Abstract: Embodiments are directed to a load balancer process for use in a deduplication backup process implemented in a cluster system that provides ideal placement of the Mtrees on the expanded capacity by monitoring the available capacity and providing recommendations on the best node to place newly created Mtrees. Continuous monitoring of the capacity and activity level of the nodes helps identify the appropriate node to place a new Mtree. The monitoring of existing node in the cluster and balancing capacity by recommending migration of files from heavily-utilized nodes to under-utilized nodes produces an overall increase in cluster performance.

Abstract: One embodiment is related to a method for implementing a reentrant Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) target, comprising: associating each configuration operation for the SCSI target with a namespace identifier; for each namespace identifier, applying a lock preventing simultaneous execution to configuration operations associated with the same namespace identifier; and permitting simultaneous execution in parallel of configuration operations associated with different namespace identifiers.

Abstract: Embodiments for managing access to Mtrees using a mechanism through the use of net groups that contain a pool of IP addresses with configuration information that is automatically propagated to new nodes as they are added to a defined net group to facilitate zero configuration when scaling a network. Using net groups, access to an Mtree across nodes in a data center or similar network can be managed with a group of IP addresses spread across all the nodes in the cluster as a single net group entity. The net group provides flexibility to create multiple net groups that can be used to manage the appliance in management, diagnostic, data, and interconnect domains. It allows flexibility to manage the access to Mtree from different networks and security domains, and allows a user to configure the network attributes of all the IP addresses as a single entity.

Abstract: Embodiments for managing access to Mtrees using a mechanism through the use of net groups that contain a pool of IP addresses with configuration information that is automatically propagated to new nodes as they are added to a defined net group to facilitate zero configuration when scaling a network. Using net groups, access to an Mtree across nodes in a data center or similar network can be managed with a group of IP addresses spread across all the nodes in the cluster as a single net group entity. The net group provides flexibility to create multiple net groups that can be used to manage the appliance in management, diagnostic, data, and interconnect domains. It allows flexibility to manage the access to Mtree from different networks and security domains, and allows a user to configure the network attributes of all the IP addresses as a single entity.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed that advertise and expose a SCSI disk device type to a client computer or virtual machine, the disk device type acting as a transport for SCSI commands to/from a storage appliance over a Fiber Channel network. Each SCSI command is transported in one or more Fiber Channel frames. A virtual machine can write data to the storage appliance using through a disk opened with the disk device type. Data written through the disk can be deduplicated and/or compressed before storage on the storage appliance. The SCSI disk device type can support SCSI pass-through mode, virtual RDM, or physical RDM.