Asynchronous discovery of initiators and targets in a storage fabric
US10534541B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 20, 2017 |
| Grant date | Jan 14, 2020 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 3, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2213/0026
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Method and apparatus for asynchronous discovery of processing and storage nodes coupled via an expander switch in a fabric. In some embodiments, an initiator device operates as a processing node to transfer data to and from a non-volatile memory (NVM) of a target device at a storage node. One of the initiator or target devices is activated prior to the other device. The second activated device broadcasts a discovery command responsive to the activation of the second activated device and prior to receipt of a request for the discovery command from the first activated device. The first activated device processes the discovery command to establish an I/O communication link between the first activated device and the second activated device. The discovery command may include a non-volatile memory express (NVMe) controller list, and the NVM may be arranged as one or more NVMe namespaces.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.