Method of providing storage to virtual computer cluster within shared computing environment
First Claim
1. A method of providing storage to a virtual computer cluster within a shared computing environment comprising the steps of:
- combining storage resources within the shared computing environment into a virtual storage pool, the virtual storage pool comprising at least portions of storage devices in which at least one of the storage devices is not directly accessible by all computers which directly access any of the storage devices;
partitioning a virtual storage volume from the virtual storage pool;
assigning the virtual storage volume to the virtual computer cluster; and
making the virtual storage volume accessible to computing platforms of the virtual computer cluster using software which allows access to the virtual storage volume by the computing platforms while precluding access to remaining storage within the shared computing environment by the computing platforms.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An embodiment of a method of providing storage to a virtual computer cluster within a shared computing environment begins with a first step of combining storage resources within the shared computing environment into a virtual storage pool. The virtual storage pool comprises at least portions of storage devices in which at least one of the storage devices is not directly accessible by all computers which directly access any of the storage devices. The method continues with a second step of partitioning a virtual storage volume from the virtual storage pool. In a third step, the method assigns the virtual storage volume to the virtual computer cluster. The method concludes with a fourth step of making the virtual storage volume accessible to computing platforms of the virtual computer cluster using software. The software allows access to the virtual storage volume by the computing platforms while precluding access to remaining storage within the shared computing environment by the computing platforms.
51 Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A method of providing storage to a virtual computer cluster within a shared computing environment comprising the steps of:
-
combining storage resources within the shared computing environment into a virtual storage pool, the virtual storage pool comprising at least portions of storage devices in which at least one of the storage devices is not directly accessible by all computers which directly access any of the storage devices;
partitioning a virtual storage volume from the virtual storage pool;
assigning the virtual storage volume to the virtual computer cluster; and
making the virtual storage volume accessible to computing platforms of the virtual computer cluster using software which allows access to the virtual storage volume by the computing platforms while precluding access to remaining storage within the shared computing environment by the computing platforms. - 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, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method of providing storage to a virtual computer cluster within a shared computing environment comprising the steps of:
-
placing gatekeeper software on each of a plurality of particular host computers of the shared computing environment;
assigning computing platforms located on the particular host computers to the virtual computer cluster such that the gatekeeper software interposes between the computing platforms and hardware resources of the particular host computers; and
isolating the virtual computer cluster from a remainder of the shared computing environment using the gatekeeper software such that the gatekeeper software allows communication between the computing platforms while precluding communication with other computing platforms of the shared computing environment and such that the gatekeeper software controls input and output operations for the virtual computer cluster;
combining storage resources within the shared computing environment, thereby forming a virtual storage pool;
partitioning a virtual storage volume from the virtual storage pool;
assigning the virtual storage volume to the virtual computer cluster; and
making the virtual storage volume accessible to the virtual computer cluster via the gatekeeper software.
-
-
30. A computer readable media comprising computer code for implementing a method of providing storage to a virtual computer cluster within a shared computing environment, the method of providing the storage to the virtual computer cluster comprising the steps of:
-
combining storage resources within the shared computing environment into a virtual storage pool, the virtual storage pool comprising at least portions of storage devices in which at least one of the storage devices is not directly accessible by all computers which directly access any of the storage devices;
partitioning a virtual storage volume from the virtual storage pool;
assigning the virtual storage volume to the virtual computer cluster; and
making the virtual storage volume accessible to computing platforms of the virtual computer cluster using software which allows access to the virtual storage volume by the computing platforms while precluding access to remaining storage within the shared computing environment by the computing platforms.
-
-
31. A computer readable media comprising computer code for implementing a method of providing storage to a virtual computer cluster within a shared computing environment, the method of providing the storage to the virtual computer cluster comprising the steps of:
-
placing gatekeeper software on each of a plurality of particular host computers of the shared computing environment;
assigning computing platforms located on the particular host computers to the virtual computer cluster such that the gatekeeper software interposes between the computing platforms and hardware resources of the particular host computers; and
isolating the virtual computer cluster from a remainder of the shared computing environment using the gatekeeper software such that the gatekeeper software allows communication between the computing platforms while precluding communication with other computing platforms of the shared computing environment and such that the gatekeeper software controls input and output operations for the virtual computer cluster;
combining storage resources within the shared computing environment, thereby forming a virtual storage pool;
partitioning a virtual storage volume from the virtual storage pool;
assigning the virtual storage volume to the virtual computer cluster; and
making the virtual storage volume accessible to the virtual computer cluster via the gatekeeper software.
-
Specification