Reconfigurable, virtual processing system, cluster, network and method

Abstract

A platform and method of deploying virtual processing areas networks are described. A plurality of computer processors are connected to an internal communication network. At least one control node is in communication with an external communication network and an external storage network has an external storage address space. The at least one control node is connected to the internal network and thereby is in communication with the plurality of computer processors. Configuration logic defines and establishes a virtual processing area network having a corresponding set of computer processors from the plurality of processors, a virtual local area communication network providing communication among the set of computer processors, and a virtual storage space with a defined correspondence to the address space of the storage network.

1 . A platform for automatically deploying virtual processing area networks (PANs), in response to software commands, said platform comprising: 
 a plurality of computer processor nodes in fixed connection to an internal communication network, each computer processor node having at least one computer processor and memory storage, and each computer processor node being disk-less;    at least one control node connected (i) to the internal communication network, (ii) to an external communication network, and (iii) to an external storage network having an external storage address space;    configuration logic for receiving and responding to software commands specifying virtual PANs, each virtual PAN specification having (i) a specified number of computer processors, (ii) a defined communication interconnectivity and switching functionality among the computer processors of the virtual PAN, and (iii) a virtual storage space for the virtual PAN, wherein a virtual storage address space for a first virtual PAN need not have unique addresses relative to a virtual storage address space for a second virtual PAN;    wherein said configuration logic includes logic to select a corresponding set of the specified number of computer processors from the plurality of computer processor nodes, and to program said corresponding set of computer processors and the internal communication network to establish the defined communication interconnectivity and switching functionality without re-connecting the computer processor nodes to the internal network;    wherein said configuration logic includes logic to translate storage addresses from a virtual storage space of a virtual PAN to storage addresses of the external storage address space of the external storage network; and    wherein all storage requests of any computer processor of a virtual PAN are transmitted via the internal network and the at least one control node to the external storage network which handles the storage request; and    wherein the platform supports multiple virtual PANs for simultaneous independent operation on the platform, each virtual PAN having its own corresponding virtual address space translated into the one external storage address space.    
     
     
         2 . The platform of  claim 1  wherein the at least one control node includes logic to extract an address from a received storage message, to determine a corresponding storage address in the external storage address space, and to provide messages on the external storage network corresponding to the received storage messages and having the corresponding storage address for the external storage network.  
     
     
         3 . The platform of  claim 1  wherein storage requests include commands in SCSI format.  
     
     
         4 . The platform of  claim 1  wherein the configuration logic includes access control logic to regulate how virtual PANs may access external storage devices on the external storage network.  
     
     
         5 . The platform of  claim 1  wherein storage resources for a virtual PAN may be expressed as a storage personality that may be migrated and inherited to another virtual PAN utilizing a different set of corresponding computer processors.  
     
     
         6 . The platform of  claim 5  wherein the storage resources are all of the storage resources of the virtual PAN.  
     
     
         7 . The platform of  claim 5  wherein the storage resources are a subset of the storage resources of the virtual PAN.