Aggregation and virtualization of solid state drives

A drive aggregator, comprising:

• a host interface configured to communicate with a host system;
• a plurality of drive interfaces to communicate with a plurality of component solid state drives respectively to aggregate the plurality of component solid state drives to operate as a single aggregated solid state drive, wherein the plurality of component solid state drives comprises at least a first solid state drive and a second solid state drive, wherein the first solid state drive comprises has a first controller configured to process commands from host systems and the second solid state drive comprises a second controller configured to process commands from the host systems;
• and
• a translation logic coupled between the host interface and the plurality of drive interfaces;
• wherein the host interface is configured to communicate between host systems and the aggregated solid state drive consisting of the plurality of component solid state drives according to a first protocol of communications, and the plurality of drive interfaces are configured to communicate between the host system and the plurality of component solid state drives according to a second protocol of communications, wherein the first protocol between the aggregated solid state drive consisting of the plurality of component solid state drives and the host is supported by the component solid state drives;
• wherein the translation logic is configured to distribute commands received in the host interface to the drive interfaces based on namespaces identified in the commands received in the host interface;
• and
• wherein the host system is configured to recognize and communicate directly to the first solid state drive to access data upon connection of the first solid state drive directly to the host system without use of the drive aggregator.

A method, comprising:

• receiving according to a first protocol of communications, in a drive aggregator, a first command from a host system, the command specifying an operation;
• mapping, by the drive aggregator, an address in the first command to an address in a solid state drive among a plurality of component solid state drives that are connected to the drive aggregator, wherein the plurality of component solid state drives are aggregated to operate as a single aggregated solid state drive, and further wherein the plurality of component solid state drives comprises at least a first solid state drive and a second solid state drive, wherein the first solid state drive comprises has a first controller configured to process commands from host systems and the second solid state drive comprises a second controller configured to process commands from the host systems;
• transmitting according to a second protocol of communications, by the drive aggregator to one of the component solid state drives within the aggregated solid state drive, a second command for the operation specified in the command and for the address in the solid state drive;
• receiving according to the second protocol of communications, in the drive aggregator from the one of the component solid state drives within the aggregated solid state drive, a response to the second command;
• and
• transmitting according to the first protocol of communications, by the drive aggregator to the host system, a response to the first command, based on the response received from the solid state drive;
• receiving, in the drive aggregator and from the host system, a command to create a namespace in a capacity of a single solid state drive;
• selecting, for the namespace, a selected drive in the plurality of solid state drives;
• storing data associating the namespace with the selected drive;
• and
• transmitting, from the drive aggregator to the selected drive, a command to create the namespace in the capacity of the selected drive in the plurality of solid state drives,
• wherein the host system is configured to recognize and communicate directly to the first solid state drive to access data upon connection of the first solid state drive directly to the host system without use of the drive aggregator.