Techniques for visualizing storage cluster system configurations and events

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017124167-A1
Application number	US-201514928247-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 30, 2015
Priority date	Oct 30, 2015
Publication date	May 4, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for generating effective visualizations of some or all of a storage cluster system. An apparatus includes a processor component; a rendering component to generate a visualization of at least a portion of a storage cluster system for presentation on a display, the visualization to comprise a depiction of an object that corresponds to a component of the storage cluster system; and an interpretation component to interpret received indications of operation of an input device to select the depicted object and to select a first time and a second time along a timeline presented on the display, and to generate a command to request information indicating a change in state of the object between the first and second times.

First claim

1 . An apparatus comprising:
a processor component; a rendering component to generate a visualization of at least a portion of a storage cluster system for presentation on a display, the visualization to comprise a depiction of an object that corresponds to a component of the storage cluster system; and an interpretation component to interpret received indications of operation of an input device to select the depicted object and to select a first time and a second time along a timeline presented on the display, and to generate a command to request information indicating a change in state of the object between the first and second times.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a user interface (UI) component to operate the display and the input device to provide a user interface to enable operation of the input device to select the object and the first and second times, and to monitor the input device to receive the indications of operation of the input device to select the object and the first and second times.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , the UI component to present a menu of selectable menu items on the display, each menu item to correspond to a different storage cluster system, the UI component to monitor the input device to receive an indication of operation of the input device to select one of the menu item that corresponds to the storage cluster system, and the interpretation component to generate the command to specify the storage cluster system in response to the selection of the menu item.

4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , comprising:
a network interface to couple the processor component to a network; and a communications component to transmit the command to a visualization server via the network interface to be translated into query instructions to search for a system entry corresponding to the storage cluster system within a system database and into query instructions to search for the requested information within the system entry.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , the communications component to receive the requested information from the visualization server via the network interface, the rendering component to generate a new visualization based on the requested information to comprise a depiction of the change in state of the component between the first and second times as a change in state of the corresponding object between the first and second times, the rendering component to generate a new timeline to comprise at least one indication of an event that is associated with the change in state of the object between the first and second times, and the rendering component to present the new visualization and the new timeline on the display.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a translation component of a visualization server to translate the command to into query instructions to search for a system entry corresponding to the storage cluster system within a system database and into query instructions to search for the requested information within the system entry.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , the rendering component to generate a new visualization based on the requested information to comprise a depiction of the change in state of the component between the first and second times as a change in state of the corresponding object between the first and second times, the rendering component to generate a new timeline to comprise at least one indication of an event that is associated with the change in state of the object between the first and second times, and the apparatus comprising:
a network interface of the visualization server to couple the processor component to a network; and a communications component to receive the command from another device via the network interface and to transmit a representation of the visualization to the other device via the network interface.

8 . The apparatus of claim 6 , comprising the system database and a database component to generate the system entry to include a separate object entry corresponding to each component of multiple components of the storage cluster system to treat each component of the multiple components as an object, and each object entry to comprise a data structure to store indications of various aspects of the operation of a corresponding one of the multiple components as properties of the corresponding object.

9 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
generating a visualization of at least a portion of a storage cluster system for presentation on a display, the visualization to comprise a depiction of an object that corresponds to a component of the storage cluster system; generating a timeline for presentation on the display; receiving indications of operation of an input device associated with the display to select the depicted object and to select a first time and a second time along the timeline; and generating a command to request information indicating a change in state of the object between the first and second times.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , comprising:
operating the display and the input device to provide a user interface (UI); presenting the visualization and the timeline; and monitoring the input device to receive the indications of operation of the input device to select the object and the first and second times.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , comprising:
presenting a menu of selectable menu items on the display, each menu item to correspond to a different storage cluster system; monitoring the input device to receive an indication of operation of the input device to select one of the menu item that corresponds to the storage cluster system; and generating the command to specify the storage cluster system in response to the selection of the selectable menu item.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , comprising:
transmitting the command to a visualization server via a network to be translated into query instructions to search for a system entry corresponding to the storage cluster system within a system database and into query instructions to search for the requested information within the system entry; receiving the requested information from the visualization server via the network; generating a new visualization based on the requested information to comprise a depiction of the change in state of the component between the first and second times as a change in state of the corresponding object between the first and second times; generating a new timeline to comprise at least one indication of an event that is associated with the change in state of the object between the first and second times; and presenting the new visualization and the new timeline on the display.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , comprising:
receiving the command from another device via a network; translating the command into query instructions to search for a system entry corresponding to the storage cluster system within a system database and into query instructions to search for the requested information within the system entry; generating a new visualization based on the requested information to comprise a depiction of the change in state of the component between the first and second times as a change in state of the corresponding object between the first and second times; generating a new timeline to comprise at least one indication of an event that is associated with the change in state of the object between the first and second times; and transmitting a representation of the visualization to the other device via the network.

14 . The computer-implemented method

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Pasupathy Shankar
• Ackerman Ross
• Mueller Garrett
• Viswanath Deepak

Classifications

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04L67/14

  Session management (for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066) · CPC title

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• G06F16/2452

  Query translation · CPC title