System and method for supporting block-based protocols on a virtual storage appliance executing within a physical storage appliance
Granted: July 24, 2012
Patent Number:
8230085
An architecture provides the ability to create and maintain multiple instances of virtual servers, such as virtual filers (vfilers), within a server, such as a storage appliance. A vfiler is a logical partitioning of network and storage resources of the storage appliance platform to establish an instance of a multi-protocol server. Each vfiler is allocated a subset of dedicated units of storage resources, such as volumes or logical sub-volumes (qtrees), and one or more network address…
Dynamic command capacity allocation across multiple sessions and transports
Granted: July 24, 2012
Patent Number:
8230068
A method for dynamically allocating a plurality of command processing resources is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) allocating the command processing resources from a first protocol layer to a first pool of a second protocol layer below the first protocol layer, (B) allocating at least some of the command processing resources from the first pool to a plurality of second pools and (C) sending a particular one of the command processing resources from one of the…
System and method for generating consistent images of a set of data objects
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8224777
A system and method efficiently generates a set of parallel persistent consistency point images (PCPIs) of volumes configured as a SVS and served by a plurality of nodes interconnected as a cluster. A volume operations daemon (VOD) executing on a node of the cluster is configured to manage generation of the volume PCPIs. Notably, the set of PCPIs is generated substantially in parallel to thereby obtain a consistent and accurate point in time reference of the entire SVS.
Running third party applications as embedded agents in a storage management server
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8224934
Running applications to support a storage server is made more efficient by at least establishing a sandbox to run the applications as embedded agents within the storage server. To accomplish this, in at least one embodiment, a management module of the storage server designates resources of the storage server to establish the sandbox using a role based access control mechanism. The sandbox communicates with the management module to access the resources of an operating system of the…
Auto-creation of storage resource management paths
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8224958
A method and an apparatus to automatically create storage resource management (SRM) paths has been presented. In one embodiment, the method includes monitoring a data storage system to collect configuration data of storage objects in the data storage system and automatically creating a storage resource management (SRM) path for a storage object in the data storage system using at least a portion of the configuration data in response to a user request to scan the storage object.
Storage array boot and configuration
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8225038
A RAID storage array having a controller and plurality of disk drives is configured into a plurality of groups. The plurality of disk drives are in a plurality of drive trays. The controller includes a main memory. A set of configuration information is stored on a central nonvolatile memory device. The set of configuration information includes group configuration information corresponding to each group of the plurality of groups with which a corresponding disk drive is associated. The…
Single-system configuration for backing-up and restoring a clustered storage system
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8225057
A method implements a single system configuration for backing-up and restoring a clustered storage system. The clustered storage system contains a plurality of storage servers. A virtual volume is configured based on one or more of the plurality of storage servers. The virtual volume shields its physical implementation from a client system. A virtual backup device is configured based on a physical backup device connected with one of the plurality of storage servers. The virtual backup…
Method and apparatus for generating a compressed and encrypted baseline backup
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8225109
An apparatus and method for securing a baseline backup are disclosed. As part of an incremental backup process, a selected set of file system data, including directories and files, are identified. The selected set of file system data are compressed, and then encrypted. Based on the encrypted and compressed file system data, a data digest is generated that uniquely identifies the encrypted and compressed file system data. The compressed and encrypted file system data are written to a…
Method and system for implementing power savings features on storage devices within a storage subsystem
Granted: July 17, 2012
Patent Number:
8225159
The present disclosure is directed to implementing power savings features on storage drives within a storage subsystem. A controller determines a drive is inactive and directs a power connector to prevent power from being provided to the drive. The controller may receive an input/output request for the inactive drive, direct the power connector to allow power to be provided, and provide the input/output request. When the controller receives an input/output request for the inactive drive,…
Multi-pathing with SCSI I/O referrals
Granted: July 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8219715
The present invention is a method for providing multi-pathing via Small Computer System Interface Input/Output (SCSI I/O) referral between an initiator and a storage cluster which are communicatively coupled via a network, the storage cluster including at least a first target device and a second target device. The method includes receiving an input/output (I/O) at the first target device from the initiator via the network. The I/O includes a data request. The method further includes…
System and method for signature based data container recognition
Granted: July 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8219821
A system and method for signature based data container recognition is provided. When a new data container, such as a lun, is created, a security appliance generates a signature of the data container, by, e.g., examining the contents of one or more data blocks of the data container. The generated signature is then associated with the appropriate encryption key for the data container and is stored either within a configuration database of the security appliance or on a key management…
System and method for efficient updates of sequential block storage
Granted: July 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8219749
A system and method enhances performance of updates to sequential block storage of a storage system. According to an aspect of the invention, a disk array of the storage system is utilized to extend write buffers of the system, thereby rendering a portion of the disk array a disk-based log. To that end, one portion of the disk array is organized into a home location array having a set of sequential home locations for disk blocks. Another portion of the disk array is organized into the…
Two-dimensional indexes for quick multiple attribute search in a catalog system
Granted: July 10, 2012
Patent Number:
8219564
Embodiments of the present invention provide mechanisms that overcome limitations of existing indexes by creating two-dimensional (2D) spatial indexes to quickly locate data containers that match two or more predicates. This is accomplished by representing metadata attributes describing a data container as dimensions in a 2D space so that a data container can be expressed as a point or a cell in a 2D space with coordinates being a pair of values of the selected attributes. A space…
Method for managing cryptographic information
Granted: July 3, 2012
Patent Number:
8213620
Method for distributing encryption keys stored by a centralized key manager, operationally coupled to a first encryption device and the second encryption device is provided. The first encryption device and the second encryption device may request the CKM to provide the stored encryption keys in different formats and each encryption device may use a different encryption format to encrypt information. If the encryption devices are authorized to receive the stored encryption keys, then the…
Automatic network cluster path management
Granted: July 3, 2012
Patent Number:
8214529
Automatic network configuration of cluster paths to access data within a cluster is described. Each node of the cluster presents to clients an image of the cluster as a single system. Each node also stores information regarding what node has particular data, as well as information about network addresses and corresponding network capabilities for the various network addresses for each node. When a node receives a request for data, the node determines a node where the request data can be…
Managing the encryption of data
Granted: July 3, 2012
Patent Number:
8214656
Embodiments of methods, devices and/or systems for managing the encryption of data are described.
Technique for accelerating the creation of a point in time representation of a virtual file system
Granted: June 26, 2012
Patent Number:
8209289
A technique for accelerating the creation of a hyperclone of a virtual file system. Specifically, each data block and indirect block directly referenced by a base inode are only copied. The hyperclone may then reference the original data blocks and original indirect blocks. Further, an indication may be provided for at least one of the copied data blocks and indirect blocks that indicates that the at least one of the copied data blocks and indirect blocks is in use.
System and method for eliminating zeroing of disk drives in RAID arrays
Granted: June 26, 2012
Patent Number:
8209587
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a technique for providing an indication whether data stored on a disk drive are invalid. As used herein, invalid data are data written prior to the disk drive being added to an array of the disk drives or data in a block that has become free and which has been removed from the corresponding parity block of the stripe. Knowing that the disk drive was written prior to the drive being added to the existing array or having data which has become…
Single nodename cluster system for fibre channel
Granted: June 19, 2012
Patent Number:
8205043
A system and method provides a single system image for a clustered storage network including techniques for processing data access commands between storage appliances over the cluster interconnect. The system is configured such that the cluster is assigned a single world wide nodename. Requests coming to the cluster from client initiators are directed to one or the storage appliances in the cluster, i.e. the “receiving” storage appliance. Commands received by the receiving storage…
Client data retrieval in a clustered computing network
Granted: June 12, 2012
Patent Number:
8200630
One or more aspects of the disclosure relate to techniques for accessing a file stored in a clustered computing network, where the file is stored in the clustered computing network in a plurality of related volumes that stem from a particular (e.g., parent) volume. In the method, a request to retrieve the file from the particular volume is received at the client. The client then determines whether the file is stored in a client memory so as to be identified with the particular volume. If…
