Method and system for providing storage services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9043791-B2
Application number	US-201414163140-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2014
Priority date	Apr 28, 2011
Publication date	May 26, 2015
Grant date	May 26, 2015

Abstract

Method and system are provided for managing components of a storage operating environment having a plurality of virtual machines that can access a storage device managed by a storage system. The virtual machines are executed by a host platform that also executes a processor-executable host services module that interfaces with at least a processor-executable plug-in module for providing information regarding the virtual machines and assists in storage related services, for example, replicating the virtual machines.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A machine implemented method, comprising:
obtaining information regarding a plurality of virtual machines in a storage operating environment having a storage system for managing storage space presented to the plurality of virtual machines;
generating a data structure for illustration of a hierarchical resource structure showing details associated with the plurality of virtual machines, including a configuration file for each virtual machine with a path indicating where the configuration file is stored and a virtual storage device associated with each of the plurality of virtual machines for storing information; wherein the virtual storage device is represented in the hierarchical resource structure by a data structure that is associated with a drive that in turn is associated with a logical unit number (LUN) belonging to a storage volume; and
wherein a processor-executable plug-in application that interfaces with a storage operating system of the storage system having a plurality of storage devices and an operating system of a computing system executing the plurality of virtual machines in the storage operating environment with access to storage space at the storage devices obtains information regarding the plurality of virtual machines and generates the data structure;
filtering the hierarchical resource structure, in response to a request for information regarding one or more of the plurality of virtual machines, where the hierarchical resource structure is filtered depending on the requested information; and
providing requested information based on the filtered hierarchical resource structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical resource structure illustrates a replicated copy of the plurality of virtual machines with a location map showing where the replicated copy is stored and a replicated copy of a storage volume maintained by the storage system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is generated by a management application executed by a processor at a management console.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is to obtain details regarding the plurality of virtual machines and the storage system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plug-in application collects information for the data structure from the operating system of the computing system and the storage operating system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plug-in application updates the data structure by detecting if a virtual machine is added, modified or removed within a certain duration, where the virtual machine is added when the operating system presents the virtual machine; the virtual machine is modified when the virtual machine is powered on or off; and the virtual machine is removed when the operating system ends a session for the virtual machine and the virtual machine becomes unavailable.

7. A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform a method, the method comprising:
obtaining information regarding a plurality of virtual machines in a storage operating environment having a storage system for managing storage space presented to the plurality of virtual machines;
generating a data structure for illustration of a hierarchical resource structure showing details associated with the plurality of virtual machines, including a configuration file for each virtual machine with a path indicating where the configuration file is stored and a virtual storage device associated with each of the plurality of virtual machines for storing information; wherein the virtual storage device is represented in the hierarchical resource structure by a data structure that is associated with a drive that in turn is associated with a logical unit number (LUN) belonging to a storage volume; and
wherein a processor-executable plug-in application that interfaces with a storage operating system of the storage system having a plurality of storage devices and an operating system of a computing system executing the plurality of virtual machines in the storage operating environment with access to storage space at the storage devices obtains information regarding the plurality of virtual machines and generates the data structure;
filtering the hierarchical resource structure, in response to a request for information regarding one or more of the plurality of virtual machines, where the hierarchical resource structure is filtered depending on the requested information; and
providing requested information based on the filtered hierarchical resource structure.

8. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the hierarchical resource structure illustrates a replicated copy of the plurality of virtual machines with a location map showing where the replicated copy is stored and a replicated copy of a storage volume maintained by the storage system.

9. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the request is generated by a management application executed by a processor at a management console.

10. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the request is to obtain details regarding the plurality of virtual machines and the storage system.

11. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the plug-in application collects information for the data structure from the operating system of the computing system and the storage operating system.

12. The non-transitory, machine readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the plug-in application updates the data structure by detecting if a virtual machine is added, modified or removed within a certain duration, where the virtual machine is added when the operating system presents the virtual machine; the virtual machine is modified when the virtual machine is powered on or off; and the virtual machine is removed when the operating system ends a session for the virtual machine and the virtual machine becomes unavailable.

13. A storage operating environment, comprising:
a plurality of virtual machines in a storage operating environment;
a storage system for managing storage space presented to the plurality of virtual machines; and
a processor executing instructions out of a memory for a plug-in application for:
generating a data structure for illustration of a hierarchical resource structure showing details associated with the plurality of virtual machines, including a configuration file for each virtual machine with a path indicating where the configuration file is stored and a virtual storage device associated with each of the plurality of virtual machines for storing information; wherein the virtual storage device is represented in the hierarchical resource structure by a data structure that is associated with a drive that in turn is associated with a logical unit number (LUN) belonging to a storage volume; and
wherein the plug-in application interfaces with a storage operating system of the storage system having a plurality of storage devices and an operating system of a computing system executing the plurality of virtual machines in the storage operating environment with access to storage space at the storage devices obtains information regarding the plurality of virtual machines to generate the data structure;
filtering the hierarchical resource structure, in response to a request for information regarding one or more of the plurality of virtual machines, where the hierarchical resource structure is filtered depending on the requested information; and
providing requested information based on the filtered h

Assignees

• Netapp Inc

Inventors

• Gopal Mohandas
• Karinta Vineeth
• Barve Anagha

Classifications

• G06F9/44526

  Plug-ins; Add-ons · CPC title

• G06F9/45533 Primary

  Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors · CPC title