Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080205300 | CHECKING AND REPAIRING A NETWORK CONFIGURATION - Disclosed is a technique for correcting a configuration problem. The configuration problem is detected. It is determined whether there is at least one solution for the configuration problem in a knowledge data store. When it is determined that there is at least one solution in the knowledge data store, automatically selecting a solution to solve the configuration problem. When said solution can be automatically applied, automatically applying said solution. When said solution cannot be automatically applied, notifying a user. | 08-28-2008 |
20080209015 | CHECKING AND REPAIRING A NETWORK CONFIGURATION - A technique for performing configuration checking of a network is provided. A network data store is scanned for at least one transaction. At least one event is generated for the transaction. At least one configuration policy is associated with the event. The configuration policy is compared with configuration data associated with the event. It is determined whether the configuration policy has been violated based on the comparison. | 08-28-2008 |
20080228687 | Controlling Computer Storage Systems - Goal-based availability and change management are handled over groups of heterogeneous storage controllers. Probabilistic and deterministic methods are employed to determine the allocation and placement of storage volumes to storage controllers, as well as the degree of data redundancy necessary to achieve data availability goals The probabilistic methods can take into account past observations of controller availability, and operator beliefs, as well as the state of storage controller configuration, in coming up with a probabilistic estimate of future availability. | 09-18-2008 |
20080244073 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR STORAGE-AWARE FLOW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - A method and structure for managing resources in a storage system that is based on server resource usage is disclosed. The method allocates a command window to each of the servers accessing the resources, achieves an equilibrium state that balances the size of each server's command window and the amount of free resources, and maintains the equilibrium state by continually adjusting the size of each command window. The command window defines a limit on the number of outstanding storage requests that each server may maintain. The invention initially allocates a minimum sized command window. | 10-02-2008 |
20080262890 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING AND SCHEDULING CORRECTIVE ACTIONS FOR AUTOMATED STORAGE MANAGEMENT - Disclosed is a storage management framework that integrates corrective action plans output from multiple different types of planning tools, sorts the different corrective action plans based on utility and risk values and outputs a time-based schedule for implementing one or more of the corrective action plans to resolve identified current and anticipated workload service level objective (SLO) violations. | 10-23-2008 |
20080270971 | APPLICATION-REQUIREMENT BASED CONFIGURATION DESIGNER FOR DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEMS - Techniques for automatically designing an application-requirement based configuration for a distributed computing system are provided. One or more application-level templates are obtained, wherein the one or more templates are representative of one or more requirements associated with one or more applications. Using the one or more application-level templates, one or more logical flows are created. The one or more logical flows are then used to generate one or more system-level configuration plans of the distributed computing system. | 10-30-2008 |
20080275933 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STORAGE AREA NETWORK DESIGN - Systems and methods for designing storage area network fabric. Preferably included are an arrangement for collecting user requirements on data flows to be supported by the fabric, an arrangement for grouping the data flows into flow groups according to at least one physical location parameter, an arrangement for designing components of fabric for the flow groups, the components being associated with at least one geographical region, and an arrangement for obtaining fabric by joining the fabric components via interconnection fabric, whereby flow groups over a plurality of geographical regions are supported. | 11-06-2008 |
20080275934 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STORAGE AREA NETWORK DESIGN - Systems and methods for designing storage area network fabric. Preferably included are an arrangement for collecting user requirements on data flows to be supported by the fabric, an arrangement for grouping the data flows into flow groups according to at least one physical location parameter, an arrangement for designing components of fabric for the flow groups, the components being associated with at least one geographical region, and an arrangement for obtaining fabric by joining the fabric components via interconnection fabric, whereby flow groups over a plurality of geographical regions are supported. | 11-06-2008 |
20080301332 | METHOD FOR USING HOST AND STORAGE CONTROLLER PORT INFORMATION TO CONFIGURE PATHS BETWEEN A HOST AND STORAGE CONTROLLER - Provided is a method for using host and storage controller port information to configure paths between a host and storage controller. Information is gathered on ports on at least one host, ports on at least one storage controller managing access to storage volumes, and at least one fabric over which the at least one host and storage controller ports connect. For at least one host port and storage controller port, information is gathered on a connection metric related to a number of paths in which the port is configured and a traffic metric indicating Input/Output (I/O) traffic at the port. A determination is made of available ports for one host and storage controller that are available to provide paths between one host and storage controller. The connection and traffic metrics for the available host ports are processed to select at least one host port. The connection and traffic metrics for the available storage controller ports are processed to select at least one storage controller port. The at least one selected host and storage controller port pair are configured to provide at least one path enabling the host to communicate with the selected storage controller port to access at least one storage volume managed by the selected storage controller. | 12-04-2008 |
20080301333 | SYSTEM AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR USING HOST AND STORAGE CONTROLLER PORT INFORMATION TO CONFIGURE PATHS BETWEEN A HOST AND STORAGE CONTROLLER - Provided are a system and article of manufacture for using host and storage controller port information to configure paths between a host and storage controller. Information is gathered on ports on at least one host, ports on at least one storage controller managing access to storage volumes, and at least one fabric over which the at least one host and storage controller ports connect. For at least one host port and storage controller port, information is gathered on a connection metric related to a number of paths in which the port is configured and a traffic metric indicating Input/Output (I/O) traffic at the port. A determination is made of available ports for one host and storage controller that are available to provide paths between one host and storage controller. The connection and traffic metrics for the available host ports are processed to select at least one host port. The connection and traffic metrics for the available storage controller ports are processed to select at least one storage controller port. The at least one selected host and storage controller port pair are configured to provide at least one path enabling the host to communicate with the selected storage controller port to access at least one storage volume managed by the selected storage controller. | 12-04-2008 |
20090006799 | HANDLING MULTI-RANK POOLS AND VARYING DEGREES OF CONTROL IN VOLUME ALLOCATION ON STORAGE CONTROLLERS - Techniques are disclosed for optimizing volume allocation on storage controllers that may have varying degrees of control over directing storage on ranks of pools attached storage components. A performance-based volume allocation algorithm can optimize allocation for such various controllers in a smooth, uniform manner allowing changes from one degree of control to another without incurring costly code changes and re-architecting costs. Where control is not available a surrogate set of possible ranks where the allocation could be made is developed and employed to calculate an adjusted utilization cost. In turn, the adjusted utilization cost is used to calculate a space limit value limited by a target performance threshold. | 01-01-2009 |
20090094664 | Integrated Guidance and Validation Policy Based Zoning Mechanism - A mechanism is provided to automatically retrieve zoning best practices from a centralized repository and to ensure that automatically generated zones do not violate these best practices. A user selects a set of hosts and storage controllers. The user also selects a guidance policy for creating the zone, and also selects a set of validation policies that must be enforced on the zone. If the user selects a guidance policy and a validation policy combination that is incompatible, the mechanism allows the user to change either the selected guidance policy or the set of validation policies. If the user has selected consistent-zoning as a guidance policy, then the mechanism automatically selects a guidance policy that does not violate the known validation policies. | 04-09-2009 |
20090150456 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING - Formulating an integrated disaster recovery (DR) plan based upon a plurality of DR requirements for an application by receiving a first set of inputs identifying one or more entity types for which the plan is to be formulated, such as an enterprise, one or more sites of the enterprise, the application, or a particular data type for the application. At least one data container representing a subset of data for an application is identified. A second set of inputs is received identifying at least one disaster type for which the plan is to be formulated. A third set of inputs is received identifying a DR requirement for the application as a category of DR Quality of Service (QoS) class to be applied to the disaster type. A composition model is generated specifying one or more respective DR QoS parameters as a function of a corresponding set of one or more QoS parameters representative of a replication technology solution. The replication technology solution encompasses a plurality of storage stack levels. A solution template library is generated for mapping the application to each of a plurality of candidate replication technology solutions. The template library is used to select a DR plan in the form of a replication technology solution for the application. | 06-11-2009 |
20090150712 | METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR DISASTER RECOVERY PLANNING - Formulating an integrated disaster recovery (DR) plan based upon a plurality of DR requirements for an application by receiving a first set of inputs identifying one or more entity types for which the plan is to be formulated, such as an enterprise, one or more sites of the enterprise, the application, or a particular data type for the application. At least one data container representing a subset of data for an application is identified. A second set of inputs is received identifying at least one disaster type for which the plan is to be formulated. A third set of inputs is received identifying a DR requirement for the application as a category of DR Quality of Service (QoS) class to be applied to the disaster type. A composition model is generated specifying one or more respective DR QoS parameters as a function of a corresponding set of one or more QoS parameters representative of a replication technology solution. The replication technology solution encompasses a plurality of storage stack levels. A solution template library is generated for mapping the application to each of a plurality of candidate replication technology solutions. The template library is used to select a DR plan in the form of a replication technology solution for the application. | 06-11-2009 |
20090182784 | RECOVERY POINT IDENTIFICATION IN CDP ENVIRONMENTS - The embodiments of the invention provide a method of identifying a recovery point in a continuous data protection (CDP) log. More specifically, the method begins by detecting corrupted data in the CDP log and identifying the nature of corruption. Next, the nature of corruption is mapped to applications to identify components that may have caused the corrupted data. The method then finds a time instance of uncorrupted data in the components. Specifically, this can include searching CDP log entries in an order independent of log event age. Alternatively, the process of finding the time instance can include creating a data image of a first copy of uncorrupted data and sequentially apply entries of the CDP log until the corrupted data is reached. | 07-16-2009 |
20090271402 | Deduplication of Data on Disk Devices Based on a Threshold Number of Sequential Blocks - Deduplication of data on disk devices based on a threshold number (THN) of sequential blocks is described herein, the threshold number being two or greater. Deduplication may be performed when a series of THN or more received blocks (THN series) match a sequence of THN or more stored blocks (THN sequence), whereby a sequence comprises blocks stored on the same track of a disk device. Deduplication may be performed using a block-comparison mechanism comprising metadata entries of stored blocks and a mapping mechanism containing mappings of deduplicated blocks to their matching blocks. The mapping mechanism may be used to perform later read requests received for the deduplicated blocks. The deduplication described herein may reduce the read latency as the number of seeks between tracks may be reduced. Also, when a seek to a different track is performed, the seek time cost is spread over THN or more blocks. | 10-29-2009 |
20090276202 | MODELING STORAGE ENVIRONMENTS - Example embodiments provide various techniques for modeling network storage environments. To model a particular storage environment, component models that are associated with the components of the storage environment are loaded. Each component model is programmed to mathematically simulate one or more components of the storage environment. A system model is then composed from the component models and this system model is configured to simulate the storage environment. | 11-05-2009 |
20090276203 | MODELING A STORAGE ENVIRONMENT AT VARIOUS TIMES - Example embodiments provide various techniques for modeling a storage environment at various times. A computer model can be composed to simulate a storage environment at various time periods. In an example, the computer model may simulate the storage environment in the past. As the storage environment is running, it continuously stores its existing state. This existing state can be accessed and a simulated workload may be applied to this previous state to identify an impact of the simulated workload on the existing state. A computer model may also simulate the storage environment in the future. Here, the future state of the storage environment may be projected from the existing state. Various extrapolation techniques may be used to project the future state of the storage environment. | 11-05-2009 |
20100205133 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING AUTONOMIC MANAGEMENT OF A NETWORKED SYSTEM FOR USING AN ACTION-CENTRIC APPROACH - According to the present invention, there is provided a SAN management system to provide autonomic management of a storage system using an action-centric approach. The SAN management system includes a policy specification logic block to maintain a policy specification associated with the managed system. In addition, the SAN management system includes a reasoning logic block to provide for the determining of action rules using a combination of logic and information obtained from the policy specification. Also, the SAN management system includes a learning logic block to couple the policy specification logic block with the reasoning logic block to improve an understanding of a managed system. The learning is continuous and provides for autonomic evolvement of the system in which reliance on manual input from a user is lessened. | 08-12-2010 |
20100223404 | MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR USING HOST AND STORAGE CONTROLLER PORT INFORMATION TO CONFIGURE PATHS BETWEEN A HOST AND STORAGE CONTROLLER IN A NETWORK - Provided is an article of manufacture, system and method for a management system for using host and storage controller port information to configure paths between a host and storage controller in a network. A management system is coupled to a network, wherein the management system communicates over the network with a plurality of hosts, storage controllers, and a network monitor to configure paths in the network between the hosts and the storage controllers in order for the storage controller to provide storage services to the hosts. The network monitor collects statistics from the components in the network. The management system obtains from the network monitor information on ports on at least one host, ports on at least one storage controller managing access to storage volumes, and at least one fabric over which the at least one host and storage controller ports connect. The management system gathers, for at least one host port and storage controller port, information on a connection metric indicating a number of paths in which the port is configured and a traffic metric indicating Input/Output (I/O) traffic at the port. The management system processes the connection and traffic metrics for the host and storage ports to select at least one host port and at least one storage controller port. The management system configures the at least one selected host and storage controller port pair to provide at least one path enabling the host to communicate with the selected storage controller port to access at least one storage volume managed by the selected storage controller. | 09-02-2010 |
20110131390 | Deduplication of Data on Disk Devices Using Low-Latency Random Read Memory - Deduplication of data using a low-latency random read memory (LLRRM) is described herein. Upon receiving a block, if a matching block stored on a disk device is found, the received block is deduplicated by producing an index to the address location of the matching block. In some embodiments, a matching block having a predetermined threshold number of associated indexes that reference the matching block is transferred to LLRRM, the threshold number being one or greater. Associated indexes may be modified to reflect the new address location in LLRRM. Deduplication may be performed using a mapping mechanism containing mappings of deduplicated blocks to matching blocks, the mappings being used for performing read requests. Deduplication described herein may reduce read latency as LLRRM has relatively low latency in performing random read requests relative to disk devices. | 06-02-2011 |
20110320654 | Integrated Guidance and Validation Policy Based Zoning Mechanism - A mechanism is provided to automatically retrieve zoning best practices from a centralized repository and to ensure that automatically generated zones do not violate these best practices. A user selects a set of hosts and storage controllers. The user also selects a guidance policy for creating the zone, and also selects a set of validation policies that must be enforced on the zone. If the user selects a guidance policy and a validation policy combination that is incompatible, the mechanism allows the user to change either the selected guidance policy or the set of validation policies. If the user has selected consistent-zoning as a guidance policy, then the mechanism automatically selects a guidance policy that does not violate the known validation policies. | 12-29-2011 |
20130166724 | Dynamic Instantiation and Management of Virtual Caching Appliances - A service level objective (SLO) violation is detected for a workload of a networked storage system, based on a performance metric not being satisfied for the workload. In response to detecting the SLO violation, a controller determines that changing a level of caching at a node of the networked storage system will improve the performance metric for the workload. The controller implements the change by adjusting an operation of a virtual cache appliance (VCA) of the networked storage system. The adjusting can be instantiating a new VCA, or adjusting the level of caching at an existing VCA. The adjusting can be for caching related to the workload itself, or it can be caching for an intertering workload. | 06-27-2013 |
20140136456 | MODELER FOR PREDICTING STORAGE METRICS - Described herein is a system and method for dynamically managing service-level objectives (SLOs) for workloads of a cluster storage system. Proposed states/solutions of the cluster may be produced and evaluated to select one that achieves the SLOs for each workload. A planner engine may produce a state tree comprising nodes, each node representing a proposed state/solution. New nodes may be added to the state tree based on new solution types that are permitted, or nodes may be removed based on a received time constraint for executing a proposed solution or a client certification of a solution. The planner engine may call an evaluation engine to evaluate proposed states, the evaluation engine using an evaluation function that considers SLO, cost, and optimization goal characteristics to produce a single evaluation value for each proposed state. The planner engine may call a modeler engine that is trained using machine learning techniques. | 05-15-2014 |
20140350910 | TIME-SEGMENTED STATISTICAL I/O MODELING - A system includes tracing logic to parse trace information into time varying segments and model traces based on segments of time varying I/O (input/output) and/or workload behavior. The logic can detect segments that represent statistically similar system behavior and reduce the number of segments based on detecting segments representing similar system behavior. The logic can leverage Mutual Information techniques to eliminate redundant workload dimensions and build a concise workload model. The logic can also use HAC to segregate similar workload patterns represented by multiple non-redundant workload attributes. The logic can use ePDF to regenerate distributions of workload attribute values during trace regeneration. The logic can generate segment models from the segments, which can be combined into a test trace that represents a period of system behavior for simulation. The logic can allow combining the segment models in different patterns to simulate behavior not observed in the original trace information. | 11-27-2014 |
20150046502 | MIGRATING DATA FROM LEGACY STORAGE SYSTEMS TO OBJECT STORAGE SYSTEMS - One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for migrating a dataset from a file storage system to an object storage system. That is, a snapshot of a file system may be received from the file storage system. The snapshot may comprise file data associated with a file of the file system. The file may be converted into an object using the file data. The object may be stored within a data constituent volume of the object storage system. A namespace volume, used to track objects, may be populated with a redirector that maps a front-end data path (e.g., a path used by clients to reference the object) to a back-end data path that specifies a path to the object within the data constituent volume. In this way, a dataset of one or more files may be migrated from the file storage system to the object storage system. | 02-12-2015 |
20150066471 | MODELING STORAGE ENVIRONMENTS - Example embodiments provide various techniques for modeling network storage environments. To model a particular storage environment, component models that are associated with the components of the storage environment are loaded. Each component model is programmed to mathematically simulate one or more components of the storage environment. A system model is then composed from the component models and this system model is configured to simulate the storage environment. | 03-05-2015 |