Abstract: A storage area network (SAN) includes fabric-attachable storage drives that are each directly connected to a fabric and that operate drive volumes. The SAN includes SAN software agents executed by client computing devices that are directly connected to the fabric. Each SAN software agent operates logical volumes realized by the drive volumes of the storage drives. The SAN includes a SAN manager directly connected to the fabric to manage the drive volumes of the SAN storage drives and to manage the logical volumes that the SAN software agents operate.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems for low latency modification of memory on a remote computer system. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method includes, at a first computing device, receiving from a second computing device, a memory access request including a security key and a unique identifier generated by the first computing device. The method further includes verifying, based on the security key and the unique identifier, that the first computing device is authorized to access a predetermined portion of memory. Also, in response to verifying that the first computing device is authorized to access the predetermined portion of memory, accessing, by the second computing device, the predetermined portion of memory.

Abstract: A storage-area network (SAN) manager running on a computing device connected to a fabric receives a request to allocate and mount a logical volume on a client computing device connected to the fabric. The manager groups storage drives connected to the fabric by failure domains. The manager filters the storage drives by native capabilities, available capacities, and dynamic performance to remove from consideration any storage drive having insufficient native capabilities, an insufficient available capacity, and/or an insufficient dynamic performance to satisfy the request. The manager selects a set of storage drives on which to store data of the logical volume, from the remaining storage drives, taking into account the failure domains. The manager sends a command to each such storage drive to provision a drive volume, and a command to a software agent on the client device to create and mount the logical volume using these drive volumes.

Abstract: A fabric-attachable storage drive self-monitors a prespecified parameter. Responsive to detecting satisfaction of a prespecified condition, the storage drive autonomously generates a reportable event regarding the self-monitored prespecified parameter, and autonomously transmits the reportable event to a prespecified location on a network fabric to which the drive is connected. The storage drive can interact with other fabric-attachable storage drives to create a logical volume according to a specified logical data storage topology on a self-organized storage device group in a peer-to-peer manner. The storage drive can be a programmable non-volatile memory Express (NVMe) storage drive exporting access thereto over an NVMe-over-fabric storage protocol, or a programmable storage drive lacking an external interface by which to connect to a host computing device storage device but that has a network interface connected to a network fabric.

Abstract: A storage-area network (SAN) manager running on a computing device connected to a fabric receives a request to allocate and mount a logical volume on a client computing device connected to the fabric. The manager groups storage drives connected to the fabric by failure domains. The manager filters the storage drives by native capabilities, available capacities, and dynamic performance to remove from consideration any storage drive having insufficient native capabilities, an insufficient available capacity, and/or an insufficient dynamic performance to satisfy the request. The manager selects a set of storage drives on which to store data of the logical volume, from the remaining storage drives, taking into account the failure domains. The manager sends a command to each such storage drive to provision a drive volume, and a command to a software agent on the client device to create and mount the logical volume using these drive volumes.

Abstract: A fabric-attachable storage drive self-monitors a prespecified parameter. Responsive to detecting satisfaction of a prespecified condition, the storage drive autonomously generates a reportable event regarding the self-monitored prespecified parameter, and autonomously transmits the reportable event to a prespecified location on a network fabric to which the drive is connected. The storage drive can interact with other fabric-attachable storage drives to create a logical volume according to a specified logical data storage topology on a self-organized storage device group in a peer-to-peer manner. The storage drive can be a programmable non-volatile memory Express (NVMe) storage drive exporting access thereto over an NVMe-over-fabric storage protocol, or a programmable storage drive lacking an external interface by which to connect to a host computing device storage device but that has a network interface connected to a network fabric.

Abstract: A storage-area network (SAN) system includes one or more storage drives directly connected to a fabric. Each storage drive provisions and operates a drive volume, and creates a security token for the drive volume. The system includes a client computing device directly connected to the fabric, and that executes a SAN software agent to create, mount, and use a logical volume realized by drive volumes of the storage drives. The client computing device accesses each drive volume using the security token for the drive volume. The system includes a SAN manager directly connected to the fabric that manages the drive volumes of the storage drives, manages the logical volume that the SAN software agent operates, receives from each storage drive the security token for the drive volume of the storage drive, and sends the security token for the drive volume of each storage drive to the SAN software agent.

Abstract: A storage system includes storage devices that each have a physical medium on which to store metadata regarding the storage device, and client data. The storage system includes a storage manager remotely connected to the storage devices to manage storage of the client data on the storage devices. The storage system includes an event manager separate from the storage manager and locally connected to the storage devices to directly manage the metadata stored on the storage devices, to receive local insertion, removal, and reinsertion events regarding the storage devices, and to send notifications regarding the removal and the reinsertion events to the storage manager. Separation of the storage manager from the event manager permits the storage manager to manage the storage of the client data on the storage devices regardless of a particular event manager to which each storage device is currently locally connected.

Abstract: Programmable disk drives are configured within a peer-to-peer redundant array of independent disks (RAID) that lacks a RAID controller. A spare programmable disk drive not part of the RAID can monitor a given drive of the RAID. If the monitored drive fails, the spare drive can replace the failed drive within the RAID such that it becomes part of the RAID, and reconstruct the data on the programmable disk drive that has failed by communicating with the other drives of the RAID. For each data block to be reconstructed, each such other drive may receive just one piece of data and sends just one piece of data. Further, the spare drive may receive just one piece of data for each data block to be reconstructed, which is the data block as reconstructed from one of the other drives of the RAID.

Abstract: A fabric-attachable storage drive self-monitors a prespecified parameter. Responsive to detecting satisfaction of a prespecified condition, the storage drive autonomously generates a reportable event regarding the self-monitored prespecified parameter, and autonomously transmits the reportable event to a prespecified location on a network fabric to which the drive is connected. The storage drive can interact with other fabric-attachable storage drives to create a logical volume according to a specified logical data storage topology on a self-organized storage device group in a peer-to-peer manner. The storage drive can be a programmable non-volatile memory Express (NVMe) storage drive exporting access thereto over an NVMe-over-fabric storage protocol, or a programmable storage drive lacking an external interface by which to connect to a host computing device storage device but that has a network interface connected to a network fabric.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems for low latency modification of memory on a remote computer system. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method includes, at a first computing device, receiving from a second computing device, a memory access request including a security key and a unique identifier generated by the first computing device. The method further includes verifying, based on the security key and the unique identifier, that the first computing device is authorized to access a predetermined portion of memory. Also, in response to verifying that the first computing device is authorized to access the predetermined portion of memory, accessing, by the second computing device, the predetermined portion of memory.

Abstract: A method and system is provided for implementing object storage and fast metadata search using extended attributes in a portable operating system interface (POSIX) file system. The method and system receives data items which contain a value of an object and associates the data item with a set of attributes. The method and system further generates a file having extended attributes in a file system that conforms to the POSIX standard based on the data item and the set of object attributes for use in and based on values of the set of attributes. The method and system also implement efficient queries on the values of the set of attributes.

Abstract: A storage-area network (SAN) manager running on a computing device connected to a fabric receives a request to allocate and mount a logical volume on a client computing device connected to the fabric. The manager groups storage drives connected to the fabric by failure domains. The manager filters the storage drives by native capabilities, available capacities, and dynamic performance to remove from consideration any storage drive having insufficient native capabilities, an insufficient available capacity, and/or an insufficient dynamic performance to satisfy the request. The manager selects a set of storage drives on which to store data of the logical volume, from the remaining storage drives, taking into account the failure domains. The manager sends a command to each such storage drive to provision a drive volume, and a command to a software agent on the client device to create and mount the logical volume using these drive volumes.

Abstract: A storage-area network (SAN) system includes one or more storage drives directly connected to a fabric. Each storage drive provisions and operates a drive volume, and creates a security token for the drive volume. The system includes a client computing device directly connected to the fabric, and that executes a SAN software agent to create, mount, and use a logical volume realized by drive volumes of the storage drives. The client computing device accesses each drive volume using the security token for the drive volume. The system includes a SAN manager directly connected to the fabric that manages the drive volumes of the storage drives, manages the logical volume that the SAN software agent operates, receives from each storage drive the security token for the drive volume of the storage drive, and sends the security token for the drive volume of each storage drive to the SAN software agent.

Abstract: A storage area network (SAN) includes fabric-attachable storage drives that are each directly connected to a fabric and that operate drive volumes. The SAN includes SAN software agents executed by client computing devices that are directly connected to the fabric. Each SAN software agent operates logical volumes realized by the drive volumes of the storage drives. The SAN includes a SAN manager directly connected to the fabric to manage the drive volumes of the SAN storage drives and to manage the logical volumes that the SAN software agents operate.

Abstract: Programmable disk drives are configured within a peer-to-peer redundant array of independent disks (RAID) that lacks a RAID controller. A spare programmable disk drive not part of the RAID can monitor a given drive of the RAID. If the monitored drive fails, the spare drive can replace the failed drive within the RAID such that it becomes part of the RAID, and reconstruct the data on the programmable disk drive that has failed by communicating with the other drives of the RAID. For each data block to be reconstructed, each such other drive may receive just one piece of data and sends just one piece of data. Further, the spare drive may receive just one piece of data for each data block to be reconstructed, which is the data block as reconstructed from one of the other drives of the RAID.