Andrews

Manjunatha Hebbar

Robert Fung-chen Pan

Rezaul S M Islam

Martin J Tross

Robert L Walker

An orchestration controller in a storage solution may establish namespaces, assign each namespace to a host, and establish software-defined storage controllers to handle input-output operations between the hosts and the namespaces. Each namespace is assigned to a given host and the input-output operations to and from the namespace are handled by a specific primary software-defined storage controller. In response to failure of the software defined controller, a secondary software-defined storage controller will take over handling of the input-output operations to and from the namespace. Also, in response to the failure of the software-defined storage controller, the host will direct subsequent input-output operations destined for the namespace to the secondary software-defined storage controller.

Automatic failover of a software-defined storage controller to handle input-output operations to and from an assigned namespace on a non-volatile memory device

A system, according to one embodiment, includes: an enclosure, a bay coupled to the enclosure, the bay being for storing at least one solid state drive therein, and a computer coupled to the enclosure. The computer includes a central processing unit, and a wireless access point coupled to the enclosure, the wireless access point being coupled to the central processing unit. Moreover, the wireless access point is for wirelessly transferring data received from the central processing unit to at least one solid state drive stored in the bay. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.

High speed wireless data communication to solid state drive

Powering random access memory (RAM) modules with non-volatile memory components may include providing, by a power supply, a first output voltage to one or more RAM modules, each RAM module of the one or more RAM modules comprising a volatile memory component and a non-volatile memory component; providing, by the power supply, a second output voltage to one or more system components distinct from the one or more RAM modules; detecting a power event; sending, by the power supply, in response to detecting the power event, a signal to the one or more RAM modules to initiate a save operation, wherein the save operation comprises storing, for each of the one or more RAM modules, data from the volatile memory component to the non-volatile memory component; and ceasing, by the power supply, the second output voltage while maintaining the first output voltage to facilitate the save operation.

Powering random access memory modules with non-volatile memory components

An apparatus for secure multiple server access to a non-volatile storage device is disclosed. A method and storage device product also perform the functions of the apparatus. An apparatus includes a storage device with three or more ports. Each port includes at least one lane and each port is configured to connect to a different server over the at least one lane of the port. The storage device includes a storage controller in the storage device for each port. Each storage controller controls storage to non-volatile storage of the storage device. The storage device includes a logical namespace assigned to each port. Each logical namespace is assigned to a portion of the non-volatile storage of the storage device. The logical namespace of a first port of the three or more ports is inaccessible to a second port of the three or more ports.

Secure multiple server access to a non-volatile storage device

An apparatus includes a root port for coupling to a root complex, and a plurality of endpoint ports for coupling to endpoint devices, wherein each endpoint port is associated with a function number. A downstream buffer queues transaction layer packets (TLPs) received from the root port, wherein each TLP in the downstream buffer is directed to an endpoint port associated with the identified function number. An upstream buffer queues TLPs received from each endpoint port, and directs the queued TLPs to the root port. A method includes associating a function number with each endpoint port of a switch, wherein each endpoint port is adapted for coupling to an endpoint device. The method further includes receiving a first TLP from a root complex, identifying a function number within the first TLP, and directing the first TLP to an endpoint device through the endpoint port associated with the identified function number.

PCIe switch for aggregating a large number of endpoint devices

Host aware storage tiering including receiving, by a storage controller on a storage server, a disconnect signal indicating an end of a first client session for a client, wherein the first client session comprises accesses to a plurality of data blocks on the storage server; determining, by the storage controller, that at least one data block of the plurality of data blocks was moved to a first tier storage during the first client session; storing, by the storage controller, an indication that the at least one data block was moved to the first tier storage; receiving a connect signal indicating a beginning of a second client session for the client; and moving, in response to the connect signal, the at least one data block into the first tier storage.

Host aware storage tiering

A method, according to one embodiment, includes: establishing a wireless connection between a wireless receiver in a solid state drive and a mobile device, receiving configuration instructions from the mobile device via the wireless connection, sending the received configuration instructions to a processor in a second device via a physical electrical connection coupling the second device to the solid state drive, receiving data from the second device via the physical electrical connection coupling the second device to the solid state drive, and storing the data in a memory of the solid state drive according to the received configuration instructions. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.

Wireless enabled hard drive management

Configuring NVMe devices for redundancy and scaling includes: identifying, by a first SSD ('Solid State Drive') driver executing on a first CPU ('Central Processing Unit'), address space of a first SSD coupled to the first CPU by a first PCI (&#x2018;Peripheral Component Interconnect&#x2019;) switch, the first PCI switch including one or more non-transparent bridges (&#x2018;NTBs&#x2019;); partitioning, by the first SSD driver, the address space of the first SSD amongst the NTBs of the first PCI switch and the first CPU, where each NTB is configured to translate CPU memory addresses received from a CPU into a drive address in the address space partitioned to the NTB; and partitioning, by the first SSD driver, a plurality of namespaces of the first SSD amongst the first CPU and the NTBs.

Configuring NVMe devices for redundancy and scaling

A system, according to one embodiment, includes: a wireless communication device operable to establish a wireless connection and transmit server status information over the wireless connection. The system also includes an optical sensor which is operable to detect optical signals from an optical source of a server. The wireless communication device and the optical sensor are coupled together by a physical or wireless connection. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.

Wireless transmission of server status information

According to one embodiment, a computer program embodied on a tangible computer readable medium includes computer code for identifying a wireless communications gateway in communication with a management controller, computer code for establishing a wireless communications connection between one or more drives and the management controller, utilizing the wireless communications gateway, and computer code for communicating one or more of monitoring data and control data between the management controller and the one or more drives, utilizing the wireless communications connection.

Wireless communication between a management controller and one or more drives

A fabric-attachable storage drive self-monitors a prespecified parameter. Responsive to detecting satisfaction of a prespecified condition, the storage drive autonomously generates a reportable event regarding the self-monitored prespecified parameter, and autonomously transmits the reportable event to a prespecified location on a network fabric to which the drive is connected. The storage drive can interact with other fabric-attachable storage drives to create a logical volume according to a specified logical data storage topology on a self-organized storage device group in a peer-to-peer manner. The storage drive can be a programmable non-volatile memory Express (NVMe) storage drive exporting access thereto over an NVMe-over-fabric storage protocol, or a programmable storage drive lacking an external interface by which to connect to a host computing device storage device but that has a network interface connected to a network fabric.

Autonomous generation and transmission of reportable events by fabric-attachable storage drive

A system, according to one embodiment, includes: a wireless communication device, and one or more optical sensors. The wireless communication device and the one or more optical sensors are coupled together by a physical or wireless connection, and the wireless communication device is operable to establish a direct wireless connection and transmit server status information over the direct wireless connection. Furthermore, the one or more optical sensors are operable to detect optical signals from one or more optical sources of one or more servers. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.

Data communications within a rack mountable microarray system includes: sending, from a microarray controller to a communication fabric, a request for data, where the microarray controller is one of the plurality of microarray controllers housed within a drive bay of an enclosure, where the enclosure includes a plurality of storage devices, and where the microarray controller controls one or more of the storage devices; determining, by the communication fabric, a destination microarray controller from among the plurality of microarray controllers, where the destination microarray controller controls another one or more of the storage devices; sending, from the destination microarray controller to the communication fabric, the data specified by the request for data; and receiving, at the microarray controller from the communication fabric, the data specified by the request for data.

Rack mountable computer system that includes microarray storage systems

Host port information is pulled directly from the switch before zoning is performed and is organized by chassis as an assist for mapping and masking an entire chassis. A graphical user interface allows a user to select storage by chassis to map and to select servers by chassis to map. The user then applies that mapping such that all servers selected are mapped to all storage selected. The user may repeat this mapping for another set of storage and servers. In a mixed environment, an icon may be shown in the graphical user interface to represent the mix. When the LUN mapping/masking is done, the LUN mapping/masking may be provided to the SAN manager to perform zoning. The LUN mapping/masking defines which host ports see which storage ports.

Zoning of devices in a storage area network with LUN masking/mapping

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Theodore Brian Vojnovich