RDMA Connection Management in Distributed Storage

The patent segments the connection management by introducing a connection manager component that divides the system into client processes, server processes, and a dedicated connection manager. This segmentation allows the connection manager to handle QP allocation and connection establishment centrally, reducing the burden on individual server nodes and enabling scalable system growth without hitting QP limits on each node.

The connection manager acts as an intermediary between client processes and server processes. It establishes connections on behalf of clients to server nodes, manages QP resources centrally, and coordinates communication between nodes. This intermediary approach reduces the number of direct QP connections needed between all node pairs, as the connection manager handles connection multiplexing and resource allocation efficiently.

The patent implements local quality by allowing different parts of the system to use different communication mechanisms. Direct RDMA connections are maintained between client and server processes where needed, while the connection manager uses appropriate protocols for connection establishment and management. This selective approach preserves RDMA performance benefits for data transmission while using standardized protocols only for connection control plane operations.

The connection manager serves as an intermediary that handles connection establishment, QP allocation, and coordination without interfering with the high-performance RDMA data path. It manages the control plane operations separately from the data plane, allowing RDMA technology to maintain its performance benefits for actual data transmission while the intermediary handles connection management overhead.