Storage Media Accelerator Virtualizing SSD Isolation Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy storage interfaces designed for hard-disk drives face performance issues when accessing solid-state memory, leading to high read latency and wear patterns due to conflicting write/erase cycles, particularly in multi-tenant systems where access activities from one initiator affect others.
Innovation Solution
A storage media accelerator is introduced to virtualize isolation areas of solid-state storage media, exposing virtualized units of storage to hosts while offloading low-level functions like wear leveling and load balancing, allowing direct control over access and topology awareness to isolate traffic without host involvement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If legacy storage interfaces are used to access solid-state memory, then compatibility with existing systems is maintained, but read latency increases and wear patterns occur due to conflicting write/erase cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a storage media accelerator as an intermediary device between the host and solid-state storage media. This accelerator includes a virtualizer that creates virtualized isolation areas, effectively mediating between the legacy storage interface and the solid-state memory to resolve the contradiction by preventing conflicting write/erase cycles while maintaining interface compatibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage media is divided into multiple isolated units or areas that can be independently managed. The virtualizer segments the physical storage media into virtualized isolation areas, allowing different initiators to access different segments without interfering with each other's write/erase cycles, thus reducing read latency while maintaining legacy interface compatibility.
2Device complexity
If storage isolation is implemented without virtualization, then simpler architecture is maintained, but access activities from one initiator affect other initiators in multi-tenant systems
Solution Approach 1:
The virtualizer acts as an intermediary layer that provides storage isolation without requiring complex changes to the host architecture. It manages multiple virtualized isolation areas and directs initiator requests to appropriate physical storage areas, ensuring isolation while keeping the overall system architecture relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtualizer creates virtual copies or representations of physical storage areas. Each initiator receives access to virtualized copies that map to physical storage media, providing isolation without requiring physical separation or complex architectural changes at the host level.
3Ease of operation
If hosts directly manage solid-state storage access, then full control is achieved, but computational burden on hosts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex management functions of solid-state storage from the host system and places them in the storage media accelerator. The virtualizer handles address translation, wear leveling, and isolation management, freeing the host from these computationally intensive tasks while maintaining full control over storage access through the virtualized interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage media accelerator provides self-service capabilities by automatically managing virtualized isolation areas, performing wear leveling, and handling address translations without requiring host intervention. This reduces the computational burden on hosts while maintaining ease of operation through automatic resource management.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure describes apparatuses and methods for virtualizing isolation areas of solid-state storage media. In some aspects, a storage media accelerator determines, via a storage media interface, a geometry of solid-state storage media. The accelerator selects, based on the geometry, an area of the solid-state storage media as an isolated unit of storage. A physical address of the isolated unit of storage is then mapped to a virtual address. The accelerator exposes, via the virtual address, the isolated unit of storage through a host interface to enable host access of the isolated unit of storage. The accelerator may also remap the isolated unit of storage to other areas of the solid-state storage media without host interaction. By so doing, the accelerator may provide virtualized isolation and partitioning functionalities to a host, while efficiently handling lower-level storage media functions, such as wear leveling and load balancing, without host involvement.