Proactive storage system configuration consistency validation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11222005-B1
Application number	US-201715652517-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 18, 2017
Priority date	Jul 18, 2017
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

Techniques for proactively detecting configuration inconsistencies may include: receiving notification regarding an occurrence of a trigger event in a system, wherein the trigger event is one of a plurality of defined trigger events, and wherein the plurality of defined trigger events include one or more defined time periods; and responsive to receiving the notification, performing first processing including: capturing configuration information describing a current configuration of the system; and performing proactive consistency validation processing of the configuration information that detects inconsistencies between dependent entities of the current configuration. The proactive consistency validation processing may detect inconsistencies between dependent entities of the same type or different types. Metadata may identify dependencies between entities that may exist in a configuration. Responsive to detecting an inconsistency, a suitable action may be taken and/or user notified. The trigger events may include a user trigger, a critical event, and prior to performing an upgrade.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of detecting configuration inconsistencies comprising:
receiving, using a processor, a notification regarding an occurrence of a trigger event in a data storage system, wherein the trigger event is one of a plurality of defined trigger events, and wherein the plurality of defined trigger events includes: one or more defined time periods, prior to performing an upgrade to software on the data storage system, and prior to performing an upgrade to hardware on the data storage system; and
responsive to receiving the notification, performing first processing using a processor, the first processing including:
capturing configuration information describing a current configuration of the data storage system, wherein the current configuration includes existing licenses for software services in the data storage system, includes existing logical storage entities in the data storage system, and includes existing physical storage entities in the data storage system;
responsive to capturing the configuration information, performing proactive consistency validation processing of the configuration information that describes the current configuration of the data storage system, wherein the proactive consistency validation processing of the configuration information detects inconsistencies between dependent entities of the current configuration of the data storage system as described in the configuration information that is captured in response to the occurrence of the trigger event, wherein said proactive consistency validation processing includes:
detecting a licensing inconsistency between a first software service license that depends on existence of a second software service license, wherein the licensing inconsistency is detected responsive to determining that the first software service license exists in the configuration information describing the current configuration of the data storage system and that the second software service license does not exist in the configuration information describing the current configuration of the data storage system; and
detecting a storage entity inconsistency between a first storage entity that is a first logical device that depends on existence of a second storage entity that is a first storage pool, wherein the storage entity inconsistency is detected responsive to determining that the first storage entity that is the first logical device exists in the configuration information describing the current configuration of the data storage system and that the second storage entity that is the first storage pool does not exist in the configuration information describing the current configuration of the data storage system;

responsive to detecting the licensing inconsistency, performing a first action using a processor to correct the licensing inconsistency, wherein the first action includes updating the current configuration of the data storage system to include the second software service license; and
responsive to detecting the storage entity inconsistency performing a second action using a processor to correct the storage entity inconsistency, wherein the second action includes updating the current configuration of the data storage system to include the first storage pool.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said proactive consistency validation processing includes detecting one or more inconsistencies between dependent entities of a same type.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said proactive consistency validation processing includes detecting one or more inconsistencies between any of:
a deduplication license that depends on a file license;
a data compression license that depends on a file license;
a data compression license that depends on a thin or virtual provisioning license;
a snapshot license that depends on a thin or virtual provisioning license;
a file related feature or service license that depends on a file license; and
a block related feature or service license that depends on a block license.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said proactive consistency validation processing includes detecting one or more inconsistencies between dependent entities each of a different type.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said proactive consistency validation processing includes detecting one or more inconsistencies between any of:
a snapshot entity that depends on a logical device entity;
a snapshot entity that depends on a file system entity;
a replication entity that depends on a logical device entity;
a server entity that depends on a pool entity;
a file share entity that depends on a file server entity; and
a host entity that depends on a logical device entity.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein metadata identifies dependencies between pairs of entities.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the proactive consistency validation processing of the configuration information detects an inconsistency in the configuration information if the metadata indicates that a first entity of a first type depends on a second entity of a second type and the configuration information includes an instance of the first entity of the first type and does not include an instance of the second entity of the second type.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more defined time periods are included in a defined schedule of times at which the proactive consistency validation processing is to be performed.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of defined trigger events includes any of: a user specified or initiated trigger, and a critical or important event occurrence.

10. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory comprising code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method of detecting configuration inconsistencies comprising:
receiving a notification regarding an occurrence of a trigger event in a data storage system, wherein the trigger event is one of a plurality of defined trigger events, and wherein the plurality of defined trigger events includes: one or more defined time periods, prior to performing an upgrade to software on the data storage system, and prior to performing an upgrade to hardware on the data storage system; and
responsive to receiving the notification, performing first processing including:
capturing configuration information describing a current configuration of the data storage system, wherein the current configuration includes existing licenses for software services in the data storage system, includes existing logical storage entities in the data storage system, and includes existing physical storage entities in the data storage system;
responsive to capturing the configuration information, performing proactive consistency validation processing of the configuration information that describes the current configuration of the data storage system, wherein the proactive consistency validation processing of the configuration information detects inconsistencies between dependent entities of the current configuration of the data storage system as described in the configuration information that is captured in response to the occurrence of the trigger event, wherein said proactive consistency validation processing includes:
detecting a licensing inconsistency between a first software service license that depends on existence of a second software service license, wherein the licensing inconsistency is detected responsive to determining that the first software service license exists in the configuration information describing the current configuration of the data storage system and that the second software service license does not exist in the configuration information describing the current configuration of the

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Wu Eric
• Zhou Haitao
• Wu Jun
• Khokhar Muzhar
• Sun Jiangping
• Wu Minqiang

Classifications

• G06F8/65

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F16/215 Primary

  Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors · CPC title

• G06F16/2365 Primary

  Ensuring data consistency and integrity · CPC title

• G06F16/27

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06F16/1827

  Management specifically adapted to NAS (management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067) · CPC title