Method and apparatus for offloading network processes in a computer storage system
US7937474B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 30, 2008 |
| Grant date | May 3, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 14, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L69/18
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system and method for offloading network processes from main processors of a storage system and performing them on parallel processing modules. Embodiments of the present invention improve performance of a clustered storage system by performing certain network processes in an accelerator module of a storage system node. The accelerator module receives multi-protocol protocol data units (PDUs) from a network interface, performs protocol operations on the PDUs to form file system requests and passes the file system requests to a local D-module. If a file system request is directed to a non-local D-module in the cluster, the accelerator module repackages the request for transmission to the appropriate D-module and passes it back to the network without using local D-module processing resources or passing data over the system bus.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.