Inventors:
Timothy John Mueggenberg - Coon Rapids MN, US
Christopher J. Van Krevelen - Coon Rapids MN, US
Atiq Ahamad - Maplegrove MN, US
Assignee:
Storage Technology Corporation - Louisville CO
International Classification:
H04L 12/28
Abstract:
A hardware frame modifier apparatus where the functions of the virtual device and virtual host are combined so that a single processor may perform them is provided. The hardware frame modifier apparatus may virtualize command and status frames without a store and forward operation. The modified command and status frames are sent to the physical host and physical device. The hardware frame modifier apparatus used a virtual table, updated by the virtual device/virtual host, to determine the appropriate mapping of the logical storage device of the frames to a physical storage device. Based on this mapping, the hardware frame modifier changes the frame header to direct the frame directly to the physical storage device and to determine the appropriate conversion of command and status type. In this way, the number of store and forward operations required to send data frames to, or read from, the physical storage devices is reduced or eliminated, thus reducing the delay or latency.
