Physically-addressable solid state disk (ssd) and a method of addressing the same

Abstract

A storage system includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) that has a physically-addressed solid state disk (SSD) and is addressable using physical addresses associated with user data that are provided by a host. The user data is to be stored in or retrieved from the physically-addressed SSD in blocks. Further, a non-volatile memory module is coupled to the CPU and includes flash tables used to manage blocks in the physically addressed SSD. The flash tables have tables that are used to map logical to physical blocks for identifying the location of the user data in the physically-addressed SSD. The flash tables are maintained in the non-volatile memory modules.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A storage system comprising:
 a Central Processing Unit (CPU):   at least one physically-addressed solid state disk (SSD) that is addressable using physical addresses associated with user data, the at least one physically-addressed SSD being provided by a host, the user data to be stored in or retrieved from the at least one physically-addressed SSD in blocks;   a non-volatile memory module coupled to the CPU and configured to store changes to tables, the tables used to map logical to physical block addresses for identifying the location of stored data in the at least one physically-addressed SSD, wherein the tables are moved to the at least one physically-addressed SSDs and the changes to the tables are maintained in the non-volatile memory module; and   a network interface controller coupled through a bus to the CPU.   
     
     
         2 . The storage system of  claim 1 , wherein upon the non-volatile memory module having associated therewith an available capacity and upon the available capacity reaching a desired available capacity, the tables being moved to the memory. 
     
     
         3 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one physically-addressed solid state disk (SSD) includes a subsystem and the subsystem being made of flash NAND memory. 
     
     
         4 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , further including a bank of memory controllers coupled to a bank of volatile RAM modules through a respective one of a bank of memory channels. 
     
     
         5 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one physically-addressable SSD includes a subsystem. 
     
     
         6 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 5 , wherein the subsystem is made of flash NAND memory. 
     
     
         7 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the at least one physically-addressed SSD is coupled through another bus to the CPU. 
     
     
         8 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the bus and the another bus are the same bus. 
     
     
         9 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the bus and the another bus are different busses. 
     
     
         10 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the bus is a PCIe bus. 
     
     
         11 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the another bus is a PCIe bus. 
     
     
         12 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 7 , further including a bridge controller configured to couple the bus and the another bus. 
     
     
         13 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 7 , wherein the bus and the another bus are PCIe busses. 
     
     
         14 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory module includes magnetic random access memory (MRAM). 
     
     
         15 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory module includes spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STTMRAM). 
     
     
         16 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory module is coupled to the CPU through a memory channel. 
     
     
         17 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 16 , wherein the non-volatile memory module is coupled to a CPU through a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) memory channel. 
     
     
         18 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory module is coupled to the CPU via a system bus. 
     
     
         19 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , further including a system memory configured to store a software driver configured to manage the flash tables. 
     
     
         20 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory module includes a cache configured to store the user data. 
     
     
         21 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the non-volatile memory module is configured to store a journal and the journal is configured to log the changes before the changes are made to the non-volatile memory module. 
     
     
         22 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , further including another bus coupling the at least one physically-addressed SSD to the CPU. 
     
     
         23 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 22 , wherein the another bus is a PCIe bus. 
     
     
         24 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 23 , wherein the CPU includes a controller. 
     
     
         25 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 24 , wherein the controller is coupled to the another bus. 
     
     
         26 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the CPU comprises a plurality of CPU cores. 
     
     
         27 . The storage system, as recited in  claim 1 , further including a bridge controller configured to couple the at least one physically-addressed SSD to the CPU.