Virtual Disk Address Bridging for Shared Physical Storage

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Solution Overview

Problem

The deployment of virtual machines on hosts results in inefficient use of storage resources due to each virtual machine being configured with a physical disk, leading to resource wastage when the actual storage space used is less than the physical disk capacity.

Innovation Solution

A bridging device translates virtual addresses to physical addresses using preconfigured mapping relationships, converting initial access requests from virtual machines into target access requests to optimize the use of physical disks across multiple virtual machines.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If each virtual machine is configured with a physical disk, then the virtual machine can access storage, but storage resources are wasted when actual usage is less than physical disk capacity

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestorage access capabilityVSAvoidstorage resource waste
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The physical disk is segmented into multiple virtual disks through virtualization partitioning. Each virtual machine receives a virtual disk that is a portion of the physical disk, allowing flexible allocation and sharing of storage resources among multiple virtual machines without requiring each to have dedicated physical disk space.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A bridging device is introduced as an intermediary between virtual machines and the physical storage device. The bridging device translates virtual addresses to physical addresses using preconfigured mapping relationships, enabling virtual machines to access the physical disk through virtualized interfaces while the bridging device manages the address translation and resource sharing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If virtualization partitioning is implemented, then storage resources can be shared among multiple virtual machines, but address translation complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestorage sharing capabilityVSAvoidaddress mapping complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The address mapping relationships between virtual addresses and physical addresses are preconfigured before the virtual machines access the storage device. This preliminary setup of mapping relationships eliminates the need for real-time address translation calculations, reducing the operational complexity while maintaining the flexibility of resource sharing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The bridging device serves as an intermediary that handles the address translation complexity. By preconfiguring mapping relationships and centralizing the translation function in the bridging device, the complexity of managing multiple virtual machines accessing a shared physical disk is isolated from the virtual machines themselves, simplifying their operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP4481549B1Method, bridging device, system and medium of virtualization processing of storage device
Publication Date: 2025.12.31 BEIJING VOLCANO ENGINE TECH CO LTD
  • EP4481549B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4481549B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP4481549B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5

AI summary

Embodiments of the present application relate to a method, a bridging device, a system and a medium of virtualization processing of a storage device. The method comprises: receiving (S110) an initial access request to a virtual disk sent by a virtual machine user; translating (S120) the virtual address corresponding to the virtual machine to a first physical address corresponding to a host based on a preconfigured address mapping relationship; translating (S130) the virtual access address to a second physical address corresponding to the storage device based on a preconfigured virtual partition mapping relationship; and generating (S140) a target access request based on the first physical address and the second physical address, and sending the target access request to the host, so as to cause the host to perform information interaction with the storage device based on the target access request.