ORDERING A PLURALITY OF WRITE COMMANDS ASSOCIATED WITH A STORAGE DEVICE

• US 20120102287A1
• Filed: 07/02/2010
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Stenfort, Ross John
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/167
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/1626 by reordering requests
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4282 on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0638 Organizing or formatting or addressing of data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• 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]

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for ordering a plurality of write commands associated with a storage device. In operation, a plurality of write commands associated with a storage device to be sent to a device are identified. Additionally, an order of the plurality of write commands is determined, the determined order being START known by the device. Further, the plurality of write commands are ordered in the determined order.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a plurality of write commands associated with a storage device to be sent to a device;

determining an order of the plurality of write commands, the determined order being known by the device; and

ordering the plurality of write commands in the determined order.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined order is a predetermined order known by the device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the order is determined based on an order in which the plurality of write commands are identified.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising permitting the device to pre-fetch data associated with the plurality of write commands.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the device is permitted to pre-fetch the data before an associated write command is executed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying, determining, and ordering are performed based on a mode of the storage device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage device orders the plurality of write commands in the determined order.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes a storage-interface adapter for a host system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes an SAS/SATA bridge.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes a USB/SATA bridge.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes an FC/SATA bridge.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes one of a PCI or PCI Express based plug in card.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes one of a PCI or PCI Express interface.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes an interface used to access at least one storage device or system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the device includes a device capable of having a plurality of commands outstanding at one time.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a plurality of read commands associated with the storage device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of read commands associated with the storage device are ordered randomly.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the plurality of read commands ordered randomly are intermixed with the plurality of write commands in the determined order.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage device includes one of a Serial ATA (SATA) drive, a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drive, a Fibre Channel (FC) drive, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage device includes one of a PCI or PCI Express based plug in card configured to appear as a storage device.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage device includes one of a PCI or PCI Express interface configured to appear as a storage device.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein a PCI or PCI Express interface is used to access the storage device.

23. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for identifying a plurality of write commands associated with a storage device to be sent to a device;

computer code for determining an order of the plurality of write commands, the determined order being known by the device; and

computer code for ordering the plurality of write commands in the determined order.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage device for identifying a plurality of write commands associated with the storage device to be sent to a device, and for ordering the plurality of write commands in a determined order, the determined order being known by the device.

25. An method, comprising:

processing write commands by a device enabled to communicate with a drive compatible with a storage protocol that permits command execution in random order, each write command having associated write data;

the device fetching the write data associated with at least some of the write commands, the device sending the fetched data to the drive;

performing the fetching of the associated write data in a same particular order as the executing of the write commands by the drive; and

wherein the device is enabled to fully utilize all available write data storage for the associated write data next fetched.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the device first encounters the write commands in a sequence other than the particular order.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein with respect to the drive the device functions as a host bus adapter or a bridge.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

the device sending the write commands to the drive in a particular sequence; and

wherein the particular order is established by and the same as the particular sequence.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the storage protocol is Serial ATA (SATA) compatible.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the drive is a solid-state drive (SSD).

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the drive is enabled to execute non-write commands in an order independent of the particular order and intermixed with the execution of the write commands.

32. An apparatus, comprising:

means for communicating with a drive compatible with a storage protocol that permits command execution in random order;

means for processing write commands, each write command having associated write data;

means for fetching the write data associated with at least some of the write commands;

means for sending the fetched data to the drive;

means for performing the fetching of the associated write data in a same particular order as the executing of the write commands by the drive; and

wherein the device is enabled to fully utilize all available write data storage for the associated write data next fetched.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the apparatus first encounters the write commands in a sequence other than the particular order.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the apparatus is an initiator or a bridge.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising:

means for sending the write commands to the drive in a particular sequence; and

wherein the particular order is established by and the same as the particular sequence.

36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the storage protocol is Serial ATA (SATA) compatible.

37. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the drive is a solid-state drive (SSD).

38. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the drive is enabled to execute non-write commands in an order independent of the particular order and intermixed with the execution of the write commands.

39. A tangible computer readable medium having a set of instructions stored therein which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform functions comprising:

processing write commands by a device enabled to communicate with a drive compatible with a storage protocol that permits command execution in random order, each write command having associated write data;

the device fetching the write data associated with at least some of the write commands, the device sending the fetched data to the drive;

performing the fetching of the associated write data in a same particular order as the executing of the write commands by the drive; and

wherein the device is enabled to fully utilize all available write data storage for the associated write data next fetched.

40. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the device first encounters the write commands in a sequence other than the particular order.

41. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the device is a selected one of a host bus adapter and a bridge.

42. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the processing write commands comprises at least one of generating the write commands and receiving the write commands.

43. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the storage protocol is Serial ATA (SATA) compatible.

44. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the drive is a solid-state drive (SSD).

45. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the drive is enabled to execute non-write commands in an order independent of the particular order and intermixed with the execution of the write commands.

46. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the stored set of instructions when executed by the computer causes the computer to perform further functions comprising:

the device sending the write commands to the drive in a particular sequence; and

wherein the particular order is established by and the same as the particular sequence.

47. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage-interface enabled to communicate with a drive compatible with a storage protocol that permits command execution in random order;

a queue enabled to temporarily hold write commands, each write command having associated write data;

control logic to fetch the write data associated with at least some of the write commands and to send the fetched data to the drive; and

wherein the control logic is enabled to perform the fetching of the associated write data in a same particular order as the executing of the write commands by the drive, and is further enabled to fully utilize all available write data storage for the associated write data next fetched.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the apparatus first encounters the write commands in a sequence other than the particular order.

49. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the particular order is communicated to the apparatus by the drive.

50. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein each of the apparatus and the drive are pre-configured to use the particular order.

51. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the particular order is determined in at least one of the apparatus and the drive via selection of at least one mode of operation.

52. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the particular order is first-come first-served.

53. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein at least one of the apparatus and the drive always use the particular order.

54. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the apparatus functions as a host bus adapter with respect to the drive.

55. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the apparatus functions as a bridge with respect to the drive.

56. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the storage protocol is Serial ATA (SATA) compatible.

57. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the drive is a solid-state drive (SSD).

58. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the drive is enabled to execute non-write commands in an order independent of the particular order and intermixed with the execution of the write commands.

59. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the apparatus at least generates the write commands.

60. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the apparatus at least receives the write commands.

61. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the control logic is further enabled to send the write commands to the drive in a particular sequence, and the particular order is established by and the same as the particular sequence.

62. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the write commands temporarily held in the queue are held in a particular sequence, the control logic is further enabled to send the write commands to the drive in the particular sequence, and the particular order is established by and the same as the particular sequence.