DATA STORAGE SYSTEM HAVNG A GLOBAL CACHE MEMORY DISTRIBUTED AMONG NON-VOLATILE MEMORIES WITHIN SYSTEM DISK DRIVES

摘要

A data storage system having a host computer/server coupled through an interface to a bank of disk drives having a plurality of disk units, each one of such disk drive units having a magnetic storage media. The interface includes: a plurality of front-end directors; a plurality of back end directors; and, a global cache memory available for caching user data for the plurality of disk drives. The global cache memory comprises a plurality of non-volatile memory global cache memory sections distributed among disk drive units within the bank of disk drive units. The non-volatile memory global cache memory sections, connected to the back-end directors, caches user data for the magnetic storage media of the plurality of disk drive units independent of the one of the disk drive units having such one of the non-volatile memory global cache memory sections.