Methods and systems for an intelligent storage adapter used for both SAN and local storage access
View Patent ↗An adapter for processing requests from a computing device is provided. The adapter includes a processor executing: a storage protocol driver for interfacing with a storage protocol controller that communicates with a storage device of a storage area network (SAN) via a port for providing SAN connectivity to the adapter; and a storage driver for interfacing with a solid state storage device managed by the adapter and available to the computing device as a local caching device.
1. An adapter for processing requests from a computing device, comprising:
a processor executing:
a storage protocol driver for interfacing with a storage protocol controller of the adapter that communicates with a storage device of a storage area network (SAN) via a port for providing SAN connectivity to the adapter for processing input/output requests using the SAN storage device; and
a storage driver for interfacing with a solid state storage device of the adapter configured as a local caching device for caching data on behalf of the computing device and also operating as a persistent storage device for storing information.
2. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the processor executes a caching module that manages a logical entity that is based on storage space at the solid storage device and used as a cache logical unit number (LUN) for caching data on behalf of a SAN LUN based on storage space at the SAN storage device.
3. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the processor executes a bridge application module that interfaces with a thin provisioning module for storing data locally at the solid state storage device by interfacing with the storage driver.
4. The adapter of claim 3 , wherein the adapter uses the storage protocol controller to operate as a host bus adapter.
5. The adapter of claim 3 , wherein the bridge application module interfaces with a cluster communication module that communicates with another adapter for sending and receiving information.
6. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the processor executes an endpoint driver for interfacing with an adapter driver executed by the computing device.
7. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the processor executes a handler module for processing application control blocks that are generated for any non-input/output commands received from an application executed by the computing device.
8. The adapter of claim 7 , wherein the handler module interfaces with a bridge application module for processing the application control blocks.
9. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the storage driver interfaces with a RAID module and a SCSI module for storing data at the solid state storage device.
10. The adapter of claim 1 , wherein the storage protocol driver is a Fibre Channel driver and the storage protocol controller is a Fibre Channel controller.
11. An adapter for processing requests from a computing device, comprising:
a processor executing:
a storage protocol driver for interfacing with a storage protocol controller of the adapter that communicates with a storage device of a storage area network (SAN) via a port for providing SAN connectivity to the adapter for processing input/output requests using the SAN storage device;
a storage driver for interfacing with a solid state storage device of the adapter configured as a local caching device for caching data on behalf of the computing device and also operating as a persistent storage device for storing information; and
a bridge application module that interfaces with a thin provisioning module for storing data locally at the solid state storage device; and interfaces with a cluster communication module that communicates with another adapter for sending and receiving information.
12. The adapter of claim 11 , wherein the processor executes a caching module that manages a logical entity that is based on storage space at the solid storage device and used as a cache logical unit number (LUN) for caching data on behalf of a SAN LUN based on storage space at the SAN storage device.
13. The adapter of claim 11 , wherein the processor executes an endpoint driver for interfacing with an adapter driver executed by the computing device.
14. The adapter of claim 11 , wherein the processor executes a handler module for processing application control blocks that are generated for any non-input/output commands received from an application executed by the computing device.
15. The adapter of claim 11 , wherein the storage driver interfaces with a RAID module and a SCSI module for storing data at the solid state storage device.
16. The adapter of claim 11 , wherein the storage protocol driver is a Fibre Channel driver and the storage protocol controller is a Fibre Channel controller.
17. An adapter for processing requests from a computing device, comprising:
a processor executing:
an endpoint driver for interfacing with an adapter driver executed by the computing device;
a handler module for processing application control blocks that are generated for any non-input/output commands received from an application executed by the computing device;
a storage protocol driver for interfacing with a storage protocol controller of the adapter that communicates with a storage device of a storage area network (SAN) via a port for providing SAN connectivity to the adapter for processing input/output requests using the SAN storage device; and
a storage driver for interfacing with a solid state storage device of the adapter configured as a local caching device for caching data on behalf of the computing device and also operating as a persistent storage device for storing information; and
a bridge application module that interfaces with a thin provisioning module for storing data locally at the solid state storage device; and interfaces with a cluster communication module that communicates with another adapter for sending and receiving information.
18. The adapter of claim 17 , wherein the storage driver interfaces with a RAID module and a SCSI module for storing data at the solid state storage device.
19. The adapter of claim 17 , wherein the storage protocol driver is a Fibre Channel driver and the storage protocol controller is a Fibre Channel controller.
20. The adapter of claim 17 , wherein the processor executes a caching module that manages a logical entity that is based on storage space at the solid storage device and used as a cache logical unit number (LUN) for caching data on behalf of a SAN LUN based on storage space at the SAN storage device.