Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of electronics. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to direct-attached storage (DAS) subsystems.
A direct-attached storage (DAS) subsystem refers to a storage subsystem directly attached to a server or a workstation, without a storage network in between. In a DAS infrastructure, where a plurality of DAS subsystems are separately managed, manageability of the DAS subsystems may be operating system (OS) dependent and require more manpower. For each DAS subsystem, a host bus adapter (HBA) may be dedicated for controlling a storage device of the DAS subsystem. In order to manage each DAS subsystem, an administrator may rely on an OS utility to configure the HBA. As a result, the administrator may have to separately log-on to each of the DAS subsystems for configuring the HBA, thus causing administrative difficulties and wastage of time.
Furthermore, the HBA forwards debugger logs, which list out results of testing and debugging of the HBA, through a serial port of the HBA. The debugger logs may be used by the administrator to control and collect vital information associated with the HBA. Currently, the serial port of the HBA is used to connect to a separate system (e.g., a dedicated printer, a hyper terminal, etc.) for storing and/or accessing the debugger logs. For example, the serial port of the HBA may be a 4 pin serial connector which is connected to the separate system using a serial debugger or serial null modem cable. Thus, significant resources may be needed to access the debugger logs if the size of the DAS subsystems happens to be large.
This summary is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.73, requiring a summary of the invention briefly indicating the nature and substance of the invention. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
A system and device for managing direct-attached storage (DAS) subsystems from a management console is disclosed. In one aspect, a system for managing a plurality of DAS subsystems from a management console includes a plurality of DAS subsystems. Each DAS subsystem includes a host bus adapter (HBA) having a local area network (LAN) port and a LAN communication module for providing a LAN communication based on an internet protocol (IP) address of the HBA.
The system further includes a management console coupled to the plurality of DAS subsystems using the LAN port for managing the plurality of DAS subsystems by directly communicating with the HBA of said each DAS subsystem using the IP address of the HBA. The system also includes a network switch for controlling data traffic between the plurality of DAS subsystems and the management console.
In another aspect, a HBA for a DAS subsystem includes a HBA port for interfacing with a storage device of the DAS subsystem and a LAN port for interfacing with a management console associated with the DAS subsystem. The HBA further includes a LAN communication module for communicating with the management console based on an IP address of the HBA and a processor for executing a set of instructions associated with the LAN communication module.
Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.
Various preferred embodiments are described herein with reference to the drawings, wherein:
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
A system and device for managing direct-attached storage (DAS) subsystems from a management console is disclosed. In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
The plurality of DAS subsystems 102A-N includes host devices 104A-N and storage devices 106A-N (e.g., redundant array of independent disks (RAID) 124A-N) coupled to the host devices 104A-N. The host devices 104A-N include host bus adapters (HBAs) 108A-N having local area network (LAN) ports 110A-N (e.g., Ethernet ports 122A-N) and LAN communication modules 112A-N. Further, each of the HBAs 108A-N is associated with a defined internet protocol (IP) address (e.g., IP addresses 114A-N). It can be noted that, the management console 116 is coupled to the plurality of DAS subsystems 102A-N using the respective LAN ports 112A-N.
In one embodiment, the LAN ports 112A-N and the LAN communication modules 112A-N provide a LAN communication between the management console 116 and the plurality of DAS subsystems 102A-N based on the IP addresses 114A-N of the HBAs 108A-N. In this embodiment, the management console 116 manages the plurality of DAS subsystems 102A-N by directly communicating with the HBAs 108A-N of each of the plurality of DAS subsystems 102A-N using the IP addresses 114A-N of the HBAs 108A-N.
In one exemplary implementation, each of the HBAs108A-N is pinged by the management console 116 by addressing the IP addresses 114A-N of the HBAs 108A-N. The management console 116 pings each of the HBAs 108A-N to determine an operational state of each of the HBAs 108A-N. Further, in accordance with above described embodiments, the network switch 118 controls data traffic between the plurality of DAS subsystems 102A-N and the management console 116.
In one embodiment, the LAN port 206 is operable for providing an access to the pre-boot manageability module 222 (e.g., a controller basic input/output system (BIOS) 224) of the HBA 200 from the management console 208. In another embodiment, the LAN port 206 is operable for forwarding a debugger log 228 generated by the HBA 200 to the management console 208. In these embodiments, the management console 208 manages the HBA 200 via a control signal 226.
Further, in accordance with the above described embodiments, the LAN communication module 210 communicates with the management console 208 based on an IP address 212 of the HBA 200. In one embodiment, the LAN communication module 210 is operable for supporting a transfer control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) suite 218. Moreover, the processor 214 executes a set of instructions associated with the LAN communication module 210.
In one embodiment, the Ethernet ports 310A-N and the Ethernet communication modules 312A-N provide an Ethernet communication based on IP addresses 314A-N of the HBAs 308A-N. In this embodiment, the management console 316 coupled to the plurality of DAS subsystems 302A-N manages the plurality of DAS subsystems 302A-N by addressing the IP addresses 314A-N of the HBAs 308A-N. In accordance with the above described embodiments, the HBA switch 318 controls the plurality of DAS subsystems 302A-N from the management console 316.
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The above-described system allows the user to configure and manage HBAs of DAS subsystems from a management console using LAN ports of the HBAs. In one embodiment, the above-described system can configure the HBAs of the DAS subsystems directly from a network without even having to boot the DAS subsystems. Since all the HBAs in a DAS environment are centrally managed from the management console, an operational state of the HBA can be determined by pinging the HBA and getting a response. The above-described system uses same Ethernet cable for accessing firmware logs, thereby eliminating the need of setting up different systems for accessing debugger logs. Further, by using the above-described system, manpower required for testing and debugging a large number of DAS subsystems can be reduced as the DAS subsystem is managed from the centrally located management console.
Although the present embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the various embodiments. For example, the various devices, modules, analyzers, generators, etc. described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry (e.g., complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) based logic circuitry), firmware, software and/or any combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software (e.g., embodied in a machine readable medium). For example, the various electrical structure and methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuitry (ASIC)).