Virtualized storage system and method of operating thereof

A method of operating a storage system comprising a plurality of physical storage devices constituting a physical storage space and controlled by a plurality of storage control devices constituting a storage control layer, said layer operatively coupled to a plurality of hosts and the plurality of physical storage devices, and is operable to handle a virtual representation of the physical storage space, the method comprising:

• generating in the storage control layer a first virtual layer interfacing with the plurality of hosts and characterized by an Internal Virtual Address Space (IVAS), and a second virtual layer interfacing with the physical storage space constituted by the plurality of physical storage devices and characterized by Physical Virtual Address Space (PVAS);
• representing, with the help of the first virtual layer, logical address space characterized by logical block addresses and available to said plurality of hosts;
• representing, with the help of the second virtual layer, an actual physical space available to said plurality of hosts, wherein each address in said Physical Virtual Address Space has at least one corresponding address in the Internal Virtual Address Space;
• responsive to an I/O request addressed to one or more logical block addresses, providing protocol-dependent translation of said logical block addresses into respective IVAS addresses translating said logical block addresses into respective IVAS addresses;
• translating PVAS addresses corresponding to said respective IVAS addresses into addresses in physical address space, said translation provided in a protocol-independent manner;
• configuring a new logical unit with a desired protection scheme by assigning the new logical unit to a virtual partition configured in accordance with said desired protection scheme;
• and
• assigning resources required for the desired protection scheme responsive to a configuration request for configuring the new logical unit.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer readable program executable by a computer for causing the computer to perform a process of operating a storage system comprising a plurality of physical storage devices constituting a physical storage space and controlled by a plurality of storage control devices constituting a storage control layer, said layer operatively coupled to a plurality of hosts and the plurality of physical storage devices, and is operable to handle a virtual representation of the physical storage space, the process comprising:

• generating in the storage control layer a first virtual layer interfacing with the plurality of hosts and characterized by an Internal Virtual Address Space (IVAS), and a second virtual layer interfacing with the physical storage space constituted by the plurality of physical storage devices and characterized by Physical Virtual Address Space (PVAS);
• representing, with the help of the first virtual layer, logical address space characterized by logical block addresses and available to said plurality of hosts;
• representing, with the help of the second virtual layer, an actual physical space available to said plurality of hosts, wherein each address in said Physical Virtual Address Space has at least one corresponding address in the Internal Virtual Address Space;
• responsive to an I/O request addressed to one or more logical block addresses, providing protocol-dependent translation of said logical block addresses into respective IVAS addresses translating said logical block addresses into respective IVAS addresses;
• translating PVAS addresses corresponding to said respective IVAS addresses into addresses in physical address space, said translation provided in a protocol-independent manner;
• configuring a new logical unit with a desired protection scheme by assigning the new logical unit to a virtual partition configured in accordance with said desired protection scheme;
• and
• assigning resources required for the desired protection scheme responsive to a configuration request for configuring the new logical unit.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code for a computer operating a storage system comprising a plurality of physical storage devices constituting a physical storage space and controlled by a plurality of storage control devices constituting a storage control layer, said layer operatively coupled to a plurality of hosts and the plurality of physical storage devices, and is operable to handle a virtual representation of the physical storage space, the computer program product comprising:

• computer readable program code for causing the computer to generate in the storage control layer a first virtual layer interfacing with the plurality of hosts and characterized by an Internal Virtual Address Space (IVAS), and a second virtual layer interfacing with the physical storage space constituted by the plurality of physical storage devices and characterized by Physical Virtual Address Space (PVAS);
• computer readable program code for causing the computer to represente, with the help of the first virtual layer, logical address space characterized by logical block addresses and available to said plurality of hosts;
• computer readable program code for causing the computer to represente, with the help of the second virtual layer, an actual physical space available to said plurality of hosts, wherein each address in said Physical Virtual Address Space has at least one corresponding address in the Internal Virtual Address Space;
• computer readable program code for causing the computer to provide, responsive to an I/O request addressed to one or more logical block addresses, protocol-dependent translation of said logical block addresses into respective IVAS addresses translating said logical block addresses into respective IVAS addresses;
• computer readable program code for causing the computer to translate PVAS addresses corresponding to said respective IVAS addresses into addresses in physical address space, said translation provided in a protocol-independent manner computer readable program code for causing the computer to configure a new logical unit with a desired protection scheme by assigning the new logical unit to a virtual partition configured in accordance with said desired protection scheme;
• and
• computer readable program code for causing the computer to assign resources required for the desired protection scheme responsive to a configuration request for configuring the new logical unit.