Application server blade for embedded storage appliance

1. A server blade, comprising:

a computer, having an input/output (I/O) port; and

an I/O interface controller, comprising:

an I/O port coupled via an I/O link to said I/O port of said computer, for transferring data therewith; and

a local bus interface, for interfacing to a local bus;

wherein the server blade comprises a field replaceable unit (FRU) including said computer and said I/O interface controller, configured to plug into a backplane comprising said local bus, thereby enabling data transfers with other FRUs coupled to said backplane;

wherein said I/O interface controller comprises a portion of a storage controller whose remaining portions are comprised in said other FRUs coupled to said backplane;

wherein said I/O interface controller is programmable via said local bus by a microprocessor of said storage controller to perform data transfers between said computer and storage devices controlled by said storage controller, wherein at least one of said other FRUs comprises said microprocessor.

2. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said storage controller comprises a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) controller.

3. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said I/O ports are capable of transferring at least approximately 40 Megabytes (MB) of data per second.

4. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said I/O ports comprise FibreChannel ports.

5. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said I/O ports comprise Ethernet ports.

6. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said I/O ports comprise ports conforming to the InfiniBand Architecture Specification Release 1.0.a of Jun. 19, 2001.

7. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said I/O ports comprise SCSI ports.

8. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said local bus comprises a PCI-X bus.

9. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said local bus comprises a PCI bus.

10. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said local bus comprises a PCI-Express bus.

11. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said local bus comprises a VME bus.

12. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said local bus comprises a bus conforming to the HyperTransport I/O Link Specification Revision 1.03 of Oct. 10, 2001.

13. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said local bus comprises a bus conforming to the RapidIO Interconnect Specification Rev. 1.2 of June 2002.

14. The server blade of claim 1 , further comprising:

a second I/O interface controller, comprising:

an I/O port coupled to said I/O port of said computer, for communication therewith; and

a local bus interface, for interfacing to a second local bus comprised in said backplane;

whereby said first and second I/O interface controllers enable data transfers with redundant FRUs coupled to said backplane via said first and second local buses.

15. The server blade of claim 14 , wherein said second I/O interface controller I/O port is coupled to a second I/O port of said computer.

16. The server blade of claim 1 , further comprising:

a port combiner, coupled to said computer I/O port and said I/O interface controller I/O port, for enabling data transfers therebetween;

a second interface controller, comprising:

an I/O port coupled to said port combiner, for communication with said computer I/O port; and

a local bus interface, for interfacing to a second local bus comprised in said backplane;

whereby said first and second I/O interface controllers enable data transfers with redundant FRUs coupled to said backplane via said first and second local buses.

17. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises:

a network interface, for interfacing the server blade with host computers via a network.

18. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said I/O link is etched in a printed circuit board comprising the server blade FRU.

19. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein the server blade is hot-pluggable into said backplane.

20. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises:

a non-volatile memory, for storing an operating system.

21. The server blade of claim 20 , wherein said non-volatile memory comprises a solid state memory.

22. The server blade of claim 21 , wherein said solid state memory comprises a single chip, solid-state Flash memory providing a disk drive interface.

23. The server blade of claim 20 , wherein said non-volatile memory comprises a 1-inch hard disk drive.

24. The server blade of claim 20 , wherein said operating system comprises an operating system compiled from a version of an open source operating system.

25. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises:

a non-volatile memory, for storing storage application software.

26. The server blade of claim 25 , wherein said storage application software comprises a data backup application.

27. The server blade of claim 25 , wherein said storage application software comprises a remote mirroring application.

28. The server blade of claim 25 , wherein said storage application software comprises a data snapshot application.

29. The server blade of claim 25 , wherein said storage application software comprises a storage virtualization application.

30. The server blade of claim 25 , wherein said storage application software comprises a file server application.

31. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises a diskless PC.

32. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises a central processing unit and a plurality of peripherals, wherein said plurality of peripherals conform to the peripherals of a personal computer.

33. The server blade of claim 1 , wherein said computer comprises a central processing unit and a plurality of peripherals, wherein said plurality of peripherals are mapped into an address space of said central processing unit conforming to the peripheral mappings of a personal computer.

34. The server blade of claim 1 , further comprising:

a port combiner, for coupling said computer I/O port and said I/O controller I/O port.

35. The server blade of claim 34 , wherein said port combiner comprises a FibreChannel hub.