System and method to failover storage area network targets from one interface to another
US7127633B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 28, 2002 |
| Grant date | Oct 24, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 27, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F11/2092
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A fiber channel storage area network (SAN) provides virtualized storage space for a number of servers to a number of virtual disks implemented on various virtual redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) devices striped across a plurality of physical disk drives. The SAN includes plural controllers and communication paths to allow for fail-safe and fail-over operation. The plural controllers can be loosely-coupled to provide n-way redundancy and have more than one independent channel for communicating with one another. In the event of a failure involving a controller or controller interface, the virtual disks that are accessed via the affected interfaces are re-mapped to another interface in order to continue to provide high data availability. In particular, those targets, or virtual disks, which are owned by a failed device (e.g., interface or controller) are identified and their ownership information within the SAN configuration tables is revised to reflect one or more alternative devices which act as back-up devices.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.