METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR INCREASING STORAGE NETWORK PERFROMANCE BY MANAGING A LOGICAL VOLUME IN A STORAGE NETWORK SWITCHING COMPONENT

摘要

Methods and apparatus for improved storage network performance by embedding logical volume control within a switching component of a storage network. An enhanced storage network switching component comprises a logical volume manager that aggregates a plurality of ports/PHYS of the switch (each coupled with a corresponding target storage device) to create and manage a logical volume. The manager exposes only a single port/PHY for access to the logical volume. Other ports/PHYs for the individual target storage devices of the logical volume are disabled so that attached host/initiator components cannot access the individual storage devices of the logical volume. In one exemplary embodiment, the logical volume is a striped logical volume to enable parallel operation of multiple storage devices for processing an I/O request. The speed of communications between the switching component and the host/initiator component may then be better matched with the performance of the logical volume.