Applied Micro Circuits Corporation

Summit Data Systems LLC

Thomas L Couch

Douglas E Jewett

Rod S Thompson

Bradley D Strand

Jeffrey D Chung

Adam J Radford

Joel D Jacobson

Robert B Haigler

A network-based storage system comprises one or more block-level storage servers that connect to, and provide disk storage for, one or more host computers. In one embodiment, the system is capable of subdividing the storage space of an array of disk drives into multiple storage partitions, and allocating the partitions to host computers on a network. A storage partition allocated to a particular host computer may appear as local disk drive storage to user-level processes running on the host computer.

Network-based storage system capable of allocating storage partitions to hosts

A network-based storage system comprises one or more block-level storage servers that connect to, and provide disk storage for, one or more host computers ('hosts') over logical network connections (preferably TCP/IP sockets). In one embodiment, each host can maintain one or more socket connections to each storage server, over which multiple I/O operations may be performed concurrently in a non-blocking manner. The physical storage of a storage server may optionally be divided into multiple partitions, each of which may be independently assigned to a particular host or to a group of hosts. When a host initially connects to a storage server in one embodiment, the storage server initially authenticates the host, and then notifies the host of the ports that may be used to establish data connections and of the partitions assigned to that host.

Architecture for providing block-level storage access over a computer network

A network-based storage system comprises one or more block-level storage servers that connect to, and provide disk storage for, one or more host computers ('hosts') over logical network connections (preferably TCP/IP sockets). In one embodiment, each host can maintain one or more socket connections to each storage server, over which multiple I/O operations may be performed concurrently in a non-blocking manner. The physical storage of a storage server may optionally be divided into multiple partitions, each of which may be independently assigned to a particular host or to a group of hosts. Host driver software presents these partitions to user-level processes as one or more local disk drives. When a host initially connects to a storage server in one embodiment, the storage server initially authenticates the host, and then notifies the host of the ports that may be used to establish data connections and of the partitions assigned to that host.

Growing community of inventors

Woodside, CA, United States of America

Thomas L Couch