Managing ownership of memory buffers (mbufs)
US8473693B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 29, 2003 |
| Grant date | Jun 25, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 25, 2027 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2205/064
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention provides techniques for managing ownership (i.e., control) of one or more memory buffer (mbuf) data structures within a network subsystem and a storage subsystem of a storage operating system implemented in a storage system. When the storage system receives data to be written to a storage medium, the network subsystem stores the received data in one or more variable-length chains of mbufs. Unlike conventional approaches, the received data is not subsequently copied out of the mbufs into fixed-sized data buffers for use by the storage subsystem. Instead, the storage subsystem can directly manipulate the received data stored in the mbufs. By eliminating the steps of copying data out of the mbufs and into fixed-sized data buffers, the invention reduces the amount of time and system resources consumed by the storage system when writing blocks of received data to disk storage.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.