Multiple physical interfaces in a slot of a storage enclosure to support different storage interconnect architectures
First Claim
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1. A storage enclosure for interfacing with storage units and an external device, comprising:
- a backplane;
at least one slot in the storage enclosure for receiving one storage unit;
two physical interfaces on the backplane for at least one slot, wherein one storage unit is capable of being positioned in the slot to mate with one of the two physical interfaces for the slot, wherein each physical interface supports different storage interconnect architecture; and
an expander on the backplane coupled to a plurality of the slots and the external device, wherein the expander includes circuitry to perform;
receiving a transmission from one storage unit in one slot coupled to the expander;
maintaining information on storage interconnect architectures and transmission characteristics used for the storage interconnect architectures, wherein the storage interconnect architectures have transmission characteristics;
determining the transmission characteristics of the received transmission;
determining from the information the storage interconnect architecture associated with the determined transmission characteristics;
using the information on the determined storage interconnect architecture to process the transmission and determine a transport layer for the received transmission, wherein there is one transport layer for each supported transport protocol; and
forwarding the transmission to the determined transport layer.
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Abstract
Provided is a system for interfacing with storage units, including a backplane, at least one slot in the storage enclosure for receiving one storage unit, and two physical interfaces on the backplane for at least one slot. The storage unit is capable of being positioned in the slot to mate with one of the two physical interfaces for the slot, wherein each physical interface supports different storage interconnect architectures.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A storage enclosure for interfacing with storage units and an external device, comprising:
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a backplane; at least one slot in the storage enclosure for receiving one storage unit; two physical interfaces on the backplane for at least one slot, wherein one storage unit is capable of being positioned in the slot to mate with one of the two physical interfaces for the slot, wherein each physical interface supports different storage interconnect architecture; and an expander on the backplane coupled to a plurality of the slots and the external device, wherein the expander includes circuitry to perform; receiving a transmission from one storage unit in one slot coupled to the expander; maintaining information on storage interconnect architectures and transmission characteristics used for the storage interconnect architectures, wherein the storage interconnect architectures have transmission characteristics; determining the transmission characteristics of the received transmission;
determining from the information the storage interconnect architecture associated with the determined transmission characteristics;using the information on the determined storage interconnect architecture to process the transmission and determine a transport layer for the received transmission, wherein there is one transport layer for each supported transport protocol; and forwarding the transmission to the determined transport layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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4. The storage enclosure of 1, wherein the physical interfaces each extend along a vertical length of the slot and are parallel to each other.
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9. A system interfacing with storage units, comprising:
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(a) at least one storage enclosure, comprising; (i) a backplane; (ii) at least one slot in the storage enclosure for receiving one storage unit; and (iii) two physical interfaces on the backplane for at least one slot, wherein a storage unit is capable of being positioned in the slot to mate with one of the two physical interfaces for the slot, wherein each physical interface supports different storage interconnect architectures; (b) at least one server, comprising; (i) an adaptor coupled to the storage enclosure; (ii) receiving data forwarded from the storage enclosure backplane; and (iii) circuitry to determine one of a plurality of storage interconnect architectures to process the data, wherein the server adaptor supports multiple storage interconnect architectures; and (c) an expander on the backplane of the storage enclosure coupled to the slots and coupled to at least one server that accesses the storage unit assemblies mated in the slots of the storage enclosure, wherein the server is capable of accessing storage units using different storage interconnect architectures through the expander, and wherein the expander includes circuitry to perform; (i) receiving a transmission from one storage unit in one slot coupled to the expander in response to a request from one server; (ii) maintaining information on storage interconnect architectures and transmission characteristics for the storage interconnect architectures, wherein the storage interconnect architectures have different transmission characteristics; (iii) determining transmission characteristics of the received transmission; (iv) determining from the information the storage interconnect architecture associated with the determined transmission characteristics; (v) using the information on the determined storage interconnect architecture to process the transmission to determine an address of a target device for the transmission and (vi) forwarding the data to a connection associated with the determined target device address. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system interfacing with storage units, comprising:
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(a) at least one storage enclosure, comprising; (i) a backplane; (ii) at least one slot in the storage enclosure for receiving one storage unit; and iii) two physical interfaces on the backplane for at least one slot, wherein a storage unit is capable of being positioned in the slot to mate with one of the two physical interfaces for the slot, wherein each physical interface supports different storage interconnect architectures; and (b) at least one server, comprising; (i) an adaptor coupled to the storage enclosure; (ii) receiving data forwarded from the storage enclosure backplane; and (iii) circuitry to determine one of a plurality of storage interconnect architectures to process the data, wherein the server adaptor supports multiple storage interconnect architectures; and (iv) server adaptor circuitry to perform; receiving a transmission from one storage unit in the storage enclosure; maintaining information on storage interconnect architectures and transmission characteristics for the storage interconnect architectures, wherein the storage interconnect architectures have different transmission characteristics; determining a transmission characteristic of the received data; determining from the information the storage interconnect architecture associated with the determined transmission characteristic; using the information on the determined storage interconnect architecture to process the transmission and determine a transport layer for the received transmission, wherein there is one transport layer for each supported transport protocol; and forwarding the transmission to the determined transport layer; and (c) an expander on the backplane coupled to the slots and coupled to at least one server that accesses the storage unit assemblies mated in the slots of the storage enclosure, wherein the server is capable of accessing storage units using different storage interconnect architectures through the expander. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A system interfacing with storage units, comprising:
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(a) at least one storage enclosure, comprising; (i) a backplane; (ii) at least one slot in the storage enclosure for receiving one storage unit; and (iii) two physical interfaces on the backplane for at least one slot, wherein a storage unit is capable of being positioned in the slot to mate with one of the two physical interfaces for the slot, and wherein each physical interface supports different storage interconnect architectures; (b) at least one server, comprising; (i) an adaptor coupled to the storage enclosure; (ii) receiving data forwarded from the storage enclosure backplane; and (iii) circuitry to determine one of a plurality of storage interconnect architectures to process the data, wherein the server adaptor supports multiple storage interconnect architectures; wherein the storage enclosure further includes a multidrop connection having a first end in communication with the server and a second and third ends coupled to the two interfaces in one slot.
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Specification