Patent ID: 7882354
Filing Date: 2011-02-01
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A storage system comprising: a host; a storage device coupled to the host, the storage device interacting with storage media to store and retrieve information from the storage media, the storage device comprising a device driver executing on the host, the device driver checking for encryption related information from the storage device, the encryption related information being generated in response to a command issued by the host, when encryption related information is present, the device driver facilitating encryption independent of whether the host is encryption enable; a key manager, the key manager serving keys to the storage device via the device driver; and, a proxy, the proxy establishing a communication path between the storage device and the key manager to facilitate serving keys to the storage device, wherein the encryption related information comprises a status indication issued by the storage device indicating that an encryption operation is needed to be performed before the command can be executed by the storage device.