Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory – Storage accessing and control – Control technique
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-28
2004-12-07
Thai, Tuan V. (Department: 2186)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory
Storage accessing and control
Control technique
C711S100000, C711S154000, C711S161000, C709S200000, C709S223000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06829687
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to data backup in computer systems, and more specifically to a method of transferring data across a network.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Networked computer systems with interconnected nodes are an increasingly popular alternative computer architecture to more traditional computer architectures. A networked system may be a collection of individual computers known as nodes that are interconnected to provide a single computing system.
FIG. 1
is an illustration of the layers of a node in a typical network environment. Each system node
10
in a networked computing environment includes a form of a physical storage device for storing data and generally may include multiple storage devices
12
,
14
. Traditionally, the storage devices will be in the form of a disk or tape. The storage devices
12
,
14
are logically grouped into a volume
26
through the use of plexes
16
and
18
. The volume
26
and plexes
16
and
18
are all maintained within a volume manager
28
. The system
10
also has a network device
22
for communicating over the network with other nodes in the system. Accordingly, each node in the network includes physical storage devices for storing node data, plexes for communicating data in the storage devices to a volume which logically maps the data, and a network device for communicating across the network with other nodes in the system.
In a typical computer network environment, each node includes several layers in a program stack. A traditional model of a network environment for a two node system is shown in FIG.
2
. Each node
110
and
130
has a physical devices layer
112
,
132
, respectively, where data storage devices
114
,
116
and
134
,
136
, and network adapters
126
,
146
are located. In addition to the physical devices layer
112
,
132
, each node includes a kernel layer
115
,
135
and a user layer
120
,
140
, respectively. The user layer
120
,
140
is the area where application programs
122
,
142
are accessed. The kernel layer
115
,
135
contains a volume manager layer
128
,
148
. The volume manager layer
128
,
148
manages the flow of data in the storage devices to and from the application program
122
,
142
in the user layer
120
,
140
, respectively. Accordingly, the program stack includes three primary layers for operating each node in the network.
The process of backing up data in a traditional two node network involves the following steps:
1. Data is copied from the physical devices layer
112
to the volume manager layer
128
of the kernel layer
115
of the source node
110
;
2. Next, the data is copied from the volume manager layer
128
to the application program
122
in the user layer
120
;
3. Data is then copied from the application program
122
in the user layer
120
through the kernel layer
115
to a network device
126
;
4. The data is then copied from the network device
126
of the source node
110
across a communication pipe
150
to a network device
146
of the target node
130
;
5. The data is then copied from the network device
146
through the kernel layer
135
to the application program
142
of the user layer
140
;
6. Next, the data is copied from the application program
142
in the user layer
140
to the volume manager layer
148
in the kernel layer
135
; and
7. Finally, the data is copied from the volume manager layer
148
of the kernel layer
135
of the target node
130
to the physical layer
132
.
Accordingly, the traditional data backup method requires communication of the data through multiple layers of the program stack, including the user layer.
The disadvantage of this procedure is that there are multiple copies of data transferred from the kernel to the user layer and from the user layer to the kernel layer. This conventional method of backing up data on a storage device connected to some other machine on the network requires a series of copying, and is therefore inefficient due to the multiple copies of data involved. Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient method of backing up data on a computer system which is one of multiple nodes in a network, wherein multiple copies of the data need not be processed through the user layer of the nodes in the system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method of efficiently backing up and restoring data of a networked computer system. It is a further object of the invention to provide a storage device manager for use in networked computer systems for allowing internode data transfer through a kernel layer of the operating system.
A first aspect of the invention is a method for staring data from a network on a node. A first plex is connected to a network device, and a second plex is connected to a data storage device. Both plexes are grouping into a logical volume. Data is received from the network by the first plex and stored on the storage device by the second plex. The data is directly communicated from a kernel layer of a source node to a kernel layer of a target node.
A second aspect of the invention is a networked computer system. Each node in the system includes a data storage device, and first and second plexes. The first plex is connected to a network device and the second plex is connected to the data storage device. A volume is connected to both the first and second plexes adapted to directly communicate data from a kernel layer of a source node to a kernel layer of a target node.
A third aspect of the invention is an article comprising a computer-readable signal bearing medium with means for communicating to a networked computer system. The article includes two plexes. A first plex is connected to the communication means end the second plex is connected to a data storage device. Both the first and second plexes are connected to the volume. The article also includes means in the medium for managing a direct transfer of data from a kernel layer of a source node to a kernel layer of a target node.
Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/156,671.*
U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/182,743.*
U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/186,781.
International Business Machines - Corporation
Lieberman & Brandsdorfer LLC
Thai Tuan V.
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