Abstract: This invention is a system and method for managing data in a secure manner in a data storage environment that is in communication with a network including an internet-based network. The system includes logic for securely managing internet client's access to data volumes stored on a data storage system, and may also include logic operating with a file server for providing dynamic access of data available to such clients in a secure fashion.

Abstract: A data management technique for managing accesses to data at a shared storage system includes a filter at the storage system. The filter is coupled to a configuration table, which identifies which of a number of coupled host processors have accesses to each of the resources at the device. During operation, requests received from the host devices are filtered by the filter, and only those requests to resources that the individual host devices have privilege to access are serviced. Advantageously, data security is further enhanced by authenticating each of the requests received by the storage system to verify that the host processor that is represented as forwarding the request is the indicated host processor. In addition, transfers of data between the storage system and the host processor may be validated to ensure that data was not corrupted during the data transfer.

Abstract: This invention is a system and for managing data in a secure manner in a data storage environment that is in communication with a network including an internet-based network. The system includes computer-executable logic or software for securely managing internet client's access to data volumes stored on a data storage system, and may also include logic operating with a file server for providing dynamic access of data available to such client's in a secure fashion.

Abstract: Described are techniques for selective data replication. Cached data is replicated if it is characterized as critical. Critical data may include data associated with a write I/O operation. Cache locations are selected for replicated data so that a first location is mapped to a first memory board and a second location is mapped to a second memory board. Data for a read operation is not replicated in cache. Other non-cache data that is critical and thus replicated includes metadata. Cache locations for data of read and write I/O operations are selected dynamically at the time the I/O operation is made from the same pool of cache locations.

Abstract: A common device interface for facilitating communication exchanges between physical transport drivers and higher-level software emulations. The common device interface is defined by an input/output control block (IOCB) data structure that allows those portions of different emulations and physical transport drivers that interact with each other to be generic. Thus, the emulation need not know or be concerned with the underlying characteristics of the type of physical transport driver with which it is communicating.

Abstract: A data management technique for managing accesses to data at a shared storage system includes a filter at the storage system. The filter is coupled to a configuration table, which identifies which of a number of coupled host processors have accesses to each of the resources at the device. During operation, requests received from the host devices are filtered by the filter, and only those requests to resources that the individual host devices have privilege to access are serviced. Advantageously, data security is further enhanced by authenticating each of the requests received by the storage system to verify that the host processor that is represented as forwarding the request is the indicated host processor. In addition, transfers of data between the storage system and the host processor may be validated to ensure that data was not corrupted during the data transfer.

Abstract: A disk storage subsystem includes both volatile and non-volatile portions of memory. In response to a write command from a host computer, the controller allocates a predetermined number of memory blocks in the non-volatile cache memory and allocates a corresponding number of blocks in the volatile memory. Host supplied write data is then stored in the allocated non-volatile memory blocks. The data may also be mirrored in additional non-volatile memory. Immediately thereafter the subsystem sends an acknowledge signal to the host. The subsystem then performs a DMA operation to copy the write-data from the non-volatile memory blocks to the volatile memory blocks. The write-data is then stored on a disk drive at which point the non-volatile memory may be de-allocated. Subsequent reads of the given data may be read from the volatile memory, reducing disk access time. In the event of a power failure, data stored in the non-volatile memory but not yet written to disk is preserved.

Abstract: A disk controller and method for transferring data from a host computer to a cache memory of the disk controller and transferring data from the cache memory to disk drives coupled to the disk controller. Received data to be written to disk by the disk controller is stored in a memory within the disk controller. A host I/O processor modifies certain locations within the memory to indicate to a disk I/O processor that the data is in memory and can be written to disk by the disk I/O processor. In this manner intervention of a controller microprocessor is minimized and disk controller performance is improved.