Patents by Inventor Stephen M. Byan

Stephen M. Byan has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10459649
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: NETAPP, INC.
    Inventors: Anshul Madan, James F. Lentini, Michael N. Condict, Stephen M. Byan
  • Publication number: 20170185512
    Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently using solid-state devices are provided. Some embodiments provide for a data processing system that uses a non-volatile solid state device as a circular log, with the goal of aligning data access patterns to the underlying, hidden device implementation, in order to maximize performance. In addition, metadata can be interspersed with data in order to align data access patterns to the underlying device implementation. Multiple input/output (I/O) buffers can also be used to pipeline insertions of metadata and data into a linear log. The observed queuing behavior of the multiple I/O buffers can be used to determine when the utilization of the storage device is approaching saturation (e.g., in order to predict excessively-long response times). Then, the I/O load on the storage device may be shed when utilization approaches saturation. As a result, the overall response time of the system is improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2017
    Publication date: June 29, 2017
    Inventors: Christopher Small, Stephen M. Byan, James F. Lentini
  • Patent number: 9645917
    Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently using solid-state devices are provided. Some embodiments provide for a data processing system that uses a non-volatile solid-state device as a circular log, with the goal of aligning data access patterns to the underlying, hidden device implementation, in order to maximize performance. In addition, metadata can be interspersed with data in order to align data access patterns to the underlying device implementation. Multiple input/output (I/O) buffers can also be used to pipeline insertions of metadata and data into a linear log. The observed queuing behavior of the multiple I/O buffers can be used to determine when the utilization of the storage device is approaching saturation (e.g., in order to predict excessively-long response times). Then, the I/O load on the storage device may be shed when utilization approaches saturation. As a result, the overall response time of the system is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Small, Stephen M. Byan, James F. Lentini
  • Publication number: 20170046094
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Publication date: February 16, 2017
    Inventors: Anshul MADAN, James F. LENTINI, Michael N. CONDICT, Stephen M. BYAN
  • Publication number: 20170046095
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Publication date: February 16, 2017
    Inventors: Anshul MADAN, James F. LENTINI, Michael N. CONDICT, Stephen M. BYAN
  • Patent number: 9542281
    Abstract: Systems and methods herein obtain snapshots of one or more applications, while having minimal impact on performance of the applications. Embodiments may involve obtaining snapshots of modified application data within a node without disturbing the operations of the application. Systems may be configured to leverage the fast characteristics of local storage devices while utilizing the advantages provided by the remote storage of data. One or more applications may be preconfigured to record data modifications in one or more associated application state storages located on local memory. Further, one or more systems may operate in the background to identify modifications made to the associated application state storages and to determine an appropriate moment to take one or more snapshots of the stored data and transfer the one or more snapshots to one or more remote locations to be stored. Several factors may be used to determine when an appropriate moment has occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: NETAPP, INC.
    Inventors: Jiri Schindler, Stephen M. Byan
  • Patent number: 9489312
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Anshul Madan, James F. Lentini, Michael N. Condict, Stephen M. Byan
  • Patent number: 9430342
    Abstract: Described herein is a storage system having hierarchical levels of storage functions. The storage system may comprise one or more hierarchical levels, each hierarchical level comprising a server pool of one or more physical servers. Each hierarchical level may be assigned to perform a particular set of storage functions. Each physical server may implement one or more VMs, each VM executing a storage operating system that provides an overall set of storage functions. Each VM is configured to perform only the set of storage functions assigned to the hierarchical level on which the VM executes. The set of storage functions assigned to a VM may comprise a sub-set of the overall storage functions of the storage operating system. In some embodiments, VMs of a first hierarchical level provide storage transaction functions and VMs of a second hierarchical level provide storage access functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen M. Byan
  • Publication number: 20150081636
    Abstract: Systems and methods herein obtain snapshots of one or more applications, while having minimal impact on performance of the applications. Embodiments may involve obtaining snapshots of modified application data within a node without disturbing the operations of the application. Systems may be configured to leverage the fast characteristics of local storage devices while utilizing the advantages provided by the remote storage of data. One or more applications may be preconfigured to record data modifications in one or more associated application state storages located on local memory. Further, one or more systems may operate in the background to identify modifications made to the associated application state storages and to determine an appropriate moment to take one or more snapshots of the stored data and transfer the one or more snapshots to one or more remote locations to be stored. Several factors may be used to determine when an appropriate moment has occurred.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2013
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Applicant: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Jiri Schindler, Stephen M. Byan
  • Publication number: 20140136789
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2013
    Publication date: May 15, 2014
    Applicant: NetApp Inc.
    Inventors: Anshul Madan, James F. Lentini, Michael N. Condict, Stephen M. Byan
  • Patent number: 8620886
    Abstract: One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for performing host side deduplication. Host side deduplication may be performed upon writeable data within a write request received at a host computing device configured to access data stored by a storage server. The host side deduplication may be performed at the host computing device to determine whether the writeable data is already stored by the storage server based upon querying a host side cache comprising data stored by a storage server and/or a data structure comprising unique signatures of data stored by the storage server. If the writeable data is stored by the storage server, then a deduplication notification excluding the writeable data may be sent to the storage server, otherwise a write command comprising the writeable data may be sent. Accordingly, unnecessary network traffic of redundant data already stored by the storage server may be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: NetApp Inc.
    Inventors: Anshul Madan, James F. Lentini, Michael N. Condict, Stephen M. Byan
  • Publication number: 20130318283
    Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently using solid-state devices are provided. Some embodiments provide for a data processing system that uses a non-volatile solid-state device as a circular log, with the goal of aligning data access patterns to the underlying, hidden device implementation, in order to maximize performance. In addition, metadata can be interspersed with data in order to align data access patterns to the underlying device implementation. Multiple input/output (I/O) buffers can also be used to pipeline insertions of metadata and data into a linear log. The observed queuing behavior of the multiple I/O buffers can be used to determine when the utilization of the storage device is approaching saturation (e.g., in order to predict excessively-long response times). Then, the I/O load on the storage device may be shed when utilization approaches saturation. As a result, the overall response time of the system is improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2012
    Publication date: November 28, 2013
    Applicant: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Small, Stephen M. Byan, James F. Lentini
  • Patent number: 8386838
    Abstract: Described herein is a high-availability storage system having hierarchical levels of storage functions. The storage system may comprise one or more hierarchical levels, each hierarchical level comprising physical servers and be assigned to perform a particular set of storage functions. Each physical server may implement one or more VMs configured to perform only the set of storage functions assigned to the hierarchical level on which the VM executes. VMs of a first hierarchical level may be configured to organize the VMs of a second hierarchical level into a redundant array of storage access servers for providing data reliability and high-availability of the storage system. VMs of a first hierarchical level are configured to produce and route sub-requests to the VMs of a second hierarchical level. Failure of a sub-request is detected and remedied by a VM of the first hierarchical level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen M. Byan
  • Publication number: 20110191522
    Abstract: A persistent cache is implemented in a flash memory that includes a journal section that stores metadata and a low frequency section and a high frequency section that store data entries. Writing new metadata to the persistent cache includes sequentially advancing to a next sector containing an invalid metadata entry, saving a working copy of the sector in RAM, writing metadata corresponding to one or more new data entries in the working copy, and overwriting the sector in the flash memory containing the invalid entry with the working copy. Writes to the low frequency and high frequency sections occur sequentially in the current locations of a low frequency section pointer and a high frequency section pointer, respectively. In a persistent cache, the reconstruction of a non-persistent cache utilizes the metadata entry that has the most recent timestamp.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2010
    Publication date: August 4, 2011
    Inventors: Michael N. Condict, Stephen M. Byan, James F. Lentini