Adaptec AEC-4412B Uživatelský manuál stáhnout pdf (Strana 4)

CQ-1001 / Page 4 of 14

US

6,425,035

B2

1

STORAGE

ROUTER

AND

METHOD

FOR

PROVIDING

VIRTUAL

LOCAL

STORAGE

RELATED

APPLICATIONS

This

application

claims

the

benefit

of

the

filing

date

of

U.S.

patent

application

Ser.

No.

09/354,682

by

inventors

Geoffrey

B.

Hoese

and

Jeffry

T.

Russell,

entitled

“Storage

Router

and

Method

for

Providing

Virtual

Local

Storage”

filed

on

Jul.

15,

1999,

which

is

a

continuation

of

U.S.

patent

application

Ser.

No.

091001,799,

filed

on

Dec.

31,

1997,

now

U.S.

Pat.

No.

5.941,972,

and

hereby

incorporates

these

applications

by

reference

in

their

entireties

as

if

they

had

been

fully

set

forth

herein.

TECHNICAL

FIELD

OF

THE

INVENTION

This

invention

relates

in

general

to

network

storage

devices,

and

more

particularly

to

a

storage

router

and

method

for

providing

virtual

local

storage

on

remote

SCSI

storage

devices

to

Fiber

Channel

devices.

BACKGROUND

OF

THE

INVENTION

Typical

storage

transport

mediums

provide

for

a

relatively

small

number

of

devices

to

be

attached

over

relatively

short

distances.

One

such

transport

medium

is

a

Small

Computer

System

Interface

(SCSI)

protocol,

the

structure

and

opera-

tion

of

which

is

generally

well

known

as

is

described,

for

example,

in

the

SCSI-1,

SCSI-2

and

SCSI-3

specifications.

High

speed

serial

interconnects

provide

enhanced

capability

to

attach

a

large

number

of

high

speed

devices

to

a

common

storage

transport

medium

over

large

distances.

One

such

serial

interconnect

is

Fibre

Channel,

the

structure

and

opera-

tion

of

which

is

described,

for

example,

in

Fiber

Channel

Physical

and

Signaling

Interface

(FC-PH),

ANSI

X3.230

Fiber

Channel

Arbitrated

Loop

(FC-AL),

and

ANSI

X3.272

Fiber

Channel

Private

Loop

Direct

Attach

(FC-PLDA).

Conventional

computing

devices,

such

as

computer

workstations,

generally

access

storage

locally

or

through

network

interconnects.

Local

storage

typically

consists

of

a

disk

drive,

tape

drive,

CD-ROM

drive

or

other

storage

device

contained

within,

or

locally

connected

to

the

work-

station.

The

workstation

provides

a

file

system

structure,

that

includes

security

controls,

with

access

to

the

local

storage

device

through

native

low

level,

block

protocols.

These

protocols

map

directly

to

the

mechanisms

used

by

the

storage

device

and

consist

of

data

requests

without

security

controls.

Network

interconnects

typically

provide

access

for

a

large

number

of

computing

devices

to

data

storage

on

a

remote

network

server.

The

remote

network

server

provides

file

system

structure,

access

control,

and

other

miscellaneous

capabilities

that

include

the

network

interface.

Access

to

data

through

the

network

server

is

through

network

proto-

cols

that

the

server

must

translate

into

low

level

requests

to

the

storage

device.

Aworkstation

with

access

to

the

server

storage

must

translate

its

file

system

protocols

into

network

protocols

that

are

used

to

communicate

with

the

server.

Consequently,

from

the

perspective

of

a

workstation,

or

other

computing

device,

seeking

to

access

such

server

data,

the

access

is

much

slower

than

access

to

data

on

a

local

storage

device.

SUMMARY

OF

THE

INVENTION

In

accordance

with

the

present

invention,

a

storage

router

and

method

for

providing

virtual

local

storage

on

remote

SCSI

storage

devices

to

Fiber

Channel

devices

are

disclosed

that

provide

advantages

over

conventional

network

storage

devices

and

methods.

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

2

According

to

one

aspect

of

the

present

invention,

a

storage

router

and

storage

network

provide

virtual

local

storage

on

remote

SCSI

storage

devices

to

Fiber

Channel

devices.

A

plurality

of

Fiber

Channel

devices,

such

as

workstations,

are

connected

to

a

Fiber

Channel

transport

medium,

and

a

plurality

of

SCSI

storage

devices

are

con-

nected

to

a

SCSI

bus

transport

medium.

The

storage

router

interfaces

between

the

Fiber

Channel

transport

medium

and

the

SCSI

bus

transport

medium.

The

storage

router

maps

between

the

workstations

and

the

SCSI

storage

devices

and

implements

access

controls

for

storage

space

on

the

SCSI

storage

devices.

The

storage

router

then

allows

access

from

the

workstations

to

the

SCSI

storage

devices

using

native

low

level,

blockprotocol

in

accordance

with

the

mapping

and

the

access

controls.

According

to

another

aspect

of

the

present

invention,

virtual

local

storage

on

remote

SCSI

storage

devices

is

provided

to

Fiber

Channel

devices.

A

Fibre

Channel

trans-

port

medium

and

a

SCSI

bus

transport

medium

are

inter-

faced

with.

A

configuration

is

maintained

for

SCSI

storage

devices

connected

to

the

SCSI

bus

transport

medium.

The

configuration

maps

between

Fiber

Channel

devices

and

the

SCSI

storage

devices

and

implements

access

controls

for

storage

space

on

the

SCSI

storage

devices.

Access

is

then

allowed

from

Fiber

Channel

initiator

devices

to

SCSI

stor-

age

devices

using

native

low

level,

block

protocol

in

accor-

dance

with

the

configuration.

A

technical

advantage

of

the

present

invention

is

the

ability

to

centralize

local

storage

for

networked

workstations

without

any

cost

of

speed

or

overhead.

Each

workstation

access

its

virtual

local

storage

as

if

it

work

locally

con-

nected.

Further,

the

centralized

storage

devices

can

be

located

in

a

significantly

remote

position

even

in

excess

of

ten

kilometers

as

defined

by

Fibre

Channel

standards.

Another

technical

advantage

of

the

present

invention

is

the

ability

to

centrally

control

and

administer

storage

space

for

connected

users

without

limiting

the

speed

with

which

the

users

can

access

local

data.

In

addition,

global

access

to

data,

backups,

virus

scanning

and

redundancy

can

be

more

easily

accomplished

by

centrally

located

storage

devices.

A

further

technical

advantage

of

the

present

invention

is

providing

support

for

SCSI

storage

devices

as

local

storage

for

Fiber

Channel

hosts.

In

addition,

the

present

invention

helps

to

provide

extended

capabilities

for

Fiber

Channel

and

for

management

of

storage

subsystems.

BRIEF

DESCRIPTION

OF

THE

DRAWINGS

A

more

complete

understanding

of

the

present

invention

and

the

advantages

thereof

may

be

acquired

by

referring

to

the

following

description

taken

in

conjunction

with

the

accompanying

drawings,

in

which

like

reference

numbers

indicate

like

features,

and

wherein:

FIG.

1

is

a

block

diagram

of

a

conventional

network

that

provides

storage

through

a

network

server;

FIG.

2

is

a

block

diagram

of

one

embodiment

of

a

storage

network

with

a

storage

router

that

provides

global

access

and

routing;

FIG.

3

is

a

block

diagram

of

one

embodiment

of

a

storage

network

with

a

storage

router

that

provides

virtual

local

storage;

FIG.

4

is

a

block

diagram

of

one

embodiment

of

the

storage

router

of

FIG.

3;

and

FIG.

5

is

a

block

diagram

of

one

embodiment

of

data

flow

within

the

storage

router

of

FIG.

4.

DETAILED

DESCRIPTION

OF

THE

INVENTION

FIG.

1

is

a

block

diagram

of

a

conventional

network,

indicated

generally

at

10,

that

provides

access

to

storage

CQ-1001

/

Page

4

of

14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 13 14

Komentáře k této Příručce

Žádné komentáře