Storage Profile Abstraction for Virtual Environment Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional data storage systems for virtualization servers lack the ability to create pre-defined tiers of service and hide implementation details from clients, making it difficult for administrators to manage storage profiles effectively across virtual environments.
Innovation Solution
A method that allows storage administrators to create custom storage profiles with specified policies and properties, which can be selected by virtual environment administrators for provisioning storage to virtual machines or applications, while keeping the implementation details hidden from the virtual environment administrators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If storage administrators create custom storage profiles with detailed policies and properties, then storage management flexibility and precision are improved, but the complexity of the system increases and becomes harder to manage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments storage policies into distinct, manageable components (performance policies, capacity policies, backup policies, etc.) that can be independently configured and combined. This allows administrators to create complex storage profiles by assembling standardized policy segments rather than configuring everything from scratch, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides pre-defined storage profiles and policy templates that are prepared in advance. Administrators can select from these pre-configured options or modify them as needed, eliminating the need to create storage policies from scratch and reducing the complexity burden on administrators.
2Reliability
If implementation details of storage profiles are exposed to virtual environment administrators, then transparency and control are improved, but ease of operation deteriorates as users must understand complex storage configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between storage administrators and virtual environment administrators. The storage profile interface acts as this intermediary, presenting simplified, user-friendly storage options to virtual environment administrators while hiding the complex underlying storage policies and configurations. This mediator maintains transparency about available storage options while shielding users from implementation details.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple storage options are advertised to clients for different virtual environments, then adaptability and client choice are improved, but device complexity and management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates universal storage profiles that can be applied across multiple virtual environments and client types. These profiles encapsulate multiple storage options and policies in a single, reusable template, allowing the system to serve diverse storage needs through a standardized interface that simplifies both client choice and administrator management.
Data Source
AI summary
A method performed by a storage management computer includes (a) receiving a set of storage profile definitions (SPDs) from an administrator of a data storage system over a user interface, each SPD of the set of SPDs including (1) a storage profile name and (2) a set of storage policies assigned to that SPD, (b) providing the storage profile names from the set of SPDs to an environment management application, the environment management application being configured to manage environments that use storage from the data storage system, (c) in response to providing, receiving a selection of a particular SPD from the environment management application to be used in connection with a particular environment, and (d) provisioning a unit of storage from the data storage system to the particular environment in accordance with the set of storage policies assigned to the particular SPD.