Automated intelligent provisioning of data storage resources in response to user requests in a data storage management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11238173-B2
Application number	US-201816212454-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2018
Priority date	Aug 31, 2015
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

A data storage management system comprises enhanced capabilities for automatically discovering operational characteristics of data storage devices installed in the system. A user interface enables end-users to submit requests for storage resources ranging from a simple request for a certain amount of storage space to more complex requests that specify the type of storage technology, the manufacturer, the I/O speed of the storage device, etc. The end-user also may include an expiration timeframe for the requested storage space. The system identifies storage devices that are suitable to the end-user's request, automatically provisions the storage space (e.g., LUN), and assigns it to the requestor. The assigned storage space may automatically expire, based on user-requested or system-provided expiration timeframes. Expired storage space is returned to a logical pool of available resources so that it may be assigned in response to other requests. The system comprises special-purpose policies that govern which data storage devices may be used for users submitting requests and further specify other administrative constraints.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer memory, cause the computing device to:
execute a storage manager at the computing device, wherein the storage manager is configured to:
manage storage operations in a data storage management system;
cause a media agent to discover operational characteristics of data storage devices that are associated with the media agent, and to further discover allocated data storage space at the data storage devices,
wherein the media agent, which is in communication with the storage manager, executes on another computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer memory;

import from the media agent the discovered operational characteristics of, and the allocated data storage space at, the data storage devices;
generate a policy that governs provisioning more storage space at, and grant of access to, the data storage devices in response to requests for data storage resources submitted by users of the data storage management system;
receive a request for a first amount of data storage space to be accessed as a data storage resource by a client computing device,
wherein the request comprises an operational characteristic required of a data storage device providing the first amount of data storage space;

based on the policy, identify a first data storage device, from among the data storage devices that are associated with the media agent, that satisfies the first amount of data storage space and the operational characteristic in the request;
instruct the media agent to provision the first amount of data storage space in the first data storage device as the data storage resource for the client computing device; and
manage storage operations for data stored by the client computing device at the data storage resource in the first data storage device, wherein the storage operations comprise at least one of: (i) data movement operations, (ii) processing and data manipulation operations, and (iii) analysis, reporting, and management operations.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device executing the storage manager to:
store the policy and the discovered operational characteristics to a database that is associated with the computing device, and wherein the database also comprises policies for managing the storage operations.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the request comprises a timeframe that determines how long the first amount of data storage space is to be accessed by the client computing device, and
wherein after the timeframe has expired, the instructions further cause the computing device executing the storage manager to: withdraw from the client computing device access to the data storage resource.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the policy comprises a timeframe that determines how long more storage space at the data storage devices is to be made available on request; and
wherein after the timeframe has expired, the instructions further cause the computing device executing the storage manager to: withdraw from the client computing device access to the data storage resource.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the policy comprises an expiration timeframe for access to the first data storage device; and
wherein the expiration timeframe determines how long the first amount of data storage provisioned in the first data storage device may be accessed by one of: a user of the data storage management system and the client computing device.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device executing the storage manager to:
track the first data storage device to determine a usage level for the first data storage device that determines whether the first data storage device is identified by the storage manager for another request for a second amount of data storage to be used as a data storage resource in the data storage management system.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device executing the storage manager to:
receive a second request for a second amount of data storage to be used as a second data storage resource in the data storage management system;
determine that the first data storage device exceeds a usage level specified in the policy; and
from among the data storage devices associated with the media agent, identify a second data storage device that satisfies the second request and does not exceed the usage level specified in the policy.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the policy comprises an association between one or more first client computing devices and the data storage devices associated with the media agent; and
wherein the policy limits access granted in response to requests for data storage resources for the one or more first client computing devices to the data storage devices and prevents access to other data storage devices in the data storage management system.

9. A method comprising:
by a storage manager that executes on a computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer memory, using a media agent in communication with the storage manager to discover operational characteristics of data storage devices that are associated with the media agent, and to further discover allocated data storage space at the data storage devices,
wherein the media agent executes on another computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer memory;

by the storage manager, importing from the media agent the discovered operational characteristics of, and the allocated data storage space at, the data storage devices;
by the storage manager, generating a policy that governs provisioning more storage space at, and granting of access to, the data storage devices in response to requests for data storage resources submitted by users of a data storage management system, which is managed by the storage manager;
by the storage manager, receiving a request for a first amount of data storage space to be accessed as a data storage resource by a client computing device,
wherein the request comprises an operational characteristic required of a data storage device providing the first amount of data storage space;

based on the policy, identifying by the storage manager a first data storage device, from among the data storage devices, that satisfies the request;
by the storage manager, instructing the media agent to provision the first amount of data storage space in the first data storage device as the data storage resource for the client computing device; and
by the storage manager, managing storage operations for data stored by the client computing device at the data storage resource in the first data storage device, wherein the storage operations comprise at least one of: (i) data movement operations, (ii) processing and data manipulation operations, and (iii) analysis, reporting, and management operations.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: by the storage manager, storing the policy and the discovered operational characteristics to a database that is associated with the storage manager, and wherein the database also comprises policies for managing the storage operations.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the request comprises a timeframe that determines how long the first amount

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc

Inventors

• Iyer Sudha Krishnan
• Littlefield Duncan Alden

Classifications

• G06F3/0605 Primary

  by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator · CPC title

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0665

  at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes · CPC title

• G06F3/0685

  Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays · CPC title

• G06F16/185

  Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof (details of archiving G06F16/11) · CPC title