Disk system adapted to be directly attached to network
A network-attached disk (NAD) system is disclosed that includes an NAD device for receiving a disk access command from a host through a network, and a device driver at the host for controlling the NAD device through the network, where the device driver creates a virtual host bus adapter so that the host recognizes the NAD device as if it is a local device to the host. The host may run the UNIX or Windows family of operating systems. The NAD device includes a disk for storing data, a disk controller for controlling the disk, and a network adapter for receiving a disk access command from the host through a network port.
1. A network-attached device (NAD) access system wherein a host, having an internal host system bus and running an operating system, controls an external device through a carrying general-purpose network traffic using a certain network protocol, the system comprising:
a network interface card (NIC) installed at the host for providing a general purpose network connection between the host and the network and via the network to other devices coupled to the network;
a network-attached device (NAD) having a data storage to store data, the NAD coupled to the network for receiving device level access commands from the host in data link frames according to the certain network protocol through the network; and
a device driver, running at the host, for creating a virtual host bus adapter in software controlling the NAD through the network via the NIC, the device driver enumerating NAD that are available over the network, not directly attached to the host internal system bus, to make the host recognize the NAD as a host local device;
the virtual host bus adapter controlling the NAD in a way indistinguishable from the way as a physical host bus adapter device controls device so that the host recognizes the NAD as if it is a local device connected directly to the system bus of the host.
2. The NAD system of claim 1 , wherein the network is a wired network.
3. The NAD system of claim 1 , wherein the network is a wireless network.
4. The NAD system of claim 1 , wherein the NIC is an Ethernet card.
5. The NAD system of claim 1 , wherein the operating system is the UNIX family of operating systems.
6. The NAD system of claim 5 , wherein the device driver comprises a device file and device driver routines for the device driver to register the device driver to the host.
7. The NAD system of claim 6 , further comprising a device accessing thread for accessing the NAD device.
8. The NAD system of claim 6 , further comprising a device searching thread for searching for a device attached to the network.
9. The NAD system of claim 6 , further comprising a network connection setting thread for making a connection between the device driver and the NAD device.
10. The NAD system of claim 6 , wherein the NAD disk further comprises a plurality of individual disk partitions.
11. The NAD system of claim 10 , wherein the device driver comprises a plurality of individual device drivers, each individual device driver for controlling the individual disk partition whereby each individual disk partition is accessed as an independent local disk.
12. The NAD system of claim 10 , wherein the device driver comprises a plurality of individual partitions, each driver partition for controlling each individual disk partition.
13. The NAD system of claim 1 , further comprising a second NAD device, a second device driver, and a unified device driver combining the device driver and the second device driver so that the NAD device and the second NAD device are recognized as logically a single local device.
14. The NAD system of claim 1 , wherein the driver includes: a bus driver for creating the virtual host adapter to access the NAD device as fit is a local device connected directly to the system bus of the host; and a port driver for communicating the disk access command from the host to the NAD device through a network port.
15. The NAD system of claim 14 , wherein the operating system is the Windows family of operating systems.
16. The NAD system of claim 1 , wherein the NAD device further comprises:
a disk controller for controlling the disk; and
a network adapter for receiving the disk access command through the network.
17. The NAD system of claim 16 , wherein said one or more disks are formatted as local disks.
18. The NAD system of claim 16 , further comprising a filter program providing a utility function.
19. The NAD system of claim 18 , wherein the utility function includes the function of controlling sharing of access among multiple hosts.
20. The NAD system of claim 18 , wherein the utility function includes the function of controlling transfer of access right of one host to another.
21. The NAD system of claim 18 , wherein the utility function includes the function of providing automatic back-up of the NAD device.
22. The NAD system of claim 18 , wherein the utility function includes the function of controlling access to the NAD device.