Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080243962 | Method and apparatus for providing and managing a virtual storage namespace - The namespace of file system objects in a storage system includes a namespace table for maintaining virtual namespaces for each client computer. The storage system maintains an information holding a correspondence between real names for file system objects and virtual names for the file system objects. The virtual names are registered in the information according to individual client computers in communication with the storage system. When the storage system receives an operation request from a client computer, the storage system determines whether the operation request includes a virtual name a file system object that is a target of the operation request. The storage system replaces the virtual name in the operation request with a corresponding real name by referring to the information and an ID of the client computer that sent the operation request. The operation is carried out using the real name in place of the virtual name. | 10-02-2008 |
20080281876 | METHODS AND APPARATUS TO RECOVER DATA AND CONFIGURATION OF STORAGE SYSTEM - Every configuration change and/or detected failure is stored in the CDP journal together with time point information indicative of the time when the respective change or the failure has occurred. When the administrator performs the recovery of the data by specifying the recovery time point, the content of journal is displayed to the administrator so that the administrator can search for a recovery point by referring not only to series of data changes but also the series of events. If the administrator specifies a recovery point and initiates the recovery process, the configuration at the recovery time point is reproduced by undoing configuration changes between the current time point and the recovery time point. | 11-13-2008 |
20090070356 | Method and apparatus for managing data compression and integrity in a computer storage system - A storage system stores discrete data units and corresponding metadata. The storage system receives data for storage, calculates a first hash value for the data, and identifies a set of compression conditions that correspond to a client ID associated with the data. When the compression conditions indicate that the data should be compressed, the data is compressed to create compressed data. Following compression of the data, the storage system calculates a second hash value for the compressed data, and stores the second hash value in the metadata, while also retaining the first hash value in the metadata. The storage system stores the compressed data, and deletes the uncompressed version of the data. An integrity check of the data stored in the storage system can be carried out periodically using the first or second hash values contained in metadata for each discrete data unit. | 03-12-2009 |
20090177721 | Management of quality of services in storage systems - A plurality of data elements are stored on storage devices in a storage system and are identified by unique identifiers. Each data element has management information associated therewith for enabling management of a quality of service of each data element individually. The management information is individually changeable for each data element for changing the quality of service of each data element individually without affecting the quality of service of others of the data elements. The quality of service of a particular data element can be changed as a result of the storage system receiving a WRITE request sent to the storage system, the WRITE request being directed to a virtual metadata file corresponding to the particular data element and specifying a new quality of service for the particular data element or specifying custom metadata for the particular data element. | 07-09-2009 |
20090177836 | Methods and apparatuses for managing data in a computer storage system - Data stored on disk drives in a storage system is automatically migrated to tape after a first predetermined time period according to a migration policy specified for the data. When the data stored to tape is to be accessed and has been deleted from the disk drives, the data is retrieved from the tape storage and stored back to the disk drives. The data is retained on the disk drives for a second predetermined time period according to a cache policy specified for the data, and then automatically deleted from the disk drives when the second predetermined time period has expired. In an alternative embodiment, when data stored to a particular disk drive has not been accessed for a predetermined time period, the particular disk drive is spun down to conserve energy. Spun down disk drives are spun up automatically when they contain results relevant to a search request. | 07-09-2009 |
20090210639 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PLURALITY OF KINDS OF STORAGE DEVICES - A storage system including a memory unit having a disk management program, plural disk controllers each having a SAS port which can be attached to either a SAS disk drive or a SATA disk drive, and a LAN port which communicates with a user interface program in a management console. Upon receiving a request from the user interface program requesting what kinds of disk drives are attached to the disk controllers, the disk management program communicates with each disk controller to determine what kind of disk drive is attached to the disk controller, selects based on a result an appropriate protocol for the disk drive, sends a request to the disk controller to retrieve detailed information of the disk drive using the selected protocol, and sends the detailed information received from the disk controller back to the user interface program for display on a monitor of the management console. | 08-20-2009 |
20090222415 | EVALUATING RISK OF INFORMATION MISMANAGEMENT IN COMPUTER STORAGE - Method and system of evaluating overall risk of mismanagement of information contained in a file and its copies on a storage system. The method collects information about storage availability, accessibility, preservation and searchability of the data in each file. The method quantifies the collected information and allows a user to define risk criteria and assign risk values for each aspect of the collected information. The file risk of mismanagement of a specified data file is evaluated and compared against a threshold to determine whether or not the file is well-managed. If the file has copies, the file risk of mismanagement of each of the copies is also evaluated to obtain the risk of mismanagement of information in all of the copies. Copies with high risks of mismanagement may be discarded to lower the risk of mismanagement of the information. An administrator of a storage system may perform the method. | 09-03-2009 |
20090240717 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VERIFYING ARCHIVED DATA INTEGRITY IN INTEGRATED STORAGE SYSTEMS - A system and method for detecting alteration or corruption of data archived in integrated storage system including an archive storage coupled to external storage devices. Before a data object is sent-from the archive storage to the external devices, the archive storage generates data integrity information for each object. The data integrity information may be a hash value that is recorded in memory of the archive storage or a digital signature that is sent to the external device together with the object. When an object is requested by a client computer, the archive storage checks the data integrity information before the object is sent to the client. If an integrity violation is detected, both the client computer and an administrator at a management server are notified. The integrity information is updated if a hash algorithm is updated or certificate corresponding to a key used to generate the digital signatures has expired. | 09-24-2009 |
20090313260 | Methods and systems for assisting information processing by using storage system - In a networked information system, a portion of the information processing is offloaded from servers to a storage system to reduce network traffic and conserve server resources. The information system includes a storage system storing files or objects and having a function which automatically extracts portions of text from the files and transmits the extracted text to the servers. The text extraction is responsive to file requests from the servers. The extracted text and files are stored on the storage system, decreasing the need to send entire files across the network. Thus, by transmitting smaller extracted text data instead of entire files over the network, network performance can be increased through the reduction of traffic. Additionally, the processing strain on physical resources of the servers can be reduced by extracting the text at the storage system rather than at the servers. | 12-17-2009 |
20100088335 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVING FILE ACCESS PERFORMANCE OF DISTRIBUTED STORAGE SYSTEM - Embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatus for improving the performance of file transfer to a client from a distributed storage system which provides single name space to clients. In one embodiment, a system for providing access to files in a distributed storage system comprises a plurality of storage nodes and at least one computer device connected via a network. Each storage node is configured, upon receiving a file access request for a file from one of the at least one computer device as a receiver storage node, to determine whether or not to inform the computer device making the file access request to redirect the file access request to an owner storage node of the file according to a preset policy. The preset policy defines conditions for whether to redirect the file access request based on at least one of file type or file size of the file. | 04-08-2010 |
20100250880 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR BACKUP AND RESTORE OF THIN PROVISIONING VOLUME - Methods and apparatuses for backing up virtual volumes effectively by eliminating transfer and preservation of parts of virtual volumes, which contain no data. By representing virtual volumes as virtual files in a virtual file system, it is thereby possible to avoid needlessly backing up empty data space in the virtual volume. In one implementation, a storage system includes multiple virtual volumes and a virtual file system as well as a storage system control module. Each virtual volume in the multiple virtual volumes is represented as a virtual file within the virtual file system with each virtual file representing data actually stored within the virtual volume; and the storage system control module facilitates backing up a selected virtual volume, the operations involving accessing the virtual file system on the storage system; and reading the virtual file corresponding to the selected virtual volume. | 09-30-2010 |
20100306500 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING THIN PROVISIONING VOLUME BY USING FILE STORAGE SYSTEM - In one embodiment, a method of operating block-based thin provisioning disk volumes in a system including a first storage system which is connected via a network to a second storage system comprises, in response to a volume creation request to create a thin provisioning disk volume in the first storage system, recording in the first storage system attribute information of the block-based thin provisioning disk volume; specifying a directory path for the block-based thin provisioning disk volume in a file system in the second storage system; and creating a directory for the block-based thin provisioning disk volume under the specified directory path. | 12-02-2010 |
20110078462 | METHOD FOR MANAGING EXTERNAL STORAGE DEVICES - An apparatus, system, and method enable a new platform storage system to have access to an external storage system having data encrypted thereon by an existing platform storage system. Encryption information corresponding to the encrypted data in the external storage system is stored in a memory in the existing platform storage system. The encryption information stored in the memory of the existing platform storage system is transferred to an encryption table stored in the new platform storage system, so that the new platform storage system can read the encrypted data stored in the external storage system. | 03-31-2011 |
20110113192 | CLUSTERED STORAGE SYSTEM WITH EXTERNAL STORAGE SYSTEMS - A first storage system includes a first storage unit to provide storage volumes, a first storage controller, and a first memory to store a first control program to process an input/output request received by the first storage system. A second storage system includes a second storage unit to provide storage volumes, a second storage controller, and a second memory to store a second control program to process an input/output request received by the second storage system. Each of the first and second storage systems is configured to present the storage volumes of the other storage system to the host computer, so that the host computer can access the storage volumes of each of the first and second storage systems via one of the first and second storage systems if the host computer is unable to access the storage volumes via the other storage system. | 05-12-2011 |
20110252354 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PLURALITY OF KINDS OF STORAGE DEVICES - A storage system including a memory unit having a disk management program, plural disk controllers each having a SAS port which can be attached to either a SAS disk drive or a SATA disk drive, and a LAN port which communicates with a user interface program in a management console. Upon receiving a request from the user interface program requesting what kinds of disk drives are attached to the disk controllers, the disk management program communicates with each disk controller to determine what kind of disk drive is attached to the disk controller, selects based on a result an appropriate protocol for the disk drive, sends a request to the disk controller to retrieve detailed information of the disk drive using the selected protocol, and sends the detailed information received from the disk controller back to the user interface program for display on a monitor of the management console. | 10-13-2011 |