Centralized Storage Provisioning Across Service Providers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current storage provisioning and management systems in IT infrastructure lack global control and automation, leading to inefficient resource allocation and labor-intensive manual oversight across multiple service provider storage systems.
Innovation Solution
A centralized storage provisioning and management system that provides automated control over service provider storage systems, utilizing a centralized database and control path to collect and manage configuration, resource usage, and performance information, and direct provisioning and management operations across multiple storage arrays, offering a software-as-a-service model.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If centralized control is implemented across multiple service provider storage systems, then resource allocation efficiency and automation level improve, but system complexity and integration difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized storage provisioning and management system as an intermediary component that sits between multiple service provider storage systems and the infrastructure resources. This mediator collects information from storage systems, maintains a centralized database of resource information, and directs provisioning operations, thereby enabling centralized control without requiring direct complex integration between all storage systems and resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized storage provisioning and management system performs multiple functions including information collection from storage systems, maintaining centralized databases, directing provisioning operations, and providing automated control. This multi-functional approach consolidates various management tasks into a single system, improving resource allocation efficiency while managing complexity through consolidation rather than proliferation of components.
2Ease of operation
If localized provisioning and management is performed separately at each service provider, then system independence and operational simplicity are maintained, but automation level and resource optimization deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The localized control paths at each service provider storage system maintain self-service capabilities by continuing to perform local provisioning and management tasks independently. The centralized system provides automated control and coordination, while local systems handle their own operational details, thereby maintaining operational simplicity while increasing overall automation through the centralized coordination layer.
3Device complexity
If manual oversight is used for storage provisioning and management, then system complexity and integration requirements are reduced, but labor intensity and operational efficiency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized storage provisioning and management system implements feedback mechanisms by collecting information from storage systems through localized control paths, storing this information in centralized databases, and using it to direct provisioning and management operations. This feedback loop enables automated decision-making and coordination, improving operational efficiency while managing complexity through systematic information flow rather than complex direct control.
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing system comprises one or more processing platforms and implements a centralized storage provisioning and management system and a plurality of service provider storage systems coupled to the centralized storage provisioning and management system. The centralized storage provisioning and management system is configured to control provisioning and management of the service provider storage systems utilizing information collected from the service provider storage systems. The service provider storage systems may comprise respective service provider data centers, and the centralized storage provisioning and management system may comprise an additional data center separate from the service provider data centers. The centralized storage provisioning and management system may comprise a centralized control path implemented apart from the service provider storage systems. The centralized control path is configured to interact with a plurality of localized control paths implemented in respective ones of the service provider storage systems.