NetApp Assigned Two Patents

Takeover of a failed node of a cluster storage system on a per aggregate basis

NetApp, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,327,186) developed by Susan M. Coatney, Cupertino, CA, and Steven S. Watanabe, San Jose, CA, for a "takeover of a failed node of a cluster storage system on a per aggregate basis."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A cluster comprises a plurality of nodes that access a shared storage, each node having two or more partner nodes. A primary node may own a plurality of aggregate sub-sets in the shared storage. Upon failure of the primary node, each partner node may take over ownership of an aggregate sub-set according to an aggregate failover data structure (AFDS). The AFDS may specify, an ordered data structure of two or more partner nodes to take over each aggregate sub-set, the ordered data structure comprising at least a first-ordered partner node assigned to take over the aggregate sub-set upon failure of the primary node and a second-ordered partner node assigned to take over the aggregate sub-set upon failure of the primary node and the first-ordered partner node. The additional workload of the failed primary node is distributed among two or more partner nodes and protection for multiple node failures is provided."

The patent application was filed on March 10, 2009 (12/401,458).

WORM storage system and method for implementing the same

NetApp, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,332,362) developed by William P. McGovern, San Jose, CA, Jeffrey L. Heller, Menlo Park, CA, and J. Christopher Wagner, Langley, WA, for a "write-once-read-many storage system and method for implementing the same."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A write-once-read-many (WORM) storage system that employs large-capacity and relatively inexpensive disks in connection with a file system on a file server is provided. The file system contains most or all of the required WORM functionality so as to impose a minimal footprint on client applications, client operating systems and open protocols if desired. The system is organized around WORM storage volumes that contain files that, when committed to WORM storage, cannot be deleted or modified. Any file path or directory tree structure used to identify the file within the WORM volume is locked and cannot be deleted. In one embodiment, the administrator creates a WORM volume, capable of storing designated WORM files. The client then creates an appropriate WORM file using the appropriate protocol semantics. The file is written to the volume and committed by transitioning the file attributes from a not-read-only to a read-only state. The file system recognizes the persistently stored WORM attribute of any file in a WORM volume as WORM file. Henceforth, any attempt to modify the file attributes, write to the file, or delete the file, by clients, administrators or other entities is rejected and a request denied message is returned to the attempting party."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 5, 2006 (11/633,805).