Peripheral Device Emulating Storage Protocol for Host Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data storage technologies face challenges in efficiently managing Input/Output (I/O) transactions across different storage protocols, leading to security vulnerabilities and performance issues, especially in multi-tenant cloud applications where hosts need to be isolated from control-plane operations of network storage protocols.
Innovation Solution
A peripheral device with processing circuitry that exposes a bus storage protocol to hosts, allowing it to complete I/O transactions using a network storage protocol by running a host-side protocol stack, thereby isolating the host from control-plane operations and offloading network storage protocol tasks, while supporting multiple filesystems, caching, and zero-copy data transfers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hosts directly manage network storage protocol operations, then storage control flexibility is improved, but security vulnerabilities increase due to exposure to control-plane operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a peripheral device as an intermediary between hosts and network storage systems. This device includes a protocol stack that handles network storage protocol operations, thereby isolating hosts from direct exposure to control-plane operations while maintaining storage control flexibility through the exposed peripheral-bus device interface
2Adaptability or versatility
If hosts handle network storage protocol tasks directly, then protocol control is improved, but host performance deteriorates due to processing overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the network storage protocol stack operations from the host system and relocates them to a dedicated peripheral device. This extraction maintains protocol control through the exposed interface while improving host performance by eliminating the processing overhead of network storage protocol tasks from the host
3Adaptability or versatility
If protocol stack operations are run on hosts, then storage management control is improved, but maintenance complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The peripheral device serves as an intermediary that encapsulates the protocol stack operations. This allows storage management control to be maintained through the exposed peripheral-bus device interface while reducing maintenance complexity, as the protocol stack is now isolated in a dedicated device rather than distributed across host systems
Data Source
AI summary
A peripheral device includes a host interface and processing circuitry. The host interface is to communicate with one or more hosts over a peripheral bus.The processing circuitry is to expose on the peripheral bus a peripheral-bus device that communicates with the one or more hosts using one or more instances of at least one bus storage protocol, to receive, using the exposed peripheral-bus device, Input/Output (I/O) transactions that are issued by the one or more hosts, and to complete the I/O transactions for the one or more hosts in accordance with one or more instances of at least one network storage protocol, by running at least part of a host-side protocol stack of the at least one network storage protocol.