BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

Example embodiments relate generally to semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly to methods of operating network-based storage devices, methods of operating storage systems using the methods of operating network-based storage devices, and storage modules performing the methods of operating network-based storage devices.

2. Description of the Related Art

Certain types of data storage devices include one or more semiconductor memory devices. Examples of such data storage devices include solid state drives (SSDs). These types of data storage devices may have various design and/or performance advantages over hard disk drives (HDDs). Examples of potential advantages include the absence of moving mechanical parts, higher data access speeds, stability, durability, and/or low power consumption. Recently, various systems, e.g., a laptop computer, a car, an airplane, a drone, etc., have adopted the SSDs for data storage.

Recently, network-based storage devices and a storage system including the network-based storage devices, in which storage devices and a host device are connected with each other through a network such as an Ethernet without physically connecting the storage devices with the host device, have been researched.

SUMMARY

At least one example embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method of operating network-based storage devices capable of efficiently managing the network-based storage devices.

At least one example embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method of operating a storage system using the method of operating the network-based storage devices.

At least one example embodiment of the present disclosure provides a storage module performing the method of operating the network-based storage devices.

According to example embodiments, in a method of operating network-based storage devices, a first storage device having a first local key among a plurality of storage devices is set as a first main storage device. The storage devices are connected to each other through a network. A volume of at least a part of the plurality of storage devices is set and managed by the first storage device based on a first control signal received from an external host device. A second local key is received by the first storage device from a second storage device having the second local key among the plurality of storage devices. The first local key and the second local key are transmitted by the first storage device to the external host device.

According to example embodiments, in a method of operating a storage system including a plurality of storage devices and a host device, the storage devices are connected to each other through a first network. The host device is connected to the plurality of storage devices through a second network. A first storage device having a first local key among the plurality of storage devices is set as a first main storage device. A first control signal for setting and managing volumes of the plurality of storage devices is transmitted by the host device to the first storage device. A volume of at least a part of the plurality of storage devices is set and managed by the first storage device based on the first control signal. A second local key is received by the first storage device from a second storage device having the second local key among the plurality of storage devices. The first local key and the second local key are transmitted by the first storage device to the host device. A command, an address and the second local key for accessing the second storage device are transmitted by the host device to the first storage device. The command, the address and the second local key are transmitted by the first storage device to the second storage device. Read data is provided by the second storage device to the host device or write data is received by the second storage device from the host device based on the command, the address, and the second local key. An operation in which the first storage device receives the second local key from the second storage device and an operation in which the first storage device transmits the command, the address and the second local key to the second storage device are performed based on a peer-to-peer (P2P) scheme between the first storage device and the second storage device without passing through the host device.

According to example embodiments, a storage module includes an Ethernet switch and a plurality of storage devices connected to each other through the Ethernet switch. A first storage device having a first local key among the plurality of storage devices is set as a first main storage device. The first storage device includes a storage manager. The storage manager sets and manages a volume of at least a part of the plurality of storage devices based on a first control signal received from an external host device, receives a second local key from a second storage device having the second local key among the plurality of storage devices, and transmits the first local key and the second local key to the external host device.

In the method of operating the network-based storage devices and the method of operating the storage system and the storage module according to example embodiments, at least one of the plurality of storage devices connected to each other through the network may be set as the main storage device and the remaining storage devices other than the main storage device may be managed by the main storage device. In addition, the main storage device may set and manage the volumes of the plurality of storage devices and the main storage device and the remaining storage devices may exchange data (e.g., the local key) based on the P2P scheme. Accordingly, the main storage device may configure and manage the volumes of all storage devices without an additional external controller and the network-based storage devices may be efficiently managed without increasing costs.

