Unblocking the full potential of SSDs using zoned and key value namespaces
NVMe verification support for SSDs
What are key value namespaces?
Key value namespaces are represented as a collection of variable-sized key-value pairs, instead of traditional logical blocks. These key-value pairs consist of a key which has a maximum size of 16 bytes and a value which is the actual data to be stored in the namespace.
Keys are used in order to access data in KV SSDs, instead of the logical block addresses in traditional block storage. This new mapping scheme eliminates the translation layers necessary to achieve mapping with physical block addresses.
In key-value storage, data is not fragmented into blocks but is stored as a continuous collection of bytes mapped with a unique key. When a key is deleted, data associated with it gets erased and the entire continuous physical space gets freed for future use. This relieves the negative impact of garbage collection on the performance of an SSD.