Granted Patent B1

US 10,097,636 · App. 14/740,206 · Granted Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

Claims (103)

1. A data storage device docking station, comprising:

a plurality of serial bus connectors configured to couple with a plurality of standalone network-access storage (NAS) devices;

a controller, configured to couple to the plurality of standalone NAS devices, the controller further configured to:

identify a master data storage device from the plurality of standalone NAS devices; and

communicate data between the plurality of standalone NAS devices based on commands from the master data storage device;

a serial bus switch coupled to the plurality of serial bus connectors, the serial bus switch configured to communicate data between the plurality of standalone NAS devices based on one or more commands transmitted by the master data storage device;

a plurality of docking bays, wherein each docking bay of the plurality of docking bays is configured to receive a NAS device from the plurality of standalone NAS devices and wherein each docking bay of the plurality of docking bays comprises a serial bus connector from the plurality of serial bus connectors; and

a direct memory access (DMA) controller configured to:

receive data from a first NAS device of the plurality of standalone NAS devices; and

write the data to a memory of a second NAS device of the plurality of standalone NAS devices based on the one or more commands received from the master data storage device.

2. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the second NAS device comprises at least one of volatile and non-volatile memory.

3. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , wherein the master data storage device is configured to control transfers of data between the plurality of standalone NAS devices.

4. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

determine that the master data storage device is inoperable; and

identify a new master data storage device from the plurality of standalone NAS devices.

5. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of serial bus connectors comprises a set of peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) connectors.

6. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more power connectors configured to:

receive power from one or more power sources; and

provide the power to the plurality of standalone NAS devices.

7. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , further comprising:

a set of direct access interfaces coupled to the controller.

8. A standalone network attached storage (NAS) device, comprising:

a network access interface;

a serial bus connector configured to couple with a data storage device docking station, the data storage device docking station comprising:

a plurality of docking bays for receiving a plurality of standalone NAS devices,

wherein each docking bay comprises a receiving serial bus connector,

wherein the data storage device docking station is configured to receive the standalone NAS device and one or more additional standalone NAS devices;

a non-volatile memory; and

a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory, the controller configured to:

determine whether the standalone NAS device is to operate in a master mode or a slave mode;

consequent to determining to operate in the master mode:

control communication of data between the standalone NAS device and the one or more additional standalone NAS devices; and

cause data to be written to a memory of a second NAS device of the plurality of standalone NAS devices; and

consequent to determining to operate in the slave mode:

communicate data with the one or more additional NAS devices; and

write data to the non-volatile memory based on one or more commands transmitted by a master standalone NAS device.

9. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

consequent to determining to operate in the master mode:

receive redundant array of independent disks (RAID) configuration data; and

configure the standalone NAS device and the one or more additional standalone NAS devices to operate in a RAID level based on the RAID configuration data.

10. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to control the communication of data by:

receiving, while operating in the master mode, a first message indicating that a second NAS device has received a first data;

determining that the first data is to be transferred to a different NAS device; and

causing the first data to be transferred to the different NAS device via a serial bus switch of the data storage device docking station.

11. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to control the communication of data by:

receiving, while operating in the master mode, a request from a computing device to read a first data;

determining that the first data is located in the second NAS device; and

causing the second NAS device to provide the first data to the computing device.

12. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to control the communication of data by:

receiving a first data while operating in the master mode;

determining that the first data is to be stored in the second NAS device; and

causing the first data to be transferred to the second NAS device.

13. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to control the communication of data by:

receiving, while operating in the master mode, a first message indicating that the second NAS device has received a request for a first data;

determining that the first data is stored in a different NAS device; and

causing the first data to be transferred to the second NAS device.

14. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate data by:

receiving first data while operating in the slave mode;

transmitting a first message, indicating that the first data has been received, to the master standalone NAS device;

receiving a second message indicating that the first data is to be transferred to the second NAS device; and

transferring the first data to the second NAS device via the serial bus connector.

15. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to communicate data by:

receiving, while operating in the slave mode, a request for a first data from a computing device;

transmitting a first message, indicating that the request has been received, to the master standalone NAS device;

receiving the first data from the second NAS device via the serial bus connector; and

providing the first data to the computing device.

16. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to determine whether to operate in the master mode or the slave mode by:

receiving a first message indicating the master mode or the slave mode from the data storage device docking station.

17. The standalone NAS device of claim 8 , wherein the serial bus connector comprises a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) connector.

18. A method, comprising:

coupling a standalone network-access storage (NAS) device to a data storage device docking station, the data storage device docking station comprising:

a plurality of docking bays for receiving a plurality of standalone NAS devices,

wherein each docking bay comprises a serial bus connector,

wherein the data storage device docking station is configured to receive the standalone NAS device and one or more additional standalone NAS devices;

determining whether the NAS device is to operate in a master mode or a slave mode;

consequent to determining to operate in the master mode:

controlling communication of data between the NAS device and the one or more additional standalone NAS devices; and

causing data to be written to a memory of a second NAS device of the plurality of standalone NAS devices; and

consequent to determining to operate in the slave mode:

communicating data with the one or more additional standalone NAS devices; and

writing data to a memory of the standalone NAS based on one or more commands transmitted by a master NAS device.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of serial bus connectors configured to couple with a plurality of standalone network-access storage (NAS) devices, the plurality of standalone NAS devices comprising:

a plurality of network interfaces configured to substantially simultaneously communicate data with one or more networks; and

a plurality of controllers configured to substantially simultaneously process the data;

a plurality of docking bays for receiving the plurality of standalone NAS devices, each docking bay comprising a receiving serial bus connector from the plurality of serial bus connectors;

a first controller, configured to couple to the plurality of standalone NAS devices, the first controller configured to:

identify a master NAS device from the plurality of standalone NAS devices; and

communicate data between the plurality of standalone NAS devices based on commands from the master NAS device;

a serial bus switch coupled to the plurality of serial bus connectors, the serial bus switch configured to communicate data between the plurality of standalone NAS devices based on one or more commands transmitted by the master NAS device; and

a direct memory access (DMA) controller configured to:

receive data from a first NAS device of the plurality of standalone NAS devices; and

write the data to a memory of a second NAS device of the plurality of standalone NAS devices based on the one or more commands received from the master NAS device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the first controller is further configured to:

determine that the master NAS device is inoperable; and

identify a new master NAS device from the plurality of standalone NAS devices.

21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

determining that the master NAS device is inoperable; and

identifying a new master NAS device from the plurality of standalone NAS devices.

22. The data storage device docking station of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

receive redundant array of independent disks (RAID) configuration data from the master data storage device; and

transmit the RAID configuration data to the one or more additional standalone NAS devices.

Assignments (13)