Method and apparatus for provisioning storage resources
First Claim
1. A method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request, the method comprising computer-implemented acts of:
- (A) reading the provisioning request; and
(B) automatically provisioning the at least a portion of the computer system to meet the specification provided in the provisioning request, including automatically provisioning at least one resource from at least one host computer, at least one resource from at least one storage system, and at least one resource from at least one connectivity resource that connects the at least one host computer to the at least one storage system.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for automatically provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request. In one embodiment, the provisioning includes provisioning at least one resource from each of at least one host computer, at least one storage system, and at least one connectivity resource that connects the at least one host computer to the at least one storage system. In another embodiment, the provisioning includes selecting and configuring at least one logical volume of storage and configuring the computer system to provide access to the selected volume. In another aspect, a computer-readable provisioning transaction is created to provision the computer system, and a computer-readable undo transaction is created to undo it. In a further embodiment, an existing computer system is reverse engineered to create a specification that is modified to create the specification in the provisioning request.
185 Citations
86 Claims
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1. A method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request, the method comprising computer-implemented acts of:
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(A) reading the provisioning request; and
(B) automatically provisioning the at least a portion of the computer system to meet the specification provided in the provisioning request, including automatically provisioning at least one resource from at least one host computer, at least one resource from at least one storage system, and at least one resource from at least one connectivity resource that connects the at least one host computer to the at least one storage system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program that, when executed, performs a method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request, the method comprising acts of:
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(A) reading the provisioning request; and
(B) automatically provisioning the at least a portion of the computer system to meet the specification provided in the provisioning request, including automatically provisioning at least one resource from at least one host computer, at least one resource from at least one storage system, and at least one resource from at least one connectivity resource that connects the at least one host computer to the at least one storage system. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor programmed to automatically provision at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request, including automatically provisioning at least one resource from at least one host computer, at least one resource from at least one storage system, and at least one resource from at least one connectivity resource that connects the at least one host computer to the at least one storage system. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request, the method comprising computer-implemented acts of:
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(A) reading the provisioning request, the provisioning request defining the at least a portion of the computer system to comprise a unit of storage to be provided to at least one of a plurality of host computers;
(B) automatically provisioning the at least a portion of the computer system in response to the provisioning request, including acts of;
(B1) selecting at least one logical volume of storage from at least one storage system that can serve as the unit of storage defined by the provisioning request;
(B2) selecting at least one connectivity resource that can provide a communication path through which the selected at least one logical volume can be made accessible to the at least one of the plurality of host computers;
(B3) creating a transaction that comprises a series of actions to configure the selected at least one logical volume and the selected at least one connectivity resource to satisfy the provisioning request, including configuring the selected at least one logical volume to satisfy the provisioning request, mapping the selected at least one logical volume to at least one port of the at least one storage system through which the selected at least one logical volume will be accessible, configuring the communication path, and configuring the at least a portion of the computer system to provide access to the selected at least one logical volume only to the at least one of the plurality of host computers; and
(B4) executing the transaction to configure the selected at least one logical volume and the selected at least one connectivity resource in a manner that satisfies the provisioning request.
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76. A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program that, when executed, performs a method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request, the method comprising acts of:
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(A) reading the provisioning request, the provisioning request defining the at least a portion of the computer system to comprise a unit of storage to be provided to at least one of a plurality of host computers;
(B) automatically provisioning the at least a portion of the computer system in response to the provisioning request, including acts of;
(B1) selecting at least one logical volume of storage from at least one storage system that can serve as the unit of storage defined by the provisioning request;
(B2) selecting at least one connectivity resource that can provide a communication path through which the selected at least one logical volume can be made accessible to the at least one of the plurality of host computers;
(B3) creating a transaction that comprises a series of actions to configure the selected at least one logical volume and the selected at least one connectivity resource to satisfy the provisioning request, including configuring the selected at least one logical volume to satisfy the provisioning request, mapping the selected at least one logical volume to at least one port of the at least one storage system through which the selected at least one logical volume will be accessible, configuring the communication path, and configuring the at least a portion of the computer system to provide access to the selected at least one logical volume only to the at least one of the plurality of host computers; and
(B4) executing the transaction to configure the selected at least one logical volume and the selected at least one connectivity resource in a manner that satisfies the provisioning request.
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77. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one processor programmed to automatically provision at least a portion of a computer system to meet a specification provided in a provisioning request that defines the at least a portion of the computer system to comprise a unit of storage to be provided to at least one of a plurality of host computers, the at least one processor being programmed to;
select at least one logical volume of storage from at least one storage system that can serve as the unit of storage defined by the provisioning request;
select at least one connectivity resource that can provide a communication path through which the selected at least one logical volume can be made accessible to the at least one of the plurality of host computers;
create a transaction that comprises a series of actions to configure the selected at least one logical volume and the selected at least one connectivity resource to satisfy the provisioning request, including configuring the selected at least one logical volume to satisfy the provisioning request, mapping the selected at least one logical volume to at least one port of the at least one storage system through which the selected at least one logical volume will be accessible, configuring the communication path, and configuring the at least a portion of the computer system to provide access to the selected at least one logical volume only to the at least one of the plurality of host computers; and
execute the transaction to configure the selected at least one logical volume and the selected at least one connectivity resource in a manner that satisfies the provisioning request.
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78. A method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to a desired configuration, the method comprising acts of:
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(A) creating a computer-readable provisioning transaction that comprises a series of provisioning actions to provision a plurality of computer system resources to meet the desired configuration; and
(B) creating a computer-readable undo transaction that comprises a series of undo actions to undo at least a subset of the series of provisioning actions. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81)
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82. A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program that, when executed, performs a method of provisioning at least a portion of a computer system to a desired configuration, the method comprising acts of:
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(A) creating a computer-readable provisioning transaction that comprises a series of provisioning actions to provision a plurality of computer system resources to meet the desired configuration; and
(B) creating a computer-readable undo transaction that comprises a series of undo actions to undo at least a subset of the series of provisioning actions. - View Dependent Claims (83, 84)
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85. A method of provisioning at least a portion of a desired computer system, the method comprising acts of:
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(A) automatically reverse engineering at least a portion of an existing computer system to create a specification of a configuration of the at least a portion of the existing computer system;
(B) modifying the specification of the at least a portion of the existing computer system to create a specification for the at least a portion of the desired computer system; and
(C) automatically provisioning the at least a portion of the desired computer system to meet the specification for the desired computer system. - View Dependent Claims (86)
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Specification