Apparatus, system, and method for reconfigurable media-agnostic storage

1. An apparatus comprising:

a media-agnostic storage bay that:

is adapted to house media storage devices of a plurality of different media storage device types with different physical dimensions;

is reconfigurable via removing at least one media storage device of a media storage device type from the media-agnostic storage bay and inserting at least one media storage device of an additional media storage device type into the media-agnostic storage bay;

is dimensioned to simultaneously store a plurality of media storage devices; and

is adapted to house a plurality of different types of connectors adapted to simultaneously connect to the plurality of media storage devices;

a storage controller card adapted to control at least one media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay;

a compute module that is separate from but removably attached to the media-agnostic storage bay and that is connected to the storage controller card; and

a backplane that connects to the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay and to the compute module via at least one connector that facilitates communication between the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay and the compute module.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media-agnostic storage bay is adapted to simultaneously house media storage devices of a plurality of different media storage device types with different physical dimensions.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a device-holding module that is adapted to hold a plurality of media storage devices in a predetermined configuration within the media-agnostic storage bay.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the device-holding module is adapted to hold media storage devices of a specific media storage device type within the plurality of different media storage device types.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the device-holding module contains a non-conductive fluid.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the device-holding module comprises at least one latch adapted to hold a single media storage device in place when closed and enable removal of the single media storage device when open.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an input/output module adapted to manage at least one configuration of media storage devices held within the media-agnostic storage bay.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage controller card is configured to control a specific type of media storage device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media-agnostic storage bay is adapted to enable the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay to be removed from the media-agnostic storage bay without the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay being powered down.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay comprises a flash storage device.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising at least one drive plane board connected to the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay, the storage controller card, the compute module, and at least one fan module.

12. A system comprising:

a storage-media-agnostic chassis that comprises:

a media-agnostic storage bay that:

is adapted to house media storage devices of a plurality of different media storage device types with different physical dimensions;

is reconfigurable via removing at least one media storage device of a media storage device type from the media-agnostic storage bay and inserting at least one media storage device of an additional media storage device type into the media-agnostic storage bay;

is dimensioned to simultaneously store a plurality of media storage devices; and

is adapted to house a plurality of different types of connectors adapted to simultaneously connect to the plurality of media storage devices;

a storage controller card adapted to control at least one media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay;

a compute module that is separate from but removably attached to the media-agnostic storage bay and that is connected to the storage controller card; and

a backplane that connects to the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay and to the compute module via at least one connector that facilitates communication between the media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay and the compute module;

a rack adapted to house the storage-media-agnostic chassis; and

at least one cable adapted to provide at least one of power or network connectivity to the storage-media-agnostic chassis.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a device-holding module that is adapted to:

hold a plurality of media storage devices in a predetermined configuration within the media-agnostic storage bay; and

interface with the media-agnostic storage bay such that each media storage device held by the device-holding module is connected to the backplane via at least one connector.

14. The system of claim 12 , further comprising an input/output module that comprises the storage controller card and the compute module.

15. A method comprising:

assembling a storage-media-agnostic chassis by attaching, to a drive plane board:

a media-agnostic storage bay that:

is adapted to house media storage devices of a plurality of different media storage device types with different physical dimensions;

is reconfigurable via removing at least one media storage device of a media storage device type from the media-agnostic storage bay and inserting at least one media storage device of an additional media storage device type into the media-agnostic storage bay;

is dimensioned to simultaneously store a plurality of media storage devices; and

is adapted to house a plurality of different types of connectors adapted to simultaneously connect to the plurality of media storage devices;

a storage controller card adapted to control at least one media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay; and

a compute module that is separate from the media-agnostic storage bay; and

connecting the compute module to the storage controller card.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising reconfiguring the media-agnostic storage bay by removing at least one media storage device of a media storage device type from the media-agnostic storage bay and inserting at least one media storage device of an additional media storage device type into the media-agnostic storage bay.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein reconfiguring the media-agnostic storage bay comprises:

removing a device-holding module that holds the at least one media storage device of the media storage device type in a predefined configuration; and

inserting an additional device-holding module that holds the at least one media storage device of the additional media storage device type in an additional predefined configuration.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein reconfiguring the media-agnostic storage bay comprises:

configuring a device-holding module to hold a set of media storage devices in a predefined physical arrangement;

inserting the set of media storage devices into the device-holding module in the predefined physical arrangement; and

inserting the device-holding module into the media-agnostic storage bay.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein reconfiguring the media-agnostic storage bay comprises reconfiguring a storage controller card adapted to control at least one media storage device housed in the media-agnostic storage bay to control the media storage device of the additional media storage device type.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein reconfiguring the media-agnostic storage bay comprises reconfiguring an input/output module to manage a configuration of media storage devices held within the media-agnostic storage bay that comprises the media storage device of the additional media storage device type.