Apparatus, system, and method for a device shared between multiple independent hosts

• US 9,734,086 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2007
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jpmorgan Chase Bank NA As The Agent
• Original Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Thatcher, Jonathan, Flynn, David, Strasser, John
• Primary Examiner(s): BIAGINI, CHRISTOPHER D
• Application Number:
  US11/952,121
• Publication Number:
  US 20080183882A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,540 Days
• Field of Search: 709213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/183 Internal mounting support structures, e.g. for printed circuit boards, internal connecting means for buses G06F13/409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/108 Parity data distribution in semiconductor storages, e.g. in SSD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0804 with main memory updating G06F12/0806 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0868 Data transfer between cache memory and other subsystems, e.g. storage devices or host systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/12 Replacement control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/121 using replacement algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/123 with age lists, e.g. queue, most recently used [MRU] list or least recently used [LRU] list
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/28 using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access DMA, cycle steal G06F13/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/426 using an embedded synchronisation, e.g. Firewire bus, Fibre Channel bus, SSA bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/002 Bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/103 Hybrid, i.e. RAID systems with parity comprising a mix of RAID types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1032 Reliability improvement, data loss prevention, degraded operation etc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1044 Space efficiency improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/2022 Flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/222 Non-volatile memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/70 Details relating to dynamic memory management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7203 Temporary buffering, e.g. using volatile buffer or dedicated buffer blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7205 Cleaning, compaction, garbage collection, erase control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7208 : Multiple device management, e.g. distributing data over multiple flash devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 : Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 : Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 : in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 : in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 : Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 : Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0652 : Erasing, e.g. deleting, data cleaning, moving of data to a wastebasket
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0656 : Data buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 : Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 : Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 : Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 : Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 : Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 : Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 : for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1444 : Complex or three-dimensional-arrangements; Stepped or dual mother boards
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/1487 : Blade assemblies, e.g. blade cases or inner arrangements within a blade
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The invention includes a proxy request receiver module and a proxy request command module. The proxy request receiver module executes on a designated command proxy host and receives a proxy request from a requesting host. The requesting host is one of two or more hosts. Each of the hosts executes an operating system independent from the other hosts and a shared device. One of the hosts is designated as the command proxy host. A system bus connects the hosts and shared device. The proxy request includes a control request to be executed by the shared device sufficient to configure the shared device for a data transfer between the requesting host and shared device independent of the command proxy host. The control request is free of data. The proxy request command module transmits the control request to the shared device.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a command proxy host configured to communicate with a system bus, the command proxy host comprising;

a proxy request receiver module configured to receive a proxy request for a shared device from a requesting host, wherein the proxy request comprises a control request executable by the shared device to configure the shared device for a plurality of direct memory access data transfers via a data path between the requesting host and the shared device independent of the command proxy host, the plurality of data transfers comprising data corresponding to a plurality of requests initiated by the requesting host after the shared device executes the control request, the control request comprising control information including an intermediate buffer identification, the control request being executed during an initialization process;

a path module configured to create a communication path comprising the data path and a shared resource control path between the command proxy host and the shared device, wherein the shared resource control path is configurable to control allocation of the shared device to the requesting host;

a proxy request command module configured to transmit the control request via the shared resource control path to the shared device in response to the proxy request receiver module receiving the proxy request; and

wherein the proxy request receiver module, the path module, the proxy request command module, comprise one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

the shared device, wherein the shared device comprises a network interface configured to;

transfer data received from the requesting host over a computer network to a network device; and

transfer data received through the computer network from the network device to the requesting host.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

the shared device, wherein the shared device comprises a storage device and a storage controller.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the storage device further comprises a solid-state storage device, and wherein the storage controller comprises a solid-state storage controller.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the storage device is configured to store at least a portion of transmitted data on a storage division of the storage device, the storage division comprising a sequence indicator to preserve an ordered sequence of storage operations on the shared storage device.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the storage device is configured to:

store a first portion of transmitted data on a first one of a plurality of solid-state storage elements of the solid-state storage device; and

store a second portion of the transmitted data on a second one of the solid-state storage elements.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the storage device is configured to:

generate an error-correcting code (ECC) block comprising transmitted data and an error-correcting code capable of correcting an error in the ECC block; and

store a first portion of the ECC block on a first one of a plurality of solid-state storage elements of the solid-state storage device and a second portion of the ECC block on a second one of the solid-state storage elements.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the storage device is configured to write data sequentially on the solid-state storage device to preserve an ordered sequence of storage operations.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the system bus comprises a peripheral component interconnect express (PCI-e) bus.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the command proxy host is configured to support PCI-e input/output virtualization (PCie-IOV).

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

the shared device, wherein the shared device comprises the command proxy host.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

the requesting host, wherein the command proxy host and the requesting host are configured to execute separate operating systems, and wherein the command proxy or the requesting host is configured to execute one of the operating systems above a virtual machine layer.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the command proxy host is configured to create the data path for a remote direct memory access (RDMA) transfer between the requesting host and the shared device.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the command proxy host further comprises:

a standard device emulation module configured to emulate the shared device to an independent host as a standard device attached to the system bus during device discovery and prior to the independent host loading a device driver specific to the shared device; and

wherein the standard device emulation module comprises one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the standard device emulation module is configured to support I/O virtualization.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

the system bus, wherein the system bus further comprises a system bus switch with a non-transparent port configured such that a first initialization process of the requesting host discovers the command proxy host and fails to discover the shared device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the non-transparent port is further configured such that a second initialization process of the command proxy host discovers the shared device and identifies the shared device for communication with the command proxy host.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an interrupt receiver module, executing on the command proxy host, configured to receive receives an interrupt from the shared device via the shared resource control path, wherein the interrupt comprises information indicating that the shared device has data to be transmitted to the requesting host; and

an interrupt transmission module configured to transmit the information included in the interrupt to the requesting host via the shared resource control path, wherein the interrupt receiver module comprises one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the path module is configured to determine, in response to the interrupt from the shared device, whether the communication path exists.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a command proxy host that communicates with a system bus, the command proxy host comprising;

a proxy request receiver module that receives a proxy request from a requesting host;

a path module that creates a data path between a shared device and the requesting host and a shared resource control path between the command proxy host and the shared device, wherein the data path is created by sending a control request, corresponding to the proxy request, to the shared device via the shared resource control path, the control request is executable to configure the shared device for a plurality of direct memory access data transfers via the data path independent of the command proxy host, and the plurality of data transfers comprise data corresponding to a plurality of requests initiated by the requesting host after the shared device executes the control request, the control request comprising control information including an intermediate buffer identification, the control request being executed during an initialization process; and

an interrupt module that receives, from the shared device, an interrupt comprising information specifying that the shared device has data to be transmitted to the requesting host;

wherein the interrupt module transmits the information to the requesting host, and wherein the proxy request receiver module, the path module, and the interrupt module comprise one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the command proxy host comprises:

a standard device emulation module that emulates the shared device to the requesting host as a standard device attached to the system bus during device discovery and prior to the requesting host loading a device driver for the shared device,

wherein the standard device emulation module comprises one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

22. An apparatus, comprising:

a requesting host configurable to communicate with a command proxy host via a system bus, the requesting host comprising;

a proxy request transmitter module configurable to transmit a proxy request to the command proxy host via a shared resource control path between the requesting host and the command proxy host, wherein the proxy request comprises a control request executable by a shared device to configure the shared device for a plurality of direct memory access data transfers between the requesting host and the shared device via a data path created by the command proxy host independent of the command proxy host, the plurality of data transfers comprising data corresponding to a plurality of requests initiated by the requesting host after the shared device executes the control request, the control request comprising control information including an intermediate buffer identification, the control request being executed during an initialization process; and

a host data transmitter module configurable to initiate a plurality of data transfers between the requesting host and the shared device via the data path, wherein the plurality of data transfers is executable independently of the command proxy host;

wherein the proxy request transmitter module, and the host data transmitter module, comprise one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the requesting host further comprises:

a host interrupt receiver module configurable to receive, from the command proxy host, interrupt information specifying that the shared device has data to be transmitted to the requesting host; and

a host data receiver module configurable to continue a process of receiving the transfer of data; and

wherein the host interrupt receiver module and the host data receiver module comprises one or more of logic hardware and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium having program code stored thereon, wherein the program code is executable to cause a computer system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a proxy request from a requesting host, the proxy request comprising a control request executable by a shared device to configure the shared device for a plurality of direct memory access data transfers between the requesting host and the shared device independent of the command proxy host, the plurality of data transfers comprising data corresponding to a plurality of requests initiated by the requesting host after the shared device executes the control request, the control request comprising control information including an intermediate buffer identification, the control request being executed during an initialization process;

creating a communication path, the communication path comprising a data path between the shared device and the requesting host and a shared resource control path between the command proxy host and the shared device, wherein the shared resource control path is configurable to control allocation of the shared device to the requesting host; and

transmitting the control request to the shared device via the shared resource control path.

25. A method, comprising:

a command proxy host receiving a proxy request from a requesting host via a system bus, wherein the proxy request includes information for configuring the shared device for a plurality of direct memory access data transfers between the requesting host and the shared device independent of the command proxy host, the plurality of data transfers comprising data corresponding to a plurality of requests initiated by the requesting host after the shared device executes the control request, the control request comprising control information including an intermediate buffer identification, the control request being executed during an initialization process;

creating a communication path using the system bus, the communication path comprising a data path between the shared device and the requesting host and a shared resource control path between the command proxy host and the shared device, wherein the shared resource control path is configurable to control allocation of the shared device; and

the command proxy host transmitting the information to the shared device via the shared resource control path to configure the shared device for a plurality of direct data transfers between the requesting host and the shared device, wherein the plurality of direct data transfers is executable independently of the command proxy host and the plurality of data transfers comprise data corresponding to a plurality of requests initiated by the requesting host.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the shared device comprises a storage device, wherein the storage device stores at least a portion of data from the direct data transfer on a storage division of the storage device, the storage division comprising a sequence indicator to preserve an ordered sequence of storage operations on the storage device.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the shared device comprises a storage device, wherein the storage device stores a first portion of data from the direct data transfer on a first one of a plurality of solid-state storage elements, and stores a second portion of data from the direct data transfer on a second one of the solid-state storage elements.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the shared device comprises a storage device, and wherein the method further comprises:

generating an error-correcting code (ECC) block comprising transmitted data and an error-correcting code capable of correcting an error in the ECC block; and

storing a first portion of the ECC block on a first one of a plurality of solid-state storage elements of the storage device and a second portion of the ECC block on a second one of the solid-state storage elements.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the shared device comprises a storage device, and wherein the method further comprises writing data sequentially on the storage device to preserve an ordered sequence of storage operations completed on the storage device.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising the command proxy host receiving an interrupt from the shared device, wherein the interrupt is indicative of the shared device having data to transfer to the requesting host;

and the command proxy host forwarding the interrupt to the requesting host.