Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120311224 | EXPOSING EXPANDERS IN A DATA STORAGE FABRIC - A method of selectively exposing expanders in a data storage fabric is disclosed. The method includes generating a phy permission table in a switch expander. The phy permission table is configured for access by an initiator and includes data as to which enclosure expanders are discoverable by the initiator. A zone group of phys from the enclosure expanders assigned to the initiator is created. The phy permission table is updated to identify each phy coupled to the enclosure expanders in the zone group. | 12-06-2012 |
20120317319 | INPUT/OUTPUT SYSTEM AND METHODS TO COUPLE A STORAGE DEVICE TO THE SAME SERVER AFTER MOVEMENT IN AN INPUT/OUTPUT SYSTEM - In an embodiment, a method of operating a zone manager of an input/out system includes, in response to a storage device being inserted into a particular storage-device location of the input/output system, determining whether the particular storage-device location and the storage device are assigned to a same server of the input/output system, and assigning the particular storage-device location and storage device to the same server in response to determining that the particular storage-device location and the storage device are not assigned to the same server. | 12-13-2012 |
20130007306 | DATA STORAGE METHODS AND DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS - Data storage methods and data storage systems are disclosed. An example method includes detecting a presence of a target device on a port; collecting detailed drive information associated with the target device; and preventing an initiator device from creating an affiliation with the target device until the drive information is collected. | 01-03-2013 |
20130024614 | STORAGE MANAGER - A switch includes an expander to couple an array controller to storage drive bays which are capable of supporting physical drives. A zone manager is coupled to the expander to perform zoning configuration of physical drives for the array controller. A storage manager is used to generate storage configuration information used by the array controller to configure logical drives of the physical drives configured for the array controller. | 01-24-2013 |
20130031570 | SAS VIRTUAL TAPE DRIVE - A serial attached small computer system interface (SAS) expander for providing a virtual tape drive. The expander includes a virtual tape manager to generate a virtual tape virtual PHY capable of being part of a zone group wherein the virtual tape virtual PHY comprises drive bays which support disk drives for emulation of tape drives. | 01-31-2013 |
20130042039 | DEADLOCK PREVENTION - Methods, systems, and computer-readable media with executable instructions stored thereon for preventing deadlocks are provided. An inter-device mutex (IDM) can be locked for a first client. An error message can be sent to a second client in response to a received first lock command from the second client while the IDM is locked for the first client. A number of second lock commands from the second client while the IDM is locked for the first client can be received. The IDM can be unlocked for the first client in response to an unlock command received from the first client. The IDM can be locked for the second client in response to a received third lock command from the second client, wherein the third lock command is received subsequent to unlocking the IDM for the first client. | 02-14-2013 |
20130054874 | UPDATING COMPUTER READABLE INSTRUCTIONS ON DEVICES IN A DATA STORAGE FABRIC - Updating computer readable instructions on devices in a data storage fabric is disclosed. A zone manager virtual PHY is established and an active device is granted control over the devices in the data storage fabric. The devices include in-band communication with the zone manager virtual PHY. The zone manager virtual PHY flashes an image of the computer readable instructions over in-band communication to the devices through in-band communication with the active device. | 02-28-2013 |
20130086320 | MULTICAST WRITE COMMANDS - Techniques for implementing a multicast write command are described. A data block may be destined for multiple targets. The targets may be included in a list. A multicast write command may include the list. Write commands may be sent to each target in the list. | 04-04-2013 |
20130111125 | SHARED CACHE MODULE AND METHOD THEREOF | 05-02-2013 |
20130111126 | EXPANDER TO ENABLE VIRTUAL STORAGE UNITS CORRESPONDING TO SUBDIVISIONS WITHIN A PHYSICAL STORAGE UNIT | 05-02-2013 |
20130117767 | SAS EXPANDER FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DRIVERS - A SAS expander that includes a virtual device manager and a communications manager. The virtual device manager is to generate a virtual device table comprising virtual device PHYs associated with virtual device drivers for host device drivers to allow communication between the host device drivers. The communications manager is to receive a request from a first host device driver of a first host to communicate with a second host device driver of a second host, and in response to receipt of the request, establish communication between the first host device driver and a virtual device PHY associated with a virtual device driver of the second host device driver. | 05-09-2013 |
20130124801 | SAS HOST CONTROLLER CACHE TRACKING - A technique to track a host controller cache that includes receiving from a host controller a command indicating whether a cache of the host controller has data which is to be stored to a storage system. In the event that the host controller fails, perform an operation to transfer control from the host controller to another host controller based on whether the command indicates that the data of the cache was stored to the storage system. | 05-16-2013 |
20130179617 | HOST BASED ZONE CONFIGURATION - A zone manager to provide a host with a list of storage drives that are not zoned to the host. The zone manager, in response to receipt of a command from the host to perform zone storage configuration for the host, to zone to host storage drives that were selected by the host from the list of storage drives. | 07-11-2013 |
20130227341 | SAS HOST CACHE CONTROL - A SAS method to control host controller failure that includes, in response to receipt of a failure signal indicating that a host controller has failed, sending a wakeup signal to a host cache module of the failed host controller to cause the host cache module to determine whether there is trapped data in the host cache module that has not been transferred to a storage system. In response to receipt of a cache state signal indicating that there is trapped data in the host cache module that has not been transferred to the storage system, initiating transfer of the trapped data from the host cache module of the failed host controller to a host cache module of another host controller. | 08-29-2013 |
20130246683 | SAS FABRIC DISCOVERY - An example method of the present disclosure includes (i) creating, by a first serial attached SCSI (SAS) switch, a first topology map describing a portion of a SAS fabric associated with the first SAS switch; (ii) receiving, at the first SAS switch and from a second SAS switch, a second topology map describing a portion of the SAS fabric associated with the second SAS switch; and (iii) merging, by the first SAS switch, the first topology map and the second topology map to produce a consolidated topology map of the SAS fabric. | 09-19-2013 |
20130265867 | EXPANDER-TARGETED ZONED BROADCAST - A method includes detecting a topology change on a link in a network and determining which zone group corresponds to the topology change. The method also includes identifying a zone group in the network that is permitted to access a device on said link and determining an address of an expander that has the zone group permitted to access the device on the link. The method further includes generating an expander-targeted zoned broadcast command to report a topology change in the network. The expander-targeted zoned broadcast command has, as a destination address, the address of the expander determined to have a zone group permitted to access a device on the link. | 10-10-2013 |
20130275648 | DETERMINATION OF A ZONED PORTION OF A SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM - A first expander comprises a first PHY to be connected by a link to a second PHY of a second expander. The first expander is controlled by a first zone manager and the second expander is controlled by a second zone manager. The first zone manager is to determine whether the first zone manager is a link reset master. Based on the first zone manager being a link reset master and a first control bit corresponding to at least one of the first and second PHYs being set, the first zone manager initiates a reset of the link interconnecting the first and second PHYs. The first control bit is indicative of whether the second expander intends to be included in a zoned portion of a fabric. | 10-17-2013 |
20130290463 | STORAGE FABRIC ADDRESS BASED DATA BLOCK RETRIEVAL - Techniques for retrieving data blocks are provided. In one aspect, a storage fabric address of a controller associated with a data block is retrieved by a node. If the node is on the same storage fabric as the retrieved address, the data block may be retrieved over the storage fabric. In another aspect, a directory server maintains mappings of data blocks to storage fabric addresses of controllers associated with the data blocks. A request for the location of the data block includes the storage fabric address of the associated controller. | 10-31-2013 |
20130346791 | SAS STORAGE DRIVE INFORMATION - A SAS storage enclosure to provide storage drive information that includes an expander and a storage manager. The expander supports communication between initiators and associated zoned storage drives of the storage enclosure, and the storage drive information table is to store extended storage drive status information of storage drives of the storage enclosure. The storage manager is to store to the storage drive information table extended storage drive status information of storage drives of the storage enclosure in response to receipt from an initiator a SAS command to store the information, in the event that the storage manager receives from an initiator a command to exchange data with a zoned storage drive and then a storage drive failure occurs with the zoned storage drive. The storage manager sends to the initiator the information in response to receipt from an initiator a SAS command to retrieve the information. | 12-26-2013 |
20140018972 | ENCLOSURE TEMPERATURE SCRIPT INTERPRETER - In an enclosure to house computing components, the enclosure includes a temperature control processor, and temperature control script interpreter logic. The temperature control script interpreter logic causes the processor to maintain the interior temperature of the enclosure in accordance with the temperature control script. | 01-16-2014 |
20140019657 | DIVIDING A PORT INTO SMALLER PORTS - A given port at a storage controller is used for communication with storage devices. In response to an indication that at least a portion of the given port is to be dedicated to a group of at least one of the storage devices, the storage controller divides the given port into multiple smaller ports. | 01-16-2014 |
20140029467 | ZONING RECORD UPDATE - An example first switch includes a zoning manager module to store a record comprising zoning information of a serial attached SCSI (SAS) fabric. The zoning manager module updates the record based at least in part on received zone modification information to create an updated record. The zone manager module distributes the updated record to at least a second switch in the SAS fabric, wherein the first switch and the second switch are in a stacked configuration. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032737 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REPRESENTING A SAS FABRIC - An example provides potential solutions for SAS fabrics. The example includes identifying one or more devices directly attached to an entry point switch. The example also includes identifying one or more SAS switches that are not directly attached to the entry point switch. The example further includes receiving a request for SAS fabric information. Additionally, the example includes generating a data model in a format adapted to direct a client to generate a representation of the SAS fabric. The data model includes the one or more devices directly attached to the entry point switch, and the one or more SAS switches that are not directly attached to the entry point switch. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032754 | INITIATOR ZONING IN PROGRESS COMMAND - An initiator zoning in progress command is provided. In one aspect the zoning in progress command includes target devices. Upon completion of the zoning operation, a zoning complete command is provided. In another aspect, receipt of a zoning in progress command causes broadcast change commands to be ignored until the zoning complete command is received. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032967 | SAS SELF-TEST OPERATIONS - A self-test engine to manage self-test mode operations between adjacent PHYs of a serial-attached SCSI (SAS) topology. | 01-30-2014 |
20140032977 | MANAGING OPERATION PERFORMANCE - Systems and methods for managing operation performance are included herein. In one example, a method includes determining an operation execution time. The method also includes storing the operation execution time. Furthermore, the method includes calculating an operation performance characteristic based on the operation execution time. The method also includes determining a threshold based on the operation performance characteristic. Additionally, the method includes determining the operation execution time is above the threshold. In addition, the method includes providing a warning based at least on the operation performance characteristic and the threshold. | 01-30-2014 |
20140040291 | PRIMITIVE GROUP DATA ENCODING IN A DATA STORAGE FABRIC - A method of extending a standard primitive in a data storage fabric is disclosed. A group of primitives are combined into a sequence including the standard primitive and a variable information primitive. The variable information primitive includes data particular to a broadcast of the sequence. The sequence is broadcast through the data storage fabric. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040510 | STAGED DISCOVERY IN A DATA STORAGE FABRIC - A method of performing discovery in a data storage fabric is disclosed. Performing discovery includes performing a first stage of discovery on expanders in the data storage fabric prior to broadcasting a discovery command to initiators on the data storage fabric. After the first stage has completed, providing the discovery command to the initiators to perform a second stage of discovery. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040544 | LOGICAL VOLUME GROUP DRIVE CONTROL - A volume group power control system and a corresponding method are disclosed. The system is to organize a plurality of drive systems into a plurality of logical volume groups and to store group data identifying each of the plurality of logical volume groups. Each of the logical volume groups includes a plurality of the drive systems. The array controller includes a power management component to monitor activity of each of the plurality of drive systems in each of the plurality of logical volume groups and to deactivate the plurality of drive systems associated with a given one of the plurality of logical volume groups in response to the power management component determining that the plurality of drive systems associated with the given one of the plurality of logical volume groups is substantially inactive. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040637 | Encrypting data on primary storage device and on cache storage device - A primary storage device stores a first encrypted version of data. The first encrypted version of the data is encrypted in accordance with a first encryption-decryption approach. A cache storage device for the primary storage device stores a second encrypted version of the data. The second encrypted version of the data is encrypted in accordance with a second encryption-decryption approach different than the first encryption-decryption approach. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040640 | SAS Power Management - A method is provided for a SAS (Serial Attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)) expander to manage power consumption of a wide port that includes multiple expander phys each operable in at least three power conditions. The method includes monitoring number of AIP primitives for the wide port over time, changing at least one expander phy to a lower power condition when the number of AIP primitives total less than a first threshold over a first period of time, and changing at least one expander phy to a higher power condition when the number of AIP primitives total more than a second threshold over a second period of time. | 02-06-2014 |
20140040648 | POWER MANAGEMENT FOR DEVICES IN A DATA STORAGE FABRIC - A method of power management for devices in a data storage fabric is disclosed. The data storage fabric includes a PHY having a first power condition and a second power condition coupled to a power condition independent device on the data storage fabric. The power condition independent device detects a change in the power configuration of the PHY from the first power condition to the second power condition. The power condition independent device then changes its power state to a comparable power state preselected to correspond with the second power condition. | 02-06-2014 |
20140058997 | DETERMINING AN ACTIVE ZONE MANAGER BASED ON DISRUPTION PREDICTION METRICS - Examples disclosed herein relate to determining an active zone manager based on disruption prediction metrics. Examples include providing a first disruption prediction metric of a first fabric to a second fabric, acquiring a second disruption prediction metric from a second fabric, and determining the active zone manager based on the first and second disruption prediction metrics. | 02-27-2014 |
20140143453 | BULK DISCOVERY - An example disclosed is directed to a switch. The switch includes a communication interface and a discovery module. The discovery module is to receive a registration request for bulk discovery from an initiator device via the communication interface. The discovery module is further to receive a change indication specifying that a change has occurred in a fabric associated with the switch, and update a data model based on the received change indication to generate an updated data model. The discovery module then filters the updated data model to generate a filtered data model, and sends the filtered data model to the initiator device via the communication interface. | 05-22-2014 |
20140143464 | SAS EXPANDER - A SAS expander includes a receiver module, a timer module and an arbitration module. The receiver module is to receive initiator requests which include initiator wait time values and specify requested targets. The timer module has timers to generate total wait time values representing length or time the initiators having been waiting for the specified requested targets. The timers are to be initialized with wait time values comprising the initiator request wait time values and user-defined wait time values. The arbitration module is to select an initiator request having the highest total wait time value from among the initiator requests requesting the same targets. | 05-22-2014 |
20140156878 | STORAGE DEVICE TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO STORAGE RESOURCES OVER A DATA STORAGE FABRIC - Provide access to storage resources of a storage device over a data storage fabric. Allow a zone manager of a first switch to assign a zone group to one of a plurality of phys of an expander of the storage device to allow the first switch to access storage resources of the storage device. If status of the phy that is assigned a zone group indicates a disconnection condition with the first switch, then configure the zone group of the expander of the storage device to prevent access to the storage resources of the storage device. If after the disconnection condition, the status of the phy indicates a reconnection condition with a second switch, then allow a zone manager of the second switch to assign a zone group to the phy to allow the second switch to access storage resources of the storage device. | 06-05-2014 |
20140244879 | SAS Latency Based Routing - Techniques for operating a serial attached SCSI (SAS) expander that includes a latency table comprising entries of outbound PHYS with latency values associated with connections between inbound PHYs and outbound PHYs. A storage management module to, in response to receipt of a command from an initiator device associated with an inbound PHY to route data to a target device associated with an outbound PHY, select from the latency table a random outbound PHY from among a plurality of outbound PHYs, wherein the random selection is based on weighted average of latency values of the outbound PHY entries of the latency table. | 08-28-2014 |
20140289437 | EXPANDER INTERRUPT PROCESSING - In one example in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, an expander is provided. The expander comprises a workload scheduling module to cause the expander to enter a first mode of operation where the expander processes interrupts, and further to enter a second mode of operation where the expander processes interrupts for up to a predetermined time period before responding to at least one of Serial Management Protocol (SMP) commands and Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP) commands with a retry message. | 09-25-2014 |
20140297910 | SAS EXPANDER - A SAS expander that includes a storage management module to cause the SAS expander to configure zoning of targets coupled to the SAS expander based on zone configuration rules. The storage management to cause, in response to receipt of a command to enter an expander reduced functionality mode of operation, the SAS expander to prevent initiators access to the targets coupled to the SAS expander and to allow update of expander functionality module for controlling operation of the SAS expander. The storage management module to cause, upon completion of the expander reduced functionality mode of operation, the SAS expander to reconfigure the zoning of the targets coupled to the SAS expander based on the zone configuration rules and to allow initiators access to the targets coupled to the SAS expander. | 10-02-2014 |
20140325101 | DETERMINING A LOOP SET IDENTIFYING PORTS OF A ROUTING MODULE CONNECTED IN A STORAGE FABRIC LOOP - Examples disclosed herein relate to determining a loop set identifying ports of a routing module connected in a storage fabric loop. Examples include discovering at least a portion of a topology of a storage fabric comprising the routing module and a storage fabric loop including the routing module, determining a loop set identifying a plurality of ports of the routing module that are connected in the storage fabric loop, selecting one of the ports identified in the loop set, and indicating to a storage controller that no storage fabric component is connected to the routing module via the selected port. | 10-30-2014 |
20140351208 | STORAGE SYSTEM DEVICE MANAGEMENT - This document describes, in various implementations, features related to receiving, at a storage system that includes a storage volume and a plurality of storage devices that operate separately from the storage volume, read requests directed to data stored on the storage volume. The document also describes replicating certain data stored on the storage volume to the storage devices such that read requests associated with the certain data are fulfilled either by the storage volume or by the storage devices. The document also describes determining first usage information that is indicative of actual or expected usage of the storage system at a first time, and powering down at least one of the storage devices based on the first usage information. | 11-27-2014 |