Abstract: Data communications through a host Fibre Channel adapter (‘HFCA’) implemented with a computer that includes two or more logical partitions, each logical partition including a separate instance of an operating system, each instance of an operating system including an instance of a low-level, switched fabric input/output (‘I/O’) library, including establishing, in the HFCA by instances of the I/O library in two or more logical partitions and by the hypervisor, separate logical Fibre Channel adapters (‘LFCAs’) for at least two of the logical partitions, each LFCA including an association of an LFCA identifier with at least one range of I/O memory addresses in the address space of a logical partition and transferring, at the behest of application programs in the two or more logical partitions, data between the RAM of the logical partitions and the data storage devices through the LFCAs, the HFCA, and the Fibre Channel fabric.

Abstract: Data communications through a host Fiber Channel adapter (‘HFCA’) implemented with a computer that includes two or more logical partitions, each logical partition including a separate instance of an operating system, each instance of an operating system including an instance of a low-level, switched fabric input/output (‘I/O’) library, including establishing, in the HFCA by instances of the I/O library in two or more logical partitions and by the hypervisor, separate logical Fiber Channel adapters (‘LFCAs’) for at least two of the logical partitions, each LFCA including an association of an LFCA identifier with at least one range of I/O memory addresses in the address space of a logical partition and transferring, at the behest of application programs in the two or more logical partitions, data between the RAM of the logical partitions and the data storage devices through the LFCAs, the HFCA, and the Fiber Channel fabric.

Abstract: Data communications through a host Fibre Channel adapter (‘HFCA’) implemented with a computer that includes two or more logical partitions, each logical partition including a separate instance of an operating system, each instance of an operating system including an instance of a low-level, switched fabric input/output (‘I/O’) library, including establishing, in the HFCA by instances of the I/O library in two or more logical partitions and by the hypervisor, separate logical Fibre Channel adapters (‘LFCAs’) for at least two of the logical partitions, each LFCA including an association of an LFCA identifier with at least one range of I/O memory addresses in the address space of a logical partition and transferring, at the behest of application programs in the two or more logical partitions, data between the RAM of the logical partitions and the data storage devices through the LFCAs, the HFCA, and the Fibre Channel fabric.

Abstract: Data communications through a host Fibre Channel adapter (‘HFCA’) implemented with a computer that includes two or more logical partitions, each logical partition including a separate instance of an operating system, each instance of an operating system including an instance of a low-level, switched fabric input/output (‘I/O’) library, including establishing, in the HFCA by instances of the I/O library in two or more logical partitions and by the hypervisor, separate logical Fibre Channel adapters (‘LFCAs’) for at least two of the logical partitions, each LFCA including an association of an LFCA identifier with at least one range of I/O memory addresses in the address space of a logical partition and transferring, at the behest of application programs in the two or more logical partitions, data between the RAM of the logical partitions and the data storage devices through the LFCAs, the HFCA, and the Fibre Channel fabric.

Abstract: In a redundant array of disk storage units which independently accesses data blocks on different units and which uses parity blocks for data protection, parity blocks are confined to specific address ranges of each respective disk unit (rows of the array), each row containing multiple parity blocks. Each parity block represents the exclusive-OR of a stripe of data blocks located on a diagonal of the array. Where data accesses exhibit locality of reference in certain rows, this arrangement distributes the burden of updating parity more equally than a conventional RAID level 5. Additionally, because a "row" corresponds to a particular annular region of a disk surface on each respective disk unit, parity blocks can be located at optimal logical addresses or physical regions of the disk surface to simplify address translation and/or further improve performance.