Method and system for a storage device

• US 8,161,223 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Augmentix Corporation
• Inventors: Chamseddine, Ahmad, Bruce, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Nimesh G
• Application Number:
  US12/048,271
• Time in Patent Office: 1,495 Days
• Field of Search: 710/315, 710/310, 711/202
• US Class Current: 710/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0614 Improving the reliability of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/062 Securing storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0662 Virtualisation aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

Systems and methods for storage devices are presented. More specifically, in one embodiment a storage device may comprise have an enclosure comprising an interface which may be coupled to an I/O bus of a computing system with which it is being utilized. Commands may be received through the interface and, invisibly to the computing system which issues the commands, translated into a set of commands configured to effectuate the received command in conjunction with one or more storage media coupled to the interface, where this set of commands may also be configured to implement additional functionality such as RAID or data encryption in conjunction with the storage media.

Claims

1. A storage device, comprising:

an enclosure including a processor;

a first interface operable to interface with a first I/O bus and receive a first command for storing data utilizing a first protocol, wherein the storage device appears as a single storage device on the first I/O bus;

a second interface operable to interface with a plurality of second I/O buses to store the data corresponding to the first command, a first I/O bus of the plurality of second I/O buses utilizing a second protocol associated with a first type of storage media selected for non-critical data storage and a second I/O bus of the plurality of second I/O buses utilizing a third protocol associated with a second type of storage media selected for critical data storage and different from the second protocol, each of the plurality of second I/O buses coupled to one or more storage media; and

a controller comprising a memory for storing a set of instructions executable by the processor to determine a type of storage media into which the data is to be stored;

a plurality of queues operable to buffer the first command received through the first interface, wherein a first set of queues is configured to buffer commands associated with the first type of storage media and a second set of queues is configured to buffer commands associated with the second type of storage media;

a map operable to map an address for the first command received on the first I/O bus to one or more physical addresses corresponding to the one or more storage media coupled to the second I/O buses associated with the type of storage media into which the data is to be stored; and

a translator operable to configure a communication in the first protocol, the second protocol or the third protocol,

wherein the controller is operable to store the data on the one or more storage media coupled to the plurality of second I/O buses and to implement a level of RAID in conjunction with two or more storage media coupled to the plurality of second I/O buses by buffering the first command in the first set of queues or the second set of queues based on the determination that the data is non-critical or critical and translating the first command to one or more second commands according to the second protocol or the third protocol to implement the first command in conjunction with the level of RAID.

2. The storage device of claim 1, wherein each of the corresponding storage media are disk platters, solid state storage media or disk drives.

3. The storage device of claim 2, wherein the enclosure comprises the first interface, the plurality of second I/O buses, the corresponding storage media and the controller.

4. The storage device of claim 3, wherein the enclosure is an industry standard size.

5. The storage device of claim 3, wherein the enclosure is a proprietary size.

6. The storage device of claim 3, wherein the first I/O bus is a SATA, PATA, SCSI, or FC bus.

7. The storage device of claim 6, wherein the plurality of second I/O buses are SATA, PATA, SCSI, or FC buses.

8. The storage device of claim 3, further comprising encryption logic operable to implement one or more encryption algorithms to data being stored in, or retrieved from one or more of the one or more storage media.

9. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the RAID level is level 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 10.

10. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the storage device is further operable to implement multi-RAID modes and cascaded storage media.

11. A method for implementing a storage device having an enclosure with a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions executable for:

receiving a first command through a first interface of the storage device operable to interface with a first I/O bus utilizing a first protocol, wherein the storage device comprises a plurality of second I/O buses including a first I/O bus of the plurality of second I/O buses utilizing a second protocol associated with a first type of storage media selected for non-critical data storage and a second bus of the plurality of second I/O buses utilizing a third protocol associated with a second type of storage media selected for critical data storage and different from the second protocol, wherein each I/O bus of the plurality of second I/O buses is operable to couple to one or more storage media;

determining a type of storage media into which the data is to be stored,

buffering the first command in one or more of a plurality of queues, wherein a first set of queues is configured to buffer commands associated with the first type of storage media and a second set of queues is configured to buffer commands associated with the second type of storage media;

mapping an address for the first command received on the first I/O bus to one or more addresses corresponding to the one or more storage media coupled to the second I/O buses;

translating the first command to one or more second commands according to the second protocol or the third protocol;

storing the data in the one or more storage media, wherein the storage device is operable to map an address for the first command received on the first I/O bus to one or more physical addresses corresponding to the first type of storage media coupled to the first I/O bus of the plurality of second I/O buses or the second type of storage media coupled to the second I/O bus of the plurality of second I/O buses such that the storage device appears as a single storage device on the first I/O bus; and

implementing a level of RAID in conjunction with two or more storage media coupled to the plurality of second I/O buses by buffering the first command received through the first interface in one queue of the first set of queues or the second set of queues based on the determination that the data is non-critical or critical and translating the first command received on the first I/O bus to one or more second commands according to the second protocol or the third protocol to implement the first command in conjunction with the level of RAID.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the storage media are disk platters, solid state storage media or disk drives.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the enclosure is an industry standard size.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the enclosure is a proprietary size.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to implement the first command in conjunction with a level of RAID.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the RAID level is level 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 10.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising implementing multi-RAID modes and cascaded storage devices.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the first I/O bus is a SATA, PATA, SCSI, or FC bus.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of second I/O buses is a SATA, PATA, SCSI, or FC bus.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising encrypting data being stored in, or retrieved from one or more of the one or more storage media.