NetApp Assigned Eight Patents

Modular service level objective subsystem for network storage system
NetApp, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,700,806) developed by David Slik, Burnaby, Canada, for a “modular service level objective (SLO) subsystem for a network storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A service level objective (SLO) subsystem that includes an SLO engine in a network storage system that allows new degrees of freedom to be added to the SLO subsystem, without requiring any modification of an associated SLO engine or the system’s existing SLOs, and without requiring the SLO engine to have any a priori knowledge of the new degrees of freedom. In certain embodiments, the system has a modular design which includes the SLO engine and one or more SLO modules that interface with the SLO engine. Each SLO module corresponds to a different degree of freedom. Each SLO module evaluates SLO compliance and determines what specific action(s) within its corresponding degree of freedom should be taken to comply with an SLO.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 23, 2011 (13/033,531).

Integrated storage controller and appliance
NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,700,867) developed by Jyh-shing Chen, Cary, NC, for an “integrated storage controller and appliance method and system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An integrated data center combines a storage controller and appliances onto a computer platform. Storage controller component executes on the computer platform with exclusive access to a first storage controller host bus adapter coupled to a storage shelf A virtualized instance of the hardware from the computer platform is provisioned to deliver application services from an appliance component which may share the processing resources from the computer platform through different virtual machines. An appliance host bus adapter from the computer platform is exclusively associated to the appliance component. This provides the appliance component exclusive control of the appliance host bus adapter passing through the virtualized instance of the hardware. To access the storage devices, appliance host bus adapter and corresponding appliance component are coupled with a second storage controller host bus adapter associated with the storage controller component.“

The patent application was filed on April 30, 2010 (12/772,106).

Cluster view for storage devices
NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,700,875) developed by Edward Barron, Pepperell, MA, Loellyn Cassell, Pleasanton, CA, and John DeGraaf, Cranberry Township, PA, for “cluster view for storage devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ” One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for generating a macroscopic cluster view of storage devices, as opposed to merely an isolated view from an individual node. For example, nodes within a node cluster may be queried for storage device reports comprising storage device information regarding storage devices with which the nodes are respectively connected (e.g., I/O performance statistics, path connections, storage device attributes, status, error history, etc.). The storage device reports may be aggregated together to define one or more storage device data structures (e.g., a storage device data structure comprising one or more tables that may be populated with storage device information). In this way, the cluster view may be generated based upon querying one or more storage device data structures (e.g., an error cluster view, a storage device cluster view, a node summary cluster view, etc.).”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 20, 2011 (13/237,369).

Multiple instances of mapping configurations in storage system or appliance
Netapp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,700,846) developed by Yanling Qi, Austin, TX, and Jason Sherman, Wichita, KS, for “multiple instances of mapping configurations in a storage system or storage appliance.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention is directed to a method and software for managing the host-to-volume mappings of a SAN storage system. The host-to-volume mappings of the SAN storage system are represented in mapping configuration components. The active mapping configuration component represents the current host-to-volume mapping for the SAN storage system. Only one mapping configuration component is active at a time. The host-to-volume mappings of a SAN storage system are changed by deactivating the active mapping configuration component and activating an inactive mapping configuration component that represents a different mapping configuration, effecting a repartition, repurpose, disaster recovery, or other business activity. This can be a scheduled task or performed in an on-demand manner. The mapping configuration components are managed and controlled through the management component of the SAN storage system.”

The patent application was filed on Dec. 5, 2006 (11/633,780).

Achieving high performance data flow among user space processes
in storage system
NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,667,504) developed by four co-inventors for a system and method “for achieving high performance data flow among user space processes in storage system.”

The co-inventors are Randy Thelen, Mountain View, CA, Garth Goodson, Fremont, CA, Kiran Srinivasan, Cupertino, CA, and Sai Susarla, Bangalore, India.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Fault isolation capabilities made available by user space can be provided for a embedded network storage system without sacrificing efficiency. By giving user space processes direct access to specific devices (e.g., network interface cards and storage adapters), processes in a user space can initiate Input/Output requests without issuing system calls (and entering kernel mode). The multiple user spaces processes can initiate requests serviced by a user space device driver by sharing a read-only address space that maps the entire physical memory one-to-one. In addition, a user space process can initiate communication with another user space process by use of transmit and receive queues similar to transmit and receiver queues used by hardware devices. And, a mechanism of ensuring that virtual addresses that work in one address space reference the same physical page in another address space is used. “

The patent application was filed on June 20, 2008 (12/143,592).

Security in cloud computing storage environment
NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,676,710) developed by two co-inventors for “providing security in a cloud computing storage environment.”

The co-inventors are Nandkumar Lalasaheb Mane and Rajashekhar Mallikarjun Arasanal, Sunnyvale, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method of providing security as a service in a cloud storage environment includes storing, through a cloud manager of the cloud storage environment, a security level of access of a storage controller associated with a customer of the security as a service, and receiving a request from the customer to access security information of the storage controller associated therewith. The method also includes providing, through the cloud manager, security information of the storage controller associated with the customer in accordance with the request and the stored security level of access of the storage controller associated with the customer.”

The patent application was filed on April 11, 2011 (13/083,628).

Communication with two or more storage devices via one SAS communication port
NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,677,048) developed by three co-inventors for techniques and/or systems for “enabling communication between a SAS communication port of a SAS communication component and multiple storage devices.”

The co-inventors are Robert Hansen, Lotus, CA, Radek Aster, Campbell, CA, and Tim K. Emami, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for enabling communication between a SAS communication port of a SAS communication component and multiple storage devices. In a first example, a first SAS to SATA bridge chip and a second SAS to SATA bridge chip may be configured to route data from a SAS communication component to multiple storage devices. In a second example, a SAS to SATA bridge chip and a port multiplier may be configured to route data from a SAS communication component to multiple storage devices. In a third example, a four port SAS to SATA bridge comprising two SAS ports and two SATA ports may be configured to route data from a SAS communication component to multiple storage devices. Supporting two or more storage devices with a single SAS communication port allows storage enclosures to increase storage capacity, while decreasing cost per slot.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 26, 2010 (12/911,904).

Managing security operations of storage server using authenticated storage module
NetApp, Sunnyvale, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,719,923) developed by Steven C. Miller, and Ravi Kavuri, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “method and system for managing security operations of a storage server using an authenticated storage module.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides a technique, in a network storage system, for a key management module (KMM) managing security operations within the storage server using an authenticated storage module (ASM) such as a smart card of the storage server. The KMM may process encryption key information (key information) generated by an encryption engine of the storage server to associate a key with a storage object of the storage server. The processed key information may then be stored by the KMM to a key map of the ASM, for which the ASM performs security services prior to storing information to the key map. The KMM may then request key information stored in the key map from the ASM, and forward the key information to the encryption engine for performing cryptographic operations on data of the storage object.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 5, 2010 (12/701,457).