Storage device performance alignment notification

1. A method comprising:

storing data on a virtual storage system for use by a plurality of hosts, each host owning a plurality of virtual containers, the virtual storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices for storing a plurality of virtual containers, each virtual container comprising a data grouping;

sending, from a first host, a vendor-unique command to a first storage device, the vendor-unique command specifying a plurality of starting logical block addresses (LBAs) for a plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host, each starting LBA being used by the first host to refer to a start of a virtual container owned by the first host, the vendor-unique command from a communication protocol that reserves a range of commands for maintenance or support of storage devices, the range of commands comprising the vendor-unique command, the vendor-unique command comprising a parameter data size that increases to accommodate each starting LBA for the plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host; and

placing the plurality of virtual containers at natural storage boundaries of the first storage device based on the vendor-unique command, each virtual container being mapped to a storage device physical address that starts at a natural storage boundary of the first storage device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein

each of the plurality of virtual containers are associated with a host configured to operate according to a host operating system; and

the host operating system is allocated one or more virtual disks of a virtualization layer, each virtual disk comprising a virtual container.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the accessing further comprises reading at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the accessing further comprises storing at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein a storage device comprises two or more physical disks organized as a RAID system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each storage device reads and writes data blocks of a particular data size, wherein each data block stored on the storage device is aligned on a natural storage boundary of the storage device.

8. A method comprising:

storing data on a virtual storage system for use by a plurality of hosts, each host owning a plurality of virtual containers, the virtual storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices for storing a plurality of virtual containers, each virtual container comprising a data grouping;

sending, from a first host, a vendor-unique mode page to a first storage device, the vendor-unique mode page specifying a plurality of starting logical block addresses (LBAs) for a plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host, each starting LBA being used by the first host to refer to a start of a virtual container owned by the first host, the vendor-unique mode page further specifying associated attributes for each virtual container, the vendor-unique mode page comprising a data size that increases to accommodate each starting LBA for the plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host; and

placing the plurality of virtual containers at natural storage boundaries of the first storage device based on the vendor-unique mode page, each virtual container being mapped to a storage device physical address that starts at a natural storage boundary of the first storage device.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein

each of the plurality of virtual containers are associated with a host configured to operate according to a host operating system; and

the host operating system is allocated one or more virtual disks of a virtualization layer, each virtual disk comprising a virtual container.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

after the placing, accessing at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the accessing further comprises reading at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the accessing further comprises storing at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein a storage device comprises two or more physical disks organized as a RAID system.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein each storage device reads and writes data blocks of a particular data size, wherein each data block stored on the storage device is aligned on a natural storage boundary of the storage device.

15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the associated attributes for a virtual container specified by the vendor-unique mode page comprises an LBA starting point for automatic backups or an LBA ending point for automatic backups for the virtual container.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to:

store data on a virtual storage system for use by a plurality of hosts, each host owning a plurality of virtual containers, the virtual storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices for storing a plurality of virtual containers, each virtual container comprising a data grouping;

send, from a first host, a vendor-unique command to a first storage device, the vendor-unique command specifying a plurality of starting logical block addresses (LBAs) for a plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host, each starting LBA being used by the first host to refer to a start of a virtual container owned by the first host, the vendor-unique command from a communication protocol that reserves a range of commands for maintenance or support of storage devices, the range of commands comprising the vendor-unique command, the vendor-unique command comprising a parameter data size that increases to accommodate each starting LBA for the plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host; and

place the plurality of virtual containers at natural storage boundaries of the first storage device based on the vendor-unique command, each virtual container being mapped to a storage device physical address that starts at a natural storage boundary of the first storage device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein

each of the plurality of virtual containers are associated with a host configured to operate according to a host operating system; and

the host operating system is allocated one or more virtual disks of a virtualization layer, each virtual disk comprising a virtual container.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the processor is further configured to access at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to read at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to store at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein a storage device comprises two or more physical disks organized as a RAID system.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein each storage device reads and writes data blocks of a particular data size, wherein each data block stored on the storage device is aligned on a natural storage boundary of the storage device.

23. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to:

store data on a virtual storage system for use by a plurality of hosts, each host owning a plurality of virtual containers, the virtual storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices for storing a plurality of virtual containers, each virtual container comprising a data grouping;

send, from a first host, a vendor-unique mode page to a first storage device, the vendor-unique mode page specifying a plurality of starting logical block addresses (LBAs) for a plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host, each starting LBA being used by the first host to refer to a start of a virtual container owned by the first host, the vendor-unique mode page further specifying associated attributes for each virtual container, the vendor-unique mode page comprising a data size that increases to accommodate each starting LBA for the plurality of virtual containers owned by the first host; and

place the plurality of virtual containers at natural storage boundaries of the first storage device based on the vendor-unique mode page, each virtual container being mapped to a storage device physical address that starts at a natural storage boundary of the first storage device.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein

each of the plurality of virtual containers are associated with a host configured to operate according to a host operating system; and

the host operating system is allocated one or more virtual disks of a virtualization layer, each virtual disk comprising a virtual container.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the processor is further configured to, after the placing, access at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the processor is further configured to read at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the processor is further configured to store at least part of one or more virtual containers on the first storage device.

28. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein a storage device comprises two or more physical disks organized as a RAID system.

29. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein each storage device reads and writes data blocks of a particular data size, wherein each data block stored on the storage device is aligned on a natural storage boundary of the storage device.

30. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the associated attributes for a virtual container specified by the vendor-unique mode page comprises an LBA starting point for automatic backups or an LBA ending point for automatic backups for the virtual container.