Capacity forecasting based on capacity policies and transactions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9959047-B2
Application number	US-201615194481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2016
Priority date	Nov 1, 2013
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method and technique for capacity forecasting is disclosed. The method includes: storing, in a memory, resource data associated with an environment, the resource data comprising inventory information of applications, processing resources and storage resources of the environment; and providing a ledger module executable by a processor unit to: create a capacity-associated transaction; identify and link at least one of an application, processing resource and storage resource to the transaction from the resource data; determine an initiation time and duration associated with the transaction; and forecast a change in capacity of at least one linked storage resource for the transaction and a time of the change in capacity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
storing, in a memory, resource data associated with a computing environment, the resource data comprising inventory information of storage resources of the computing environment; and
providing a ledger module executable by a processor unit to:
create a capacity-associated parent transaction;
identify and link at least one storage resource to the parent transaction from the resource data;
determine the type of the parent transaction;
automatically create a first triggered transaction, based on the determined type of the parent transaction;
determine the type of the first triggered transaction;
automatically create a second triggered transaction, based on the determined type of the first triggered transaction; and
forecast a change in capacity of the at least one linked storage resource for the parent transaction, first triggered transaction, and second triggered transaction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ledger module is operable to define the first triggered transaction to control a start time of the first triggered transaction relative to the parent transaction; and
wherein the ledger module is operable to define the second triggered transaction to control a start time of the second triggered transaction relative to the first triggered transaction.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ledger is operable to:
access policy data indicating policy-based transactions affecting storage capacity;
schedule capacity-associated transactions based on the policy data; and
identify and link storage resources to the policy-based transactions; and
forecast changes in capacity for the linked storage resources based on the policy-based transactions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ledger is operable to receive an indication of an actual change in capacity for the at least one linked storage resource in response to a completion of the parent transaction, first triggered transaction, and second triggered transaction.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ledger module is operable to forecast an increase in capacity and a corresponding decrease in capacity in at least one other storage device resulting from the parent transaction, first triggered transaction, and second triggered transaction.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ledger module is operable to display an interface enabling a user to prioritize desired capacity-associated transactions, the ledger module operable to forecast changes in capacities of storage resources according to the prioritizations.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ledger module is operable to forecast at least one of an application, a processing resource and a storage resource available for decommissioning based on the parent transaction, first triggered transaction, and second triggered transaction.

8. A method, comprising:
storing, in a memory, resource data associated with first and second computing environments, the resource data comprising inventory information of storage resources of the first and second computing environments; and
providing a ledger module executable by a processor unit to:
create a capacity-associated transaction associated with the first computing environment;
identify and link a storage resource of the first computing environment to the transaction from the resource data;
determine the type of the capacity-associated transaction associated with the first computing environment;
automatically create a first triggered transaction for the second computing environment, based on the determined type of the capacity-associated transaction associated with the first computing environment;
determine the type of the first triggered transaction;
automatically create a second triggered transaction for the first or second computing environment, based on the determined type of the first triggered transaction; and

identify and link a storage resource of the second computing environment to the first triggered transaction from the resource data; and
identify and link a storage resource of the first or second computing environment to the second triggered transaction from the resource data; and
forecast a change in capacity of the linked storage resources of the first and second computing environments.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ledger module is operable to define the first triggered transaction to control a start time of the first triggered transaction relative to the transaction of the first computing environment; and
wherein the ledger module is operable to define the second triggered transaction to control a start time of the second triggered transaction relative to the first triggered transaction.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ledger is operable to:
access policy data indicating policy-based transactions affecting storage capacity;
schedule capacity-associated transactions based on the policy data;
identify and link storage resources to the policy-based transactions; and
forecast changes in capacity for the linked storage resources based on the policy-based transactions.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ledger is operable to receive an indication of an actual change in capacity for the linked storage resources in response to a completion of the parent transaction, first triggered transaction, and second triggered transaction.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ledger module is operable to forecast an increase in capacity and a corresponding decrease in capacity resulting from the transactions.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ledger module is operable to display an interface enabling a user to prioritize desired capacity-associated transactions, the ledger module operable to forecast changes in capacities of storage resources according to the prioritizations.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ledger module is operable to forecast at least one of an application, a processing resource and a storage resource available for decommissioning based on the transactions.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Cheng Sonia
• Hurwitch Pamela H
• Kisin Roman
• Oswal Anirudh
• Paknad Deidre
• Simpson Irina

Classifications

• G06F3/067

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

• G06F12/02

  Addressing or allocation; Relocation (program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00) · CPC title

• G06F2201/87

  Monitoring of transactions · CPC title

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title