Patent ID: 7272687
Filing Date: 2007-09-18
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for buffering storage area network communications in a RAID controller to increase overall data reliability, integrity, and communication efficiency for a storage area network system comprising the steps of: accepting written data, said written data being small data fragments sent to said RAID controller as write requests, said write requests being a part of said storage area network communications; storing said written data in a RAM level 1 cache, said RAM level 1 cache being a RAM level 1 data structure contained in random access memory of said RAID controller; coalescing said written data in order to create larger written data blocks as said written data is sent to said RAID controller; and sequentially storing said written data blocks to a LFS disk level 2 cache when each of said written data blocks in said RAM level 1 cache is full, said LFS disk level 2 cache being a LFS disk level 2 data structure stored on a portion of a local hard disk drive associated with said RAID controller, said portion of said local hard disk drive formatted in log-structured file system format.