Intelligent Storage Adapter SSD Caching SAN Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current network communication systems face challenges in efficiently managing and accessing storage data across multiple computing devices, particularly in providing seamless integration and synchronization between local storage devices and storage area networks (SANs), leading to inefficiencies in data retrieval and storage operations.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of an intelligent storage adapter (ISA) that acts as a host bus adapter and storage controller, enabling transparent data caching at solid-state storage devices (SSDs) while synchronizing data with SAN-based storage devices, and allowing SSDs to be shared across servers, thereby managing storage space and providing traditional SAN connectivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If data is stored and accessed across multiple servers in a SAN environment, then data availability and sharing capability are improved, but data access efficiency and retrieval speed deteriorate due to network overhead and multiple buffering operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by caching data blocks from SAN storage on local SSDs of participating servers before they are actually needed. The cache manager proactively identifies frequently accessed data blocks and pre-loads them into local cache, so when a server needs the data, it can be retrieved immediately from local SSD rather than going through the SAN network, thus improving data access speed while maintaining multi-server availability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary caching layer (local SSDs with cache manager) between the SAN storage and the servers. This intermediary captures data requests, serves frequently accessed data from local cache, and only accesses the SAN when necessary. The intermediary reduces network traffic and data access latency while maintaining the centralized storage benefits of SAN, thus resolving the contradiction between data sharing and access speed
2Ease of operation
If traditional SAN connectivity is used for storage access, then centralized storage management is achieved, but data retrieval speed and operation efficiency worsen due to network dependencies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the centralized SAN storage into distributed cache segments across multiple servers. Each server maintains a local SSD cache that holds portions of the centralized storage data. The cache manager segments data access operations into local cache hits (fast) and SAN accesses (slow), allowing centralized management to be maintained while significantly improving data retrieval speed for frequently accessed data through local segmentation
3Reliability
If multiple buffering operations are performed for data transfer between SAN and servers, then data synchronization is improved, but operation complexity and time consumption worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the time-consuming multiple buffering operations from the critical data access path. Instead of requiring multiple buffer copies between SAN and servers, the system extracts this function by implementing a single buffering operation from SAN to local SSD cache, then serving subsequent requests directly from the cache without additional buffering. This maintains data synchronization reliability while dramatically reducing time consumption for data transfer operations
Data Source
AI summary
Method and system for processing a read request are provided. The first adapter receives the read request from a client to read data using a logical object managed by a second adapter. The first adapter is configured to generate a vendor unique command descriptor block for the second adapter to obtain the data and write the data at a location specified by the read request. The second adapter is configured to retrieve the data from a storage location specified by the logical object and writing the data at the location specified by the read request; and notifies the first adapter after writing the data.