IP Library Granted Patent US 10,635,348
Granted Patent B2
US 10,635,348 · App. 15/846,798 · Granted Apr 28, 2020

Storage system and method for storage control

Inventors: Lifeng Yang (Beijing, CN); Xinlei Xu (Beijing, CN); Jian Gao (Beijing, CN); Yousheng Liu (Beijing, CN); Ruiyong Jia (Beijing, CN)
Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
G06F3/0659G06F3/061G06F3/0604G06F3/0688G06F3/0689G06F12/0866G06F2212/1008G06F2212/154G06F2212/214G06F2212/263G06F2212/312
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,635,348
App. No.
15/846,798
Granted
Apr 28, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

A storage system and a method for storage control comprises a host device and a switch, and the switch supports remote direct memory access (RDMA). The storage system further comprises a first and second storage control modules, the first storage control module includes a first cache and the second storage control module includes a second cache. The host device, the first and second storage control modules are interconnected via the switch, and the first storage control module is capable of synchronizing the cached data with the second storage control module via the switch. The storage system further comprises a storage array connected to the first and second storage control modules.

Claims (62)

1. A storage system, comprising:

a host device;

a switch enabling remote direct memory access (RDMA);

a first storage control module including a first cache, the first storage control module being configured to:

receive data (hereinafter “received data”) from the host device via the switch using RDMA and

cache the received data to the first cache, yielding cached data;

a second storage control module including a second cache, the host device and the first and second storage control modules being interconnected via the switch, and the first storage control module being configured to synchronize the cached data with the second storage control module via the switch; and

a storage array connected to the first and second storage control modules.

2. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage system further comprises:

an Ethernet switch via which the host device and the first and second storage control modules are further interconnected; and

a peripheral component interconnect Express (PCIe) bus via which the first and second storage control modules are interconnected.

3. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage system further comprises:

a third storage control module being geographically remote from the first storage control module and being able to synchronize the cached data with the first storage control module via the switch.

4. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the first storage control module further includes a first solid state disk (SSD) array, the second storage control module further includes a second SSD array, and the first SSD array is able to synchronize data with the second SSD array via the switch.

5. The storage system according to claim 4 , wherein the first and second SSD arrays synchronize the data using a non-volatile memory Express (NVMe) protocol over the RDMA.

6. The storage system according to claim 4 , wherein the first storage control module further includes a first processing unit, and the host device is able to communicate, via the switch, data with the first cache by bypassing the first processing unit.

7. The storage system according to claim 6 , wherein the host device is further able to transmit, via the switch, data with the first SSD array by bypassing both the first processing unit and the first cache.

8. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the switch is an infiniband network switch.

9. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage system further comprises:

another host device interconnected with the host device and the first and second storage control modules via the switch.

10. The storage system of claim 1 wherein the storage array is directly connected to each of the first and second storage control nodes not via the switch.

11. A method for storage control, comprising:

at a first storage control module:

receiving data from a host device via a switch, the switch enabling remote direct memory access (RDMA);

caching the data to a first cache in the first storage control module;

sending the cached data to a second storage control module via the switch; and

writing the data into a storage array.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

at the first storage control module:

receiving a data packet from another host device via an Ethernet switch;

caching the data packet into the first cache;

sending the cached data packet to the second storage control module via a peripheral component interconnect Express (PCIe) bus; and

sending the data packet to the storage array.

13. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

at the first storage control module:

sending the cached data to a third storage control module via the switch, the third storage control module being geographically remote from the first storage control module.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the writing the data into the storage array comprises:

sending the data from the first cache to a first solid state disk (SSD) array in the first storage control module; and

sending the data from the first SSD array to the storage array.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the writing the data into the storage array further comprises:

sending the data from the first SSD array to a second SSD array in the second storage control module using a non-volatile memory Express (NVMe) protocol over the RDMA.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the receiving data from the host device via the switch comprises:

receiving, at the first cache, the data from the host device by bypassing a first processing unit in the first storage control module.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the receiving data from the host device via the switch further comprises:

receiving, at the first SSD array, the data from the host device by bypassing both the first processing unit and the first cache.

18. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the switch is an infiniband network switch.

19. A computer program product for storage control, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer-executable code, the code configured to enable the execution of:

at a first storage control module:

receiving data from a host device via a switch, the switch enabling remote direct memory access (RDMA);

caching the data to a first cache in the first storage control module;

sending the cached data to a second storage control module via the switch; and

writing the data into a storage array.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the code is further configured to enable the execution of:

at the first storage control module:

receiving a data packet from another host device via an Ethernet switch;

caching the data packet into the first cache;

sending the cached data packet to the second storage control module via a peripheral component interconnect Express (PCIe) bus; and

sending the data packet to the storage array.

21. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the code is further configured to enable the execution of:

at the first storage control module:

sending the cached data to a third storage control module via the switch, the third storage control module being geographically remote from the first storage control module.

Assignments (8)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053546/0001) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 071642/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (045482/0131) Recorded May 20, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.)
Reel/Frame 061749/0924 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST AT REEL 045482 FRAME 0395 Recorded Nov 2, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 058298/0314 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 22, 2020
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053546/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Mar 21, 2019
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 049452/0223 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (NOTES) Recorded Mar 1, 2018
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 045482/0131 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (CREDIT) Recorded Mar 1, 2018
From: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 045482/0395 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 10, 2018
From: YANG, LIFENG; XU, XINLEI; GAO, JIAN; LIU, YOUSHENG; JIA, RUIYONG
To: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 044586/0641 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 2016 1 1193454 · Dec 21, 2016 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20180173466A1 · Jun 21, 2018