IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,405,566
Granted Patent B2
US 9,405,566 · App. 13/902,482 · Granted Aug 2, 2016

Access to storage resources using a virtual storage appliance

Inventors: Gaurav Chawla (Austin, TX); Michael Karl Molloy (Round Rock, TX); Robert Wayne Hormuth (Cedar Park, TX)
Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
G06F9/45533G06F9/45558G06F13/36G06F21/00G06F2009/45579
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,405,566
App. No.
13/902,482
Filed
May 24, 2013
Granted
Aug 2, 2016
Kind
B2
Examiner
DANG, KHANH
Art Unit
2185
USPC
710/306
Abstract

Methods and systems for improved access to storage resources include installing a virtual storage appliance as a virtual machine on a hypervisor. The virtual storage appliance installs itself as a virtual PCI-E device and communicates with guest operating systems of the hypervisor using direct memory access via a PCI-E non-transparent bridge. The storage virtual appliance provides access to local and external storage resources with very high performance to applications running under the guest operating system, thereby overcoming performance barriers associated with native hypervisor driver models.

Claims (55)

1. A method executed by at least one processor comprising:

loading a storage virtual appliance as a first virtual machine on a hypervisor;

installing the storage virtual appliance as a PCI-E device having access to a first port of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) non-transparent bridge (NTB) that supports direct memory access (DMA);

responsive to detecting, by the hypervisor, that the storage virtual appliance is installed as a PCI-E device, loading a storage virtual appliance block device driver for the storage virtual appliance, wherein the storage virtual appliance block device driver has access to a second port of the PCI-E non-transparent bridge; and

using the storage virtual appliance, enabling a guest operating system executing as a second virtual machine on the hypervisor to access storage resources, wherein the storage virtual appliance communicates with the guest operating system via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge (NTB).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage virtual appliance is loaded as a virtual PCI-E device in a system address space of the hypervisor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hypervisor executes on a multiprocessor system, and wherein the PCI-E non-transparent bridge spans across at least two processors in the multiprocessor system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading the storage virtual appliance on the hypervisor further comprises:

discovering, at the storage virtual appliance block device driver, the storage resources enabled for access by the storage virtual appliance; and

reporting the storage resources to the guest operating system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of guest operating systems executing as respective virtual machines under the hypervisor are provided access to the storage resources via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge using the storage virtual appliance.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage resources comprise at least one of:

a cache network shared among a plurality of multiprocessor servers, including the multiprocessor server;

a storage area network;

a flash memory solid state device;

a storage resource accessed using remote direct memory access; and

an array of storage devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein access by the guest operating system to the storage resources comprises access to the storage resources by an application executing on the guest operating system, and wherein the application accesses the storage resources via a virtual file system that includes the storage virtual appliance block device driver supporting access to the storage virtual appliance via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge.

8. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, that, when executed by a processor subsystem, cause the processor subsystem to:

load a storage virtual appliance as a first virtual machine on a hypervisor;

install the storage virtual appliance as a PCI-E device having access to a first port of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) non-transparent bridge (NTB) that supports direct memory access (DMA);

responsive to detection, by the hypervisor, that the storage virtual appliance is installed as a PCI-E device, load a storage virtual appliance block device driver for the storage virtual appliance, wherein the storage virtual appliance block device driver has access to a second port of the PCI-E non-transparent bridge; and

using the storage virtual appliance, enable a guest operating system executing as a second virtual machine on the hypervisor to access storage resources, wherein the storage virtual appliance communicates with the guest operating system via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge (NTB).

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the storage virtual appliance is loaded as a virtual PCI-E device in a system address space of the hypervisor.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the processor subsystem comprises a plurality of processors that execute the hypervisor, and wherein the PCI-E non-transparent bridge spans across at least two processors in the plurality of processors.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the instructions that cause the processor subsystem to load the storage virtual appliance on the hypervisor further comprise instructions to cause the processor subsystem to:

discover, within the storage virtual appliance block device driver, the storage resources enabled for access by the storage virtual appliance; and

report the storage resources to the guest operating system.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein a plurality of guest operating systems executing as respective virtual machines under the hypervisor are provided access to the storage resources via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge using the storage virtual appliance.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the storage resources comprise at least one of:

a cache network shared among a plurality of multiprocessor servers, including the multiprocessor server;

a storage area network;

a flash memory solid state device;

a storage resource accessed using remote direct memory access; and

an array of storage devices.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein access by the guest operating system to the storage resources comprises access to the storage resources by an application executing on the guest operating system, and wherein the application accesses the storage resources via a virtual file system that includes the storage virtual appliance block device driver supporting access to the storage virtual appliance via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge.

15. An information handling system comprising:

a processor subsystem having access to a memory subsystem, wherein the memory subsystem stores instructions executable by the processor subsystem, that, when executed by the processor subsystem, cause the processor subsystem to:

load a storage virtual appliance as a first virtual machine on a hypervisor;

install the storage virtual appliance as a PCI-E device having access to a first port of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) non-transparent bridge (NTB) that supports direct memory access (DMA);

responsive to detection, by the hypervisor, that the storage virtual appliance is installed as a PCI-E device, load a storage virtual appliance block device driver for the storage virtual appliance, wherein the storage virtual appliance block device driver has access to a second port of the PCI-E non-transparent bridge; and

using the storage virtual appliance, enable a guest operating system executing as a second virtual machine on the hypervisor to access storage resources, wherein the storage virtual appliance communicates with the guest operating system via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge (NTB).

16. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the storage virtual appliance is loaded as a virtual PCI-E device in a system address space of the hypervisor.

17. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the processor subsystem comprises a plurality of processors that execute the hypervisor, and wherein the PCI-E non-transparent bridge spans across at least two processors in the plurality of processors.

18. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions that cause the processor subsystem to load the storage virtual appliance on the hypervisor further comprise instructions to cause the processor subsystem to:

discover, within the storage virtual appliance block device driver, the storage resources enabled for access by the storage virtual appliance; and

report the storage resources to the guest operating system.

19. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein a plurality of guest operating systems executing as respective virtual machines under the hypervisor are provided access to the storage resources via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge using the storage virtual appliance.

20. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the storage resources comprise at least one of:

a cache network shared among a plurality of multiprocessor servers, including the multiprocessor server;

a storage area network;

a flash memory solid state device;

a storage resource accessed using remote direct memory access; and

an array of storage devices.

21. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein access by the guest operating system to the storage resources comprises access to the storage resources by an application executing on the guest operating system, and wherein the application accesses the storage resources via a virtual file system that includes the storage virtual appliance block device driver supporting access to the storage virtual appliance via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge.

Assignments (15)
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 (045455/0001) Recorded May 20, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061753/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (040136/0001) Recorded Apr 26, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061324/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 3, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL, L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 058216/0001 →
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 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040134/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040136/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 14, 2016
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 040040/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 14, 2016
From: BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 040065/0618 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 13, 2016
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; COMPELLANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 040065/0216 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (ABL) Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: DELL INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; BOOMI, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL USA L.P.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; GALE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 031898/0001 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (TERM LOAN) Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: DELL INC.; APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; BOOMI, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL USA L.P.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; GALE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 031899/0261 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT (NOTES) Recorded Jan 2, 2014
From: APPASSURE SOFTWARE, INC.; ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; BOOMI, INC.; COMPELLENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INC.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL USA L.P.; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; GALE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION; SECUREWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS FIRST LIEN COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 031897/0348 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 24, 2013
From: CHAWLA, GAURAV; MOLLOY, MICHAEL KARL; HORMUTH, ROBERT WAYNE
To: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.
Reel/Frame 030485/0102 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20140351809A1 · Nov 27, 2014