Data Storage System Shared Resource Redundancy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large data storage systems face challenges in maintaining maximum data bandwidth and minimizing system latency while ensuring redundancy to prevent total failure in case of component failure, particularly in magnetic disk storage systems.
Innovation Solution
A system interface with cache memory and directors interconnected through a packet switching network, featuring a common shared resource section for code and a redundant network to ensure continuity in case of failure, allowing for efficient data transfer between host computers/servers and disk drives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a common shared resource section is used to store code for multiple directors, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability deteriorates because a single point of failure can cause total system failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the system into separate functional domains: front-end directors handling host computer interfaces, back-end directors handling disk drive interfaces, and a shared resource section. This segmentation allows independent failure domains while maintaining overall system functionality through the packet switching network that can route around failures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements redundancy by providing backup directors that can assume the functions of failed directors. The system is designed with predetermined failover capabilities, cushioning against potential failures before they occur. This ensures continuous operation even when individual directors or the shared resource section experience failures.
2Speed
If cache memory is used to rapidly store and retrieve data, then data transfer speed is improved, but system cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements cache memory selectively at strategic locations within the storage system architecture, specifically where data transfer bottlenecks would occur. Rather than uniformly distributing cache across all components, the cache is placed locally at directors or storage units that benefit most from rapid data access, optimizing performance while controlling costs.
3Productivity
If maximum data bandwidth is pursued through increased system resources, then productivity improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs directors and storage units with multi-functional capabilities that can handle multiple types of operations and protocols. This universality allows the system to achieve high data bandwidth through efficient resource utilization rather than through brute-force addition of dedicated resources for each function, thereby maintaining productivity while controlling complexity.
4Speed
If system latency is minimized through direct connections, then speed improves, but reliability deteriorates due to lack of redundant paths
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic path selection through the packet switching network, which can adaptively route data packets based on current system conditions and failure states. This dynamic routing capability allows the system to maintain low latency by choosing optimal paths while simultaneously providing reliability through alternative paths when failures occur, resolving the contradiction between speed and fault tolerance.
Data Source
AI summary
A system interface having a plurality of directors, one portion of such directors being adapted for coupling to a host computer/server and another portion of the directors being adapted for coupling to a bank of disk drives. The plurality of directors are interconnected through a network. A common resource section is provided having a resource shared among the plurality of directors. The common shared resource section includes a shared computer code used by the plurality of directors. The code includes computer code for booting up each one of the plurality directors. The common shared code storage section is interconnected to the directors through the network. A second, redundant common shared resource section is provided. The network is a packet switching network.