System and method for peer-to-peer accelerated I/O shipping between host bus adapters in clustered computer network
US6173374A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 11, 1998 |
| Grant date | Jan 9, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 11, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L67/1001
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention retrieves data across independent computer nodes of a server cluster by providing for I/O shipping of block level requests to peer intelligent host-bus adapters (hereinafter referred to as HBA). This peer-to-peer distribution of block I/O requests is transparent to the host. The HBA has the intelligence to decide whether to satisfy a block I/O request locally or remotely. Each HBA driver utilizes the I.sub.2 O protocol, which allows peer-to-peer communication independent of the operating system or hardware of the underlying network. In a first embodiment of the present invention, local and remote storage channels, within a node, are supported by a single HBA. In a second embodiment of the present invention, local storage channels, within a node, are supported by one HBA, and the remote storage channel, within a node, is supported by a separate HBA.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.