Centralized Task Manager for Storage Area Network
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional network management tasks in large storage area networks are challenging to monitor and manage due to their dispersed execution, varied commencement and termination mechanisms, and diverse status reporting formats, making it difficult for operators to ensure timely and adequate completion of tasks.
Innovation Solution
A task manager with a graphical user interface (GUI) organizes tasks hierarchically, allowing operators to select, invoke, and monitor tasks from a single console, with features for selective commencement, status tracking, and result correlation, using display panes for task management and execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If tasks are executed on dispersed nodes throughout the SAN, then task execution flexibility and parallelism are improved, but task monitoring and management complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
A centralized task manager is introduced as an intermediary component that receives, manages, and distributes tasks to multiple nodes throughout the SAN. The task manager maintains a task queue and coordinates task execution across dispersed nodes, providing a single point of control that simplifies monitoring while enabling parallel execution. This mediator architecture allows operators to manage tasks centrally without directly interfacing with each dispersed node.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments task execution by separating task management functions from task execution functions. The centralized task manager handles task creation, scheduling, and monitoring, while individual nodes execute specific tasks independently. This segmentation allows parallel execution across multiple nodes while maintaining centralized oversight through the task manager's queue and status tracking capabilities.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If tasks are run in offline or batch mode during low SAN activity, then impact on user throughput is minimized, but task completion monitoring becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The task manager implements a feedback mechanism where nodes reporting completed or problematic tasks send status information back to the centralized task manager. The task manager maintains a task queue that tracks the state of each task, providing real-time feedback to operators about task progression, completion status, and any issues encountered. This feedback loop enables effective monitoring of batch-mode tasks without requiring continuous operator intervention.
3Ease of operation
If a centralized task manager is implemented, then task monitoring and management are simplified, but system architecture complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized task manager is designed as a multi-functional component that consolidates multiple management capabilities into a single system. It handles task creation, scheduling, distribution, status monitoring, and result collection across the entire SAN. This universal task manager replaces the need for multiple distributed management interfaces, simplifying operator interactions while the system architecture manages the complexity internally through standardized communication protocols with nodes.
Data Source
AI summary
In a large storage area network (SAN), many administrative tasks perform various operations. Managing the tasks can be a formidable activity. A network management application, operable to identify and manipulate the tasks, organizes the tasks in a common graphical user interface (GUI) which allows task management from a single operator console. The task manager provides a GUI having display panes for managing the tasks. The task manager allows selection and invocation of tasks, in which the same task is identifiable by each of the plurality of attributes. The task manager displays the hierarchy of tasks in a task tree, including selectable task icons, in a task tree pane. The task icons are expandable into the corresponding subtasks and operations in a task list pane, and status details about the operations and task status are displayed in a context detail pane. An operator traverses the task tree to drill down into the operation and completion status of tasks in the task tree.