CREATING AND/OR MANAGING META-DATA FOR DATA STORAGE DEVICES USING A PACKET SWITCH APPLIANCE

摘要

A first instrument port of a packet switch appliance is connected to a first data storage device. A second port is configured as a first network port. A first meta-data tag is created for a first block of packets received through the first network port. The first block is sent to the first data storage device through the first instrument port. The first meta-data tag or copy is sent to the first data storage device and/or a storage management server. A second instrument port of the packet switch appliance is connected to a second data storage device. A second meta-data tag is created for a second block of packets received through the first network port. The second block is sent to the second data storage device through the second instrument port. The second meta-data tag or copy is sent to the second data storage device and/or the storage management server.