Storage system interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11567662-B2
Application number	US-202117549031-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2021
Priority date	Dec 28, 2015
Publication date	Jan 31, 2023
Grant date	Jan 31, 2023

Abstract

A request to generate a storage system model is received. The storage system model represents at least a portion of a storage system. In response to receiving the request, a storage system interface configuration is loaded. The storage system interface configuration comprises an attribute of an entity model. The attribute corresponds to an attribute of a storage system entity of the storage system. Further in response to receiving the request, the entity model is identified as representing the storage system entity. In response to identifying the entity model as representing the storage system entity, the entity model is instantiated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting that an operation identifier passed by a function call to an entity model is an indication that a requested operation is to be performed;
evaluating the operation identifier of the function call to the entity model to determine that the requested operation is to retrieve an attribute;
comparing, using the entity model, a variable data structure corresponding to the attribute with a predetermined default value to determine whether the attribute has been initialized;
in response to determining that the attribute has not been initialized, querying a storage system entity to retrieve the attribute; and
in response to the entity model mapping the requested operation to an encapsulated set of multiple sub-operations, executing the set of multiple sub-operations as a single operation utilizing the attribute.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining whether the attribute has been initialized based upon whether the entity model is in the process of being instantiated.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
evaluating configuration data to determine whether the attribute is loaded; and
in response to the configuration data indicating that the attribute is loaded, determining that the attribute has been initialized.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request operation is a write operation, and the method comprising:
presenting, using the entity model, the write operation as a single function that takes a target storage location and data to write as parameters.

5. The method of claim 4 , comprising:
in response to the single function, corresponding to the write operation, being called, executing, by the entity model, the set of multiple sub-operations to implement the write operation.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining, by the entity model, that a first indication of a first requested operation is calling a function to retrieve the attribute as being inherent in the implementation of the function; and
executing a first set of multiple sub-operations as a first single operation for the first requested operation.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising:
in response to determining, by the entity model, that the first indication of the first requested operation is calling the function to retrieve the attribute, refraining from retrieving the attribute.

8. A system comprising:
a requesting component that instantiates a storage system interface;
the storage system interface that identifies and instantiates an entity model based upon a storage system entity identified by the storage system interface;
the entity model that queries the storage system entity for an attribute in response to receiving a request for the attribute from the requesting component, wherein the entity model returns the attribute to the requesting component; and
the storage system entity upon which the entity model executes a plurality of sub-operations of an operation requested by the requesting component for execution upon the storage system entity.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage system interface returns the entity model to the request component in response to the entity model being instantiated.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage system interface, a storage system model, and a plurality of entity models are hosted on a client.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein a storage system, comprising one or more components identified by the storage system interface for generating the storage system model, is hosted remote to the client.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage system interface is configured to add components of a storage system to a storage system model by querying a storage controller and a storage device of the storage system.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the entity model is added to the storage system model based upon the storage system interface mapping metadata associated with the storage controller to the entity model.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the entity model is a root entity model of a hierarchy of entity models, and wherein the storage system interface provides entity models from the hierarchy of entity models to an application on-demand.

15. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions for performing a method, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:
detect that an operation identifier passed by a function call to an entity model is an indication that a requested operation is to be performed;
evaluate the operation identifier of the function call to the entity model to determine that the requested operation is to retrieve an attribute;
compare, using the entity model, a variable data structure corresponding to the attribute with a predetermined default value to determine whether the attribute has been initialized;
in response to determining that the attribute has not been initialized, query 16 a storage system entity to retrieve the attribute; and
in response to the entity model mapping the requested operation to an encapsulated set of multiple sub-operations, execute the set of multiple sub-operations as a single operation utilizing the attribute.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions cause the machine to:
determine whether the attribute has been initialized based upon whether the entity model is in the process of being instantiated.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions cause the machine to:
evaluate configuration data to determine whether the attribute is loaded; and
in response to the configuration data indicating that the attribute is loaded, determine that the attribute has been initialized.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the request operation is a write operation and wherein the instructions cause the machine to:
present, using the entity model, the write operation as a single function that takes a target storage location and data to write as parameters.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause the machine to:
in response to the single function, corresponding to the write operation, being called, execute, by the entity model, the set of multiple sub-operations to implement the write operation.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions cause the machine to:
determine, by the entity model, that a first indication of a first requested operation is calling a function to retrieve the attribute as being inherent in the implementation of the function; and
execute a first set of multiple sub-operations as a first single operation for the first requested operation.

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• McGiverin Brian Joseph
• Morrissey Christopher Michael
• Sarisky Daniel Andrew
• Lolayekar Santosh C

Classifications

• G06F3/0604 Primary

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F3/0644

  Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools · CPC title

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0653 Primary

  Monitoring storage devices or systems · CPC title