Patent ID: 8788754
Filing Date: 2014-07-22
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A storage system comprising a plurality of physical storage devices 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 constituting a physical storage space, wherein the storage control layer is operable to handle a virtual representation of the physical storage space and comprises: a) a first virtual layer interfacing with the plurality of hosts, operable to represent a logical address space characterized by logical block addresses and available to said plurality of hosts, said first virtual layer characterized by an Internal Virtual Address Space (IVAS); b) a second virtual layer characterized by a Physical Virtual Address Space (PVAS), interfacing with the physical storage space constituted by the plurality of physical storage devices, and operable to represent an actual physical storage space available to said plurality of hosts within the physical storage space; and c) an allocation module operatively coupled to the first virtual layer and to the second virtual layer and operable to provide mapping between Internal Virtual Address Space and Physical Virtual Address Space wherein each address in said Physical Virtual Address Space is configured to have at least one corresponding address in said Internal Virtual Address Space; wherein the storage system is further operable to configure a source object and its at least one snapshot to be allocated to different addresses in IVAS, while sharing the same allocated addresses in the PVAS until either the source object or the respective snapshot are modified by a write request.