Automated storage provisioning and management using a centralized database

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9519441-B1
Application number	US-201213632055-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2012
Priority date	Sep 30, 2012
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

An information processing system comprises a centralized database and at least one processing device implementing a selection algorithm for automated provisioning and management of a plurality of storage arrays based on information collected from the storage arrays and stored in the centralized database. The information stored in the centralized database may comprise at least one of storage utilization, performance, network bandwidth and end of service for each of the storage arrays. The selection algorithm is configured to determine optimal placement of data across the storage arrays based on the information stored in the centralized database. For example, the selection algorithm may be configured to determine one or more locations within the plurality of storage arrays to allocate as new storage responsive to a provisioning request.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a centralized database; and
at least one processing device implementing a selection algorithm for automated provisioning and management of a plurality of storage arrays based on information collected from the storage arrays and stored in the centralized database;
wherein the storage arrays are associated with respective storage systems, each of the storage systems being associated with a different service provider, each service provider having multiple tenants; and
wherein the centralized database is implemented in a centralized storage provisioning and management system configured to control provisioning and management of the service provider storage systems utilizing information collected from the service provider storage systems, the centralized storage provisioning and management system being further configured to associate user identifiers with respective tenants of each of the service providers and to control user access to the storage systems associated with the different service providers in a manner that allows the centralized storage provisioning and management system to track resource usage;
the centralized storage provisioning and management system comprising a centralized control path implemented apart from the service provider storage systems and a plurality of localized control paths implemented in respective ones of the service provider storage systems; and
the centralized storage provisioning and management system providing storage provisioning and management functionality for the different service providers in accordance with a software-as-a-service model in which the centralized storage provisioning and management system exclusively controls provisioning and management of the storage arrays associated with the respective service provider storage systems;
wherein the service provider storage systems offload local provisioning and management functionality to the centralized storage provisioning and management system; and
wherein responsive to the storage arrays having different numbers of connections to one or more storage area network switches, the selection algorithm utilizes information relating to occupancy levels of the storage arrays and the numbers of connections to the storage area network switches to choose placement for new storage.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selection algorithm is configured to determine optimal placement of data across the storage arrays based on the information stored in the centralized database.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the selection algorithm is configured to determine one or more locations within the plurality of storage arrays to allocate as new storage responsive to a provisioning request.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one processing device implements a collection mechanism for controlling collection of the information from the storage arrays for storage in the centralized database by periodically capturing a current state of each storage array in terms of one or more of configuration, storage utilization and performance.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the information stored in the centralized database comprises configuration information for each of the storage arrays and any associated storage area network switches.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the information stored in the centralized database comprises at least one of storage utilization, performance, network bandwidth and end of service for each of the storage arrays.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of the storage arrays maintains a pool of available storage resources at each of a plurality of performance levels and the information stored in the centralized database comprises information relating to current state of the pools of available storage resources for each of the storage arrays.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the selection algorithm is configured to determine optimal placement of data across the storage arrays based on said information relating to current state of the pools of available storage resources for each of the storage arrays.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a shadow database associated with the centralized database and storing historical information relating to at least one of storage utilization, performance, network bandwidth and end of service for each of the storage arrays.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one processing device implements functionality for automated replication operations spanning multiple ones of the storage arrays based on configuration information collected from the storage arrays and stored in the centralized database.

11. An information processing system comprising at least one processing platform which incorporates the apparatus of claim 1 .

12. A method comprising:
collecting information from a plurality of storage arrays, the storage arrays being associated with respective storage systems, each of the storage systems being associated with a different service provider, each service provider having multiple tenants;
storing the information in a centralized database; and
implementing a selection algorithm for automated provisioning and management of the plurality of storage arrays based on information collected from the storage arrays and stored in the centralized database;
wherein the centralized database is implemented in a centralized storage provisioning and management system configured to control provisioning and management of the service provider storage systems utilizing information collected from the service provider storage systems, the centralized storage provisioning and management system being further configured to associate user identifiers with respective tenants of each of the service providers and to control user access to the storage systems associated with the different service providers in a manner that allows the centralized storage provisioning and management system to track resource usage;
the centralized storage provisioning and management system comprising a centralized control path implemented apart from the service provider storage systems and a plurality of localized control paths implemented in respective ones of the service provider storage systems; and
the centralized storage provisioning and management system providing storage provisioning and management functionality for the different service providers in accordance with a software-as-a-service model in which the centralized storage provisioning and management system exclusively controls provisioning and management of the storage arrays associated with the respective service provider storage systems;
wherein the service provider storage systems offload local provisioning and management functionality to the centralized storage provisioning and management system; and
wherein responsive to the storage arrays having different numbers of connections to one or more storage area network switches, the selection algorithm utilizes information relating to occupancy levels of the storage arrays and the numbers of connections to the storage area network switches to choose placement for new storage.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said collecting, storing and implementing are performed by at least one processing device having a processor coupled to a memory.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
receiving a request from a client for storage resources at a particular performance level;
identifying at least a subset of the storage arrays having storage resources available at the particular performance level;
eliminating from consideration any

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Smith Aaron T
• Brennan Edward
• Meyer Keith
• Sahin Adnan
• Nadler Mark
• Williams Ii John O
• Keefe Jesse D

Classifications

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/067 Primary

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

• G06F3/0605

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

• G06F3/0665

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