Datadirect Networks, Inc.

William Joseph Harker

Michael Piszczek

Pavan Kumar Uppu

Thomas E Fugini

Jason Micah Cope

John Gordon Manning

Cedric T Fernandes

Lee Douglas McBryde

Manjari Mishra

David F Fellinger

Dave Fellinger

Shivkumar Pandit

John Albert De Leon

Andrew Pershall

Variable Redundancy Distributed (VRD) RAID controller in a data storage environment contains embedded RAID logic permitting to choose and compute a desired redundancy coding scheme from a plurality thereof pre-programmed and embedded in a Compute Engine in the VRD RAID controller. 'Write' or 'Read' requests which are received from data generating entities, contain information identifying a type of the redundancy coding scheme of interest. The controller decodes the request, and automatically applies the desired computation to the incoming data without burdening the CPU with the computational activity. The variable redundancy computational ability of the subject systems provides an extremely versatile and flexible tool for RAID operations.

Data storage system employing a variable redundancy distributed RAID controller with embedded RAID logic and method for data migration between high-performance computing architectures and data storage devices using the same

In the data storage system the storage area network performs XOR operations on incoming data for parity generation without buffering data through a centralized RAID engine or processor. The hardware for calculating the XOR data is distributed to incrementally calculate data parity in parallel across each data channel and may be implemented as a set of FPGAs with low bandwidths to efficiently scale as the amount of storage memory increases. A host adaptively appoints data storage controllers in the storage area network to perform XOR parity operations on data passing therethrough. The system provides data migration and parity generation in a simple and effective matter and attains a reduction in cost and power consumption.

Data storage system and method for data migration between high-performance computing architectures and data storage devices using storage controller with distributed XOR capability

Distributed Compute Engine (DCE) memory controller in a data storage environment contains embedded logic and arithmetic functionality for Boolean logical and arithmetic operations. 'Write' or 'Read' requests which are received from data generating entities, contain a Physical Address field identifying an address of a data block to be retrieved from the external memory, and a Control bits field identifying a type of computational operation to be performed. The DCE memory controller decodes the request, and applies the desired compute operation autonomically to the contents of an external memory and/or the incoming data without burdening the CPU with the computational activity.

Data storage system employing a distributed compute engine memory controller with embedded logic and arithmetic functionality and method for data migration between high-performance computing architectures and data storage devices using the same

The present data storage system employs a memory controller with embedded logic to selectively XOR incoming data with data written in the memory to generate XOR parity data. The memory controller automatically performs XOR operations on incoming data based upon the address range associated with the memory 'write' request. The system provides data migration and parity generation in a simple and effective manner and attains reduction in cost and power consumption. The memory controller may be built on the basis of FPGAs, thus providing an economical and miniature system.

Data storage system and method for data migration between high-performance computing architectures and data storage devices using memory controller with embedded XOR capability

A control processor manages the power budget in a drive enclosure and is within the drive enclosure which monitors in real time a redundantly configured power supply unit, drives, interposers, and temperature sensors, and determines the power settings for each drive to avoid overload and overheating in the system. The control processor dynamically adjusts the mode of operation as needed during operation through the SAS interposer. A localized monitoring and control mechanism eliminates the need for extraneous coordination of information across various entities that access the storage. Data tunneling takes place directly between the compute nodes and target drives through the SAS expander and interposer, and does not need buffering the pending IO requests in the DRAM.

Data storage system and method for monitoring and controlling the power budget in a drive enclosure housing data storage devices

A system for data migration between high performance computing architectures and data storage disks includes an intermediate data migration handling system which has an intermediate data storage module coupled to the computer architecture to store data received, and a data controller module which includes data management software supporting the data transfer activity between the intermediate data storage module and the disk drives in an orderly manner independent of the random I/O activity of the computer architecture. RAID calculations are performed on the data prior to storage in the intermediate storage module, as well as when reading data from it for assuring data integrity, and carrying out reconstruction of corrupted data. The data transfer to the disk drives is actuated in sequence determined by the data management software based on minimization of seeking time, tier usage, predetermined time since the previous I/O cycle, or fullness of the intermediate data storage module. The storage controller deactivates the disk drives which are not needed for the data transfer.

System and method for data migration between high-performance computing architectures and data storage devices with increased data reliability and integrity

A method for auto-correction of errors in an array of solid-state storage devices having a plurality of storage channels dedicated to storing parity data to provide fault tolerance for a loss of at least two of the plurality of storage channels. A read operation from the storage channels transfers data to a plurality of channel memories. The data in the channel memories is checked to confirm the data is valid. Responsive to detection of invalid data, the data may be tested to identify the storage channel in error, including sequentially excluding data read form a different one of the plurality of channel memories from a parity check and determining the validity of data from remaining channel memories. If valid data is obtained, the storage channel from which the data was excluded is identified as the storage channel in error.

Method for auto-correction of errors in a solid-state memory system

A method for auto-correction of errors in an array of disk storage devices having a plurality of disk storage devices dedicated to storing parity data to provide fault tolerance for a loss of at least two of the plurality of disk storage devices. A read operation from the storage channels transfers data to a plurality of disk channel memories. The data in the disk channel memories is checked to confirm the data is valid. Responsive to detection of invalid data, the data may be tested to identify the disk storage channel in error, including sequentially excluding data read from a different one of the plurality of disk channel memories from a parity check and determining the validity of data from remaining disk channel memories. If valid data is obtained, the disk storage channel from which the data was excluded is identified as the disk storage channel in error.

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Columbia, MD, United States of America

William Joseph Harker