Virtual Switch Emulation for Single Port Storage Redundancy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Single port storage devices lack redundancy and high availability, leading to high client latency and long failover times due to the need for manual intervention when a connected device fails, as they cannot support simultaneous access by multiple computing devices.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of dual port storage device emulation using multiple virtual switches in a switch, such as a four-port switch, to connect two single port storage devices, allowing for simultaneous access and failover without manual intervention by reconfiguring virtual switches to ensure continuous data access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a single port storage device is used, then device cost is reduced, but redundancy and high availability are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple single port storage devices with a multi-port switch to emulate the functionality of a dual port storage device. The switch aggregates the ports of multiple storage devices to present a unified interface, allowing one storage device to serve multiple hosts simultaneously through virtualization, thereby achieving redundancy and high availability without requiring expensive dual port hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtualized copy of the storage device interface through software emulation. By using virtual switches and virtual storage devices, the system replicates the dual port functionality of expensive hardware through software-based virtual instances, allowing multiple hosts to access storage through virtualized pathways without physical dual port devices.
2Device complexity
If a single port storage device is used, then device complexity is reduced, but failover time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring virtual switches and maintaining virtual connections before a failover event occurs. The system keeps virtual pathways established and ready, so when a host fails, the virtual switch can immediately redirect traffic to alternative storage devices without manual intervention or physical reconfiguration, thereby reducing failover time despite the added virtualization layer.
3Ease of operation
If a single port storage device is used, then ease of operation is improved, but client latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a multi-port switch as an intermediary between multiple single port storage devices and multiple hosts. This intermediary device manages the virtualized connections, routing I/O requests from hosts to appropriate storage devices through virtual pathways, thereby reducing client latency by providing parallel access paths while maintaining ease of operation through virtualized abstraction.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for dual port storage device emulation. A switch is configured with a first virtual switch to provide a first computing device with access a first single port device through a first port and a second port. The switch is configured with a second virtual switch to provide a second computing device with access to a second single port device through a third port and a fourth port. In response to determining that the first computing device has experienced a failure, the first virtual switch and the second virtual switch are reconfigured to provide the second computing device with access to the first single port device through the second port and access to the second single port device through the fourth port. The first computing device is disconnected from accessing the first single port device through the first virtual switch.