Dormant Hardware Activation for NVMe Storage Systems
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Modern distributed data storage systems face performance bottlenecks and reliability issues due to increased complexity and volume of data handling, particularly with the NVMe protocol, which can lead to degraded system performance and security concerns.
Innovation Solution
A distributed data storage system that identifies the manufacturing origin of hardware components, allowing for intelligent activation, throttling, and optimization of hardware resources to ensure reliable and efficient data access by utilizing trusted components for specific tasks, thereby mitigating bottlenecks and maintaining system performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If hardware components are kept dormant or throttled to reduce power consumption and heat generation, then energy efficiency improves, but system performance and data access speed deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic power management by transitioning hardware components between dormant, throttled, and fully operational states based on real-time system conditions and task requirements. The controller dynamically adjusts the operational state of NVMe devices, enabling the system to optimize power consumption while maintaining performance when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification of hardware origin and capability before activating dormant components. By pre-characterizing hardware components and their origins, the system can quickly determine which dormant components should be activated for specific tasks, reducing the latency penalty of waking up hardware.
2Reliability
If hardware origin identification is implemented to enhance security and reliability, then system security improves, but device complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The hardware components self-identify their origin and capabilities through embedded identifiers that are automatically detected by the controller. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for complex external verification systems, reducing processing overhead while maintaining security and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of hardware identification from complex multi-factor authentication to simple origin-based identification. By using hardware origin as the primary identification parameter, the system achieves enhanced security and reliability with minimal processing overhead.
3Productivity
If dormant hardware is activated to handle high volume data access requests, then productivity improves, but system complexity and activation latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification and characterization of hardware origin before activation. This pre-characterization allows the controller to make informed decisions about which dormant components to activate and for what purposes, reducing activation latency by avoiding runtime discovery and decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that monitor system load and performance metrics, automatically triggering activation of dormant hardware when thresholds are exceeded. This feedback-driven approach optimizes productivity by activating components only when necessary, balancing throughput improvement against activation overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A data storage system may connect a host to a device and a hardware module that are utilized to satisfy at least one host-generated data access request to the device. A portion of the device is set as dormant by the hardware module prior to identifying an origin of the device with the hardware module during the satisfaction of the at least one host-generated data access request. In response to the identified origin, the previously dormant portion of the device is activated and subsequently utilized to execute a task assigned by the hardware module.