Apparatus, system, and method for distributed management in a storage system
US7136972B2 · kind B2 · utility
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 2, 2004 |
| Grant date | Nov 14, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 5, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0671
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for distributed management in a storage system. The invention distributes increasingly complex storage management tasks to a message management module, a drive management module, a cache management module, and an interface management module to control operations of one or more storage devices, without depending on the availability of a “super” microprocessor. Furthermore, the invention provides for efficient inter-module communication through point-to-point passing of asynchronous queued messages and use of a centralized input/output context memory, such that all said modules may work in parallel independently and cooperatively, optimizing storage input/output performance at a reduced cost.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.