Patent · US Active

Systems and methods for load balancing storage system requests in a multi-path environment based on transfer speed of the multiple paths

US7839788B2 · kind B2 · utility

7Cited by
0References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMay 19, 2008
Grant dateNov 23, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 17, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L69/14
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Methods and systems for distributing I/O requests from a computer system to a storage system over multiple paths having non-homogeneous transfer speeds. A large I/O request is partitioned into a plurality of smaller I/O operations between a computer system and a storage system. The I/O operations are distributed over a plurality of communication paths coupling the computer system and the storage system. The distribution attempts to balance the load over the multiple paths based on the transfer speed of each path. In one embodiment, operations are distributed only to the highest speed paths presently operable. In another embodiment, an estimated completion time for an operation is determined for each path and a path with the lowest estimated completion time is selected to transfer the next operation.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.