Storage device and storage virtualization system

Abstract

The storage device and storage virtualization system include a non-volatile memory device, and a memory controller configured to generate at least one virtual device corresponding to a physical storage area of the non-volatile memory device, and convert a virtual address for the virtual device into a physical address in response to an access request.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A storage device comprising:
 a non-volatile memory device; and   a memory controller configured to generate at least one virtual device corresponding to a physical storage area of the non-volatile memory device and convert a virtual address for the virtual device into a physical address in response to an access request.   
     
     
         2 . The storage device of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual device performs a resource mapping process converting the virtual address into a logical address, and performs an address conversion process converting the logical address resulting from the resource mapping process into a physical address. 
     
     
         3 . The storage device of  claim 2 , wherein the memory controller further comprises a random access memory to store virtual device mapping table information for retrieving a logical address corresponding to a virtual address, and the virtual device converts the virtual address into a logical address by using the virtual device mapping table information stored in the random access memory. 
     
     
         4 . The storage device of  claim 3 , wherein the memory controller writes the virtual device mapping table information stored in the random access memory to the non-volatile memory device before the storage device is powered off and loads virtual device mapping table information read from the non-volatile memory device to the random access memory after the storage device is powered on. 
     
     
         5 . The storage device of  claim 1 , wherein the memory controller generates specific identification device (ID) data corresponding to the at least one virtual device in response to a device virtualization request from a host, and transmits the generated specific ID data corresponding to the at least one virtual device to the host. 
     
     
         6 . The storage device of  claim 1 , wherein, in response to a virtualization request from a host, the memory controller generates a physical function device and at least one virtual function device, wherein the physical function device sets access authority of a virtual machine (VM) monitor of the host, the at least one virtual function device is assigned to a VM of the host. 
     
     
         7 . The storage device of  claim 6 , wherein the memory controller provides an interface configured to allocate resources to the at least one virtual function device and setting access authority corresponding to the at least one virtual function device, to the host. 
     
     
         8 . The storage device of  claim 6 , wherein the physical function device sets an access control setting corresponding to the at least virtual function device, wherein the access control setting is based on virtual machine identification information, virtual address range information, logical address range information, permission information, and policy information which correspond to the at least one virtual function device. 
     
     
         9 . The storage device of  claim 6 , wherein, when a write request is generated for writing data to a storage area in which only a read operation is permitted on a set copy-on-write policy, the at least one virtual function device assigns a new logical address to the storage area and copies data stored in the storage area to which the write request is to be performed, and changes mapping information of a logical address corresponding to a virtual address. 
     
     
         10 . A storage virtualization system comprising:
 a host configured to communicate with devices connected through an input/output (I/O) adapter and process data in a virtualization environment; and   at least one storage device connected to the I/O adapter and configured to generate at least one virtual device in response to a device virtualization request received from the host, perform a resource mapping process converting the virtual address into a logical address in response to an access request from the host, and perform an address conversion process converting the converted logical address into a physical address.   
     
     
         11 . The storage virtualization system of  claim 10 , wherein the host comprises:
 at least one virtual machine (VM), wherein the VM is a software implementation of a computing environment;   a VM monitor (VMM) managing the at least one VM; and   an I/O adapter connected to the at least one storage device to transmit and receive data.   
     
     
         12 . The storage virtualization system of  claim 11 , wherein the I/O adapter supports a single-route input/output virtualization (SR-IOV) function providing a virtual I/O. 
     
     
         13 . The storage virtualization system of  claim 11 , wherein the memory controller provides the host with a physical function device and at least one virtual function device in response to a virtualization request from the host, the physical function device sets access authority of the VMM, and the at least one virtual function device sets access authority of the VM. 
     
     
         14 . The storage virtualization system of  claim 13 , wherein the VMM performs a mapping process assigning the virtual function device to the VM when the VM is generated, and sets an access control setting corresponding to the virtual function device through the physical function device. 
     
     
         15 . The storage virtualization system of  claim 13 , wherein, when a write request is generated for writing data to a storage area in which only a read operation is permitted on a set copy-on-write policy, the at least one virtual function device assigns a new logical address to the storage area and copies data stored in the storage area to which the write request is to be performed, and changes mapping information of a logical address corresponding to a virtual address. 
     
     
         16 . A storage device comprising:
 a non-volatile memory device including a physical storage area; and   a memory controller configured to
 control write, read and erasure operations with respect to the memory device, 
 divide the non-volatile memory device into a plurality of physical storage areas, 
 generate virtual devices corresponding to a respective physical storage area of the plurality of physical storage areas of the non-volatile memory device, and 
 convert a virtual address for each virtual device into a respective physical address in response to an access request. 
   
     
     
         17 . The storage device of  claim 16 , wherein the virtual device performs a resource mapping process converting the virtual addresses into logical addresses, and performs an address conversion process converting the logical addresses resulting from the resource mapping process into physical addresses. 
     
     
         18 . The storage device of  claim 17 , wherein the memory controller further comprises a random access memory to store virtual device mapping table information for retrieving logical addresses corresponding to virtual addresses, and the virtual devices convert the corresponding virtual address into a logical address by using the virtual device mapping table information stored in the random access memory. 
     
     
         19 . The storage device of  claim 18 , wherein the memory controller writes the virtual device mapping table information stored in the random access memory to the non-volatile memory device before the storage device is powered off and loads virtual device mapping table information read from the non-volatile memory device to the random access memory after the storage device is powered on. 
     
     
         20 . The storage device of  claim 16 , wherein the memory controller generates specific identification device (ID) data corresponding to each of the virtual devices in response to a device virtualization request from a host, and transmits the generated specific ID data corresponding to the virtual devices to the host.