Storage router and method for providing virtual local storage

A storage router for providing virtual local storage on storage devices to a host device, comprising:

• a buffer providing memory work space for the storage router;
• a first controller operable to connect to and interface with a first transport medium;
• a second controller operable to connect to and interface with a second transport medium, wherein at least one of the first transport medium and the second transport medium is a serial transport medium;
• and
• a supervisor unit coupled to the first and second controllers and the buffer, the supervisor unit operable to:
• maintain a map that comprises host identifications for host devices on the first transport medium and representations of at least a portion of a storage device on the second transport medium, the map associating subsets of storage space on the storage devices connected to the second transport medium with the host devices connected to the first transport medium;
• and
• for a request received from a first host, access the map to determine the storage space associated with a first host using the host identification for the first host to direct the request to the appropriate subset of storage space, wherein the request is received from the first host and forwarded to the storage device containing the storage space using a native low level block protocol format.

A method for providing virtual local storage on storage devices connected to a first transport medium to host devices connected to a second transport medium, comprising:

• interfacing with a first transport medium;
• interfacing with a second transport medium, wherein at least one of the first transport medium and the second transport medium is a serial transport medium;
• and
• maintaining a map that maps between the host devices and the storage devices, the map comprising a representation of at least one host device and a representation of at least a portion of a first storage device;
• and
• controlling access from the host devices to the storage devices using the map;
• and
• accessing the storage devices from the host devices using native low level block protocol.

A method for providing virtual local storage on storage devices to a host device, wherein the host device is connected to a first transport medium, the storage devices are connected to a second transport medium and at least one of the first and second transport mediums is a serial transport medium, comprising:

• maintaining a map comprising host identifiers for each host device representations of at least a portion of each storage device by associating each host identification with zero or more representations of at least a portion of each storage device;
• and
• receiving a request from a first host device for access to a first portion of a storage device;
• accessing the map to whether the first host may access the requested portion of the first storage device;
• and
• if the first host may access the requested portion of the first storage device, forwarding the request to the portion of the first storage device using a native low level block protocol.