Data Transfer Device Storage Segmentation Fault Tolerance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional data storage devices face challenges in achieving high-speed responses for large storage capacities and are vulnerable to storage failures, which can lead to decreased responsiveness and server downtime.
Innovation Solution
A data transfer device with a storage controller, correspondence information manager, and invalid storage manager that selectively allocates data storage across multiple storages, inhibits access to failed storages, and uses a key-value store protocol to manage data location and response messages, ensuring high-speed responses and fault tolerance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If data is stored in a high-capacity DRAM to achieve high-speed response, then response speed is improved, but device cost and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage system into multiple storage devices (S1, S2, S3, etc.) distributed across different physical locations. Data is divided into segments and stored across these multiple devices, allowing the system to achieve high-speed response for frequently accessed data while distributing the storage burden across many smaller, more cost-effective storage units rather than requiring one large high-capacity DRAM.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of data management through the key-value store protocol and correspondence information manager. Instead of relying solely on physical proximity in DRAM for speed, the system uses a logical addressing layer (keys) that maps to physical storage locations, enabling fast retrieval through intelligent routing and caching strategies without requiring all data to reside in high-capacity DRAM.
2Reliability
If data is stored in a single storage device, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to vulnerability to storage failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the storage system into multiple independent storage devices (S1, S2, S3, etc.), each capable of storing data segments. This segmentation provides redundancy and fault tolerance - if one storage device fails, data can be retrieved from other devices. The correspondence information manager tracks which data segments are located on which devices, enabling reliable data retrieval despite individual device failures.
Solution Approach 2:
The correspondence information manager acts as an intermediary between the client and the distributed storage devices. It maintains the mapping between keys and storage locations, and between keys and invalid storage identifiers. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity of distributed storage management from the client, providing a simple key-based interface while handling the complexity of locating and retrieving data from multiple storage devices.
3Reliability
If the system accesses data from failed storage, then data retrieval may occur, but harmful factors increase due to access inhibition and service degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by maintaining correspondence information that identifies invalid or failed storage devices before data access attempts. The correspondence information manager keeps track of which storage devices are non-functional and prevents access to them in advance. This preliminary identification and exclusion of failed storage devices avoids wasted access attempts and potential system errors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the correspondence information manager receives information about storage device status and updates its mapping accordingly. When storage devices are added, removed, or fail, the system receives feedback about these changes and adjusts the key-to-storage mappings to reflect the current state, ensuring that future data access requests are directed only to functional storage devices.
Data Source
AI summary
In a data transfer device that communicates with a communication device via a network, the storage controller controls reading data from and writing data to a plurality of storages. The correspondence information manager manages correspondence information manager to manage correspondence information between data written by the storage controller and a storage to which the data is written. The storage manager manages an invalid storage being a storage that the storage controller failed to read or write data. The communicator receives an acquisition request message for data from the communication device. The specifier specifies a storage storing the data requested, according to the correspondence information. The reader requests the storage controller to read the data from the storage specified by the specifier when the storage does is not the invalid storage, and not to request the storage controller to read the data when the storage is the invalid storage.