Transparent access to network attached devices
US6601101B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 15, 2000 |
| Grant date | Jul 29, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 15, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L67/1034
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention relates to transparent access to network attached devices, such as network attached storage devices, Web servers or database servers. In particular, the present invention provides hand-off protocols that are transparent to a network client, with the advantage that physical devices can be added to, replaced on or removed from a network without reconfiguring network clients or applications running applications at levels above the network clients. One aspect the present invention is a method for handing off TCP sessions in a system including a client in communication with a switch and to or more devices. This method includes determining in the first device that a handoff should take place, identifying a second device to take over the session, sending handoff messages to and receiving an acknowledgment from the second device, and reporting the handoff to and receiving an acknowledgment from the switch. The devices applying this method may be disk drives, Web servers, database servers or any other device that benefits from being clustered. A device according to the present invention may comprise: a switch including logic for routing messages among a client and a pl…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.