Data storage architecture extension system and method

摘要

A data storage architecture extension (DAX) system and method that daisy-chains multiple SATA disk drive storage elements to allow a single host bus adapter (HBA) to view the daisy-chain as one logical SATA disk drive is disclosed. The system/method may be broadly described as comprising a pass-thru disk drive controller (PTDDC) further comprising a pass-thru input (PTI) port, disk drive interface (DDI) port, and pass-thru output (PTO) port. The PTDDC intercepts and translates PTI port input to the requirements of a SATA disk drive connected to the DDI. Each PTDDC may be daisy-chained to other PTDDCs to permit a plethora of SATA drives to be associated with a given HBA, with the first PTDDC providing a presentation interface to the HBA integrating all SATA disk drive storage connected to the PTDDCs. Rack mounting of PTDDC-enabled SATA disk drives enables creation of inexpensive dynamically expandable petabyte-class storage arrays.

主权项

1. An active serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) disk drive storage array backplane comprising:
(a) printed circuit board (PCB) backplane; (b) plurality of pass-thru disk drive controllers (PTDDCs); (c) plurality of electrical interface connectors (EICs); wherein said plurality of PTDDCs is mounted on said PCB backplane; said plurality of EICs is mounted on said PCB backplane and configured to electrically couple to a corresponding plurality of host bus adapter (HBA) and power supply input (PSI) connectors associated with a corresponding plurality of SATA disk drives; said PTDDCs each comprise a pass-thru input (PTI) port, pass-thru output (PTO) port, and disk drive interface (DDI) port; said PTI ports, said PTO ports, and said DDI ports are configured as SATA interfaces; said PTDDCs are configured to electrically couple corresponding said DDI ports to said corresponding plurality of host bus adapter (HBA) connectors; said PTDDCs are configured to connect a plurality of PTDDCs on said PCB to form a serial daisy-chain by only interconnecting the PTO port of one PTDDC to the PTI port of another PTDDC in said daisy-chain; said PTDDC is configured to present a continuous logical block address space via said PTI port comprising disk drives directly connected to PTDDCs in said daisy-chain; said PTDDC is configured to receive disk drive data access command (DDDAC) input via said PTI port; said PTDDC is configured to translate said DDDAC and electrically transmit said translation to a SATA disk drive (SDD) in a form suitable for use by said SDD; said PTDDC determines when said DDDAC falls within the logical block address (LBA) range of said SDD, and when so, passes said DDDAC to said SDD after modifying said DDDAC to account for said LBA range mapped by said SDD; said PTDDC determines when said DDDAC falls within said LBA range of said SDD, and when not, said DDDAC is passed via said PTO port to the PTI port of any daisy-chained PTDDC attached to said PTDDC PTO port; and said PTDDC logically connects storage from said SDD with said PTI port to pass-thru data transfers requested by said DDDAC to or from said SDD and said PTI port.