Active element manager

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9946685-B1
Application number	US-201314068288-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 31, 2013
Priority date	Sep 28, 2007
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Described are techniques for performing data storage system management of a data storage system. Using an active element manager component, a data storage system management operation in connection with a data storage device of the data storage system is performed, and context information is collected and provided to a target location in an external environment having connectivity to the data storage. The active element manager component provides for automatically connecting a current session associated with the data storage system management operation to the target location and receives one or more communications from the external environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for performing data storage system management of a data storage system, the method comprising:
performing, using an active element manager component, a data storage system management operation that results in a first error condition;
collecting, using said active element manager component, context information, said context information including information about a current state of the data storage system resulting from performing said data storage system management operation, said context information including information regarding said first error condition;
providing, by said active element manager component, said context information to a target location in an external environment which has connectivity to said data storage system and is external with respect to a data storage system environment including said data storage system;
automatically connecting, by said active element manager component, a current session associated with said data storage system management operation to said target location; and
receiving, by said active element manager component, one or more communications from said external environment, wherein said target location is a website and said automatically connecting automatically connects said current session to said website that sends, to said active element manager for display, first information regarding said current state of the data storage system in accordance with said context information, and wherein the method further includes:
automatically selecting, by said active element management component, said website from a plurality of different websites in accordance with the first error condition, and wherein said automatically selecting further includes:
determining whether the first error condition relates to software on the data storage system provided by a vendor of the data storage system or provided by another party other than the vendor;
responsive to determining the first error condition relates to software on the data storage system and the software is provided by the vendor, selecting a first of the plurality of websites of the vendor and automatically connecting to the first website; and
responsive to determining the first error condition relates to software on the data storage system and the software is provided by another party other than the vendor, selecting a second of the plurality of websites of the another party, automatically connecting to the second website, and providing to the second website additional context information related to the software of the another party having the first error condition, wherein said additional context information includes a version number, software settings and software options regarding the software of the another party.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said data storage system communicates with said external environment over a network connection, said external environment is a network location including said website, and the data storage system is located at another network location.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said context information includes one or more of: a user identifier of said current session of the active element manager component, application information about one or more applications having connectivity to the data storage system and hosting data on the data storage system, and data storage configuration information describing a current configuration of devices of the data storage system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said another party other than the vendor is a data storage supplier of the data storage system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprising:
collecting, at said external environment, user profile information including data associated with each of a plurality of user identifiers, said context information including a first user identifier of said plurality of user identifiers to identify said current session of the active element manager component performing the data storage system management operation.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said active element manager component connects to said website including information about said first error condition, and the website includes at least one of: interactive online technical support, and one or more data sources of technical information.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the website includes interactive online technical support with an agent, and the method further comprising:
providing, in accordance with said user identifier included in said context information, a relevant portion of said user profile information for said user identifier.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein said user profile information includes, for said each user identifier, at least one of: user contact information, license information, support and service contract information, history of previous service calls and problems, data storage information, website activity information, and information on previous phone support and interactive online support.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, in accordance with said user profile, user-relevant information about said first user identifier;
providing, from said external environment to said active element manager component, said user-relevant information; and
presenting, via a user interface for a session having said first user identifier for connecting to said active element manager component, said user relevant information, said user interface providing for display a first portion of said user relevant information and a first connection to a first external environment which has connectivity to said data storage system and is external with respect to a data storage system environment including said data storage system, upon selection of said first portion, said active element manager component automatically connecting to a target location in said first external environment and providing another instance of said context information to said first external environment.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein said website selected is the second website which interacts with the first website to obtain information provided to said active element manager component, said first website being provided by said vendor of said data storage system and said second website being provided by a partner of said vendor, said partner being a supplier of said data storage system.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the partner is one of a value added reseller, a distributor, or a reseller of the data storage system, the value added reseller including at least one of hardware or software provided by the value added reseller on the data storage system, and wherein, when the partner is a value added reseller, the context information includes data regarding said hardware or said software provided by the value added reseller on the data storage system.

12. A data storage system comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium with code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method for data storage management of a data storage system comprising:
performing a data storage system management operation that results in a first error condition;
collecting context information, said context information including information about a current state of the data storage system resulting from performing said data storage system management operation, said context information including information regarding said first error condition;
providing said context information to a website provided by one of a vendor of the data storage system or a supplier of the data storage system;
in response to an input selection on a user interface, automatically c

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Wood Douglas A
• Parenti Mark A
• Grosner Jr George J
• Todd Stephen J

Classifications

• H04L67/141

  Setup of application sessions (admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• G06F15/17331 Primary

  Distributed shared memory [DSM], e.g. remote direct memory access [RDMA] · CPC title

• G06F16/957 Primary

  Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation · CPC title