Counter Manager Logical Layer for Storage Data Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
In networked data storage systems, direct access by data management agents to operational data within subsystems leads to inconsistencies and requires frequent interface changes when data formats change, complicating data management across multiple protocols.
Innovation Solution
A single logical layer, referred to as a counter manager, is introduced between logical subsystems and data management agents, exporting APIs to provide a unified interface for accessing operational data, ensuring consistency and simplifying data access across different protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If data management agents directly access operational data in subsystems, then data access is straightforward, but inconsistencies and inaccuracies occur as agents see different views of the same data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a counter manager as an intermediary component between data management agents and subsystems. The counter manager centralizes the collection and management of operational data from multiple subsystems, providing a single source of truth. Agents access data through the counter manager rather than directly from subsystems, ensuring all agents receive consistent data views and eliminating the inconsistency problem described in the contradiction.
2Adaptability or versatility
If each data management agent has its own interface to access subsystems, then agents can access data directly, but every time data format changes, each agent must change its interface accordingly
Solution Approach 1:
The counter manager serves as a standardized interface layer between agents and subsystems. It provides uniform access methods for all agents regardless of the underlying data formats or protocol changes in subsystems. When data formats change, only the counter manager needs to be updated, not the agents, thus maintaining agent simplicity while adapting to format changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The counter manager is designed as a universal interface that handles multiple data formats and protocols through a single standardized access method. It can manage counters from different subsystems with varying data formats, allowing agents to access all operational data through the same interface without needing protocol-specific code, thereby reducing interface maintenance complexity.
3Productivity
If multiple agents access operational data directly from subsystems, then data access is simple, but the system complexity increases as each agent requires its own access interface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the data access functionality of multiple agents into a single counter manager component. Instead of each agent having separate access interfaces to subsystems, all agents access operational data through the unified counter manager. This consolidation reduces system architecture complexity while maintaining efficient data access for all agents through a centralized management point.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and an apparatus to manage data in a networked storage server have been disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a single logical layer between a number of logical subsystems in a storage server and a number of data management agents in the storage server, wherein the data management agents are operable to service requests from a number of client machines following different data management protocols, and exporting a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) from the single logical layer to interface with the data management agents.