Managing SANs with scalable hosts

• US 20060106999A1
• Filed: 11/12/2004
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tevis, Gregory John, Baldwin, Duane Mark, Merbach, David Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 7,340,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/153
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2206/1008 Graphical user interface [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0629 Configuration or reconfiguration of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for providing enhanced management features for a SAN with scalable hosts. Partitioned hosts (or ‘scalable’ hosts) are managed by extending SAN manager host-centric logical views to show (1) the host partition hierarchy and (2) the storage resource ownership for a SAN-attached scalable host. The extended host-centric view includes the host system, hosting OSes (if applicable), hosted OSes for each hosting OS (or the host system), OS volumes for each hosted OS, and logical mapping of each OS volume to the SAN storage resource (logical unit). The SAN manager is extended to also show how hosting (trusted) partitions, blades, and/or cluster members physically connect into a SAN. Users are able to toggle between a host centric view and a physical topology view by selection of items within the interface.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor;

a connection device for connecting to other components via a storage area network (SAN); and

management application running on said processor that provides the following functionality;

displaying a host partition hierarchy and storage resource ownership for an attached scalable host within a host-centric logical view of the SAN; and

providing a view of a connectivity of hosting/trusted components within the host-centric logical view, said components selected from among partitions, blades, and clusters.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage device; and

a discovery utility associated with said management application that provides the following features;

deploying SAN agents to discover each physical host partition with physical connection in the SANs, said deploying deploys full function agents to hosting OSes and lightweight minimal function agents to hosted OSes; and

optionally deploying implementing storage resource management agents on hosted partitions.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said host-centric view includes a host system, hosting operating systems (OSes), hosted OSes for each hosting OS, OS volumes for each hosted OS, and logical mapping of each OS volume to a SAN (storage area network) storage resource.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an input device; and

an output device;

wherein said displaying functions of said management application comprises;

a graphical user interface displayed on said output device; and

selectable options for a user to select a view desired for display, wherein a top level view is selected from among display of one of partitions, blades, and clusters.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said displaying functions comprises:

automatically generating the view selected by the user utilizing data within configuration tables; and

enabling the user to toggle between the top level view and a second view when the user selects an OS volume while in the top level view, wherein said second view displays a mapping of the selected OS volume to Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) Logical Units (LUs) in the SAN.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said display functions further comprises:

concurrently displaying the host centric view and a topology view in adjacent windows within the GUI; and

enabling dynamic change of the topology view to highlight hosting partitions associated with a scalable host selected by a user within the host centric view.

7. A storage area network (SAN) comprising:

a plurality of managed components coupled to a fabric of the SAN; and

a SAN manager also coupled to the fabric and which includes a management application that provides the following features;

displaying a host partition hierarchy and storage resource ownership for an attached scalable host within a host-centric logical view of the SAN; and

providing a view of a connectivity of hosting/trusted components within the host-centric logical view, said components selected from among partitions, blades, and clusters.

8. The SAN of claim 7, said management application further comprising a discovery utility associated with said management application that provides the following:

deploying SAN agents to discover each physical host partition with physical connection in the SANs, said deploying deploys full function agents to hosting OSes and lightweight minimal function agents to hosted OSes; and

optionally deploying implementing storage resource management agents on hosted partitions.

9. The SAN of claim 7, wherein said host-centric view includes a host system, hosting operating systems (OSes), hosted OSes for each hosting OS, OS volumes for each hosted OS, and logical mapping of each OS volume to a SAN (storage area network) storage resource.

10. The SAN of claim 7, said SAN manager further comprising:

an input device; and

an output device;

wherein said displaying functions of said management application comprises;

a graphical user interface displayed on said output device; and

selectable options for a user to select a view desired for display, wherein a top level view is selected from among display of one of partitions, blades, and clusters.

11. The SAN of claim 7, wherein said management application further comprises:

automatically generating the view selected by the user utilizing data within configuration tables; and

enabling the user to toggle between the top level view and a second view when the user selects an OS volume while in the top level view, wherein said second view displays a mapping of the selected OS volume to Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) Logical Units (LUs) in the SAN.

12. The SAN of claim 7, wherein said management application further comprises:

concurrently displaying the host centric view and a topology view in adjacent windows within the GUI; and

enabling dynamic change of the topology view to highlight hosting partitions associated with a scalable host selected by a user within the host centric view.

13. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program instructions on said computer readable medium including code for;

displaying a host partition hierarchy and storage resource ownership for an attached scalable host within a host-centric logical view of a storage area network (SAN); and

providing a view of a connectivity of hosting/trusted components within the host-centric logical view, said components selected from among partitions, blades, and clusters;

wherein said host-centric view includes a host system, hosting operating systems (OSes), hosted OSes for each hosting OS, OS volumes for each hosted OS, and logical mapping of each OS volume to a SAN (storage area network) storage resource.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising program code for:

deploying SAN agents to discover each physical host partition with physical connection in the SANs, said deploying deploys full function agents to hosting OSes and lightweight minimal function agents to hosted OSes; and

optionally deploying implementing storage resource management agents on hosted partitions.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising program code for:

displaying a graphical user interface (GUI) with selectable options for a user to select a view desired for display, wherein a top level view is selected from among display of one of partitions, blades, and clusters; and

displaying a respective view within the GUI based on a user selection.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising program code for:

automatically generating the view selected by the user utilizing data within configuration tables; and

enabling the user to toggle between the top level view and a second view when the user selects an OS volume while in the top level view, wherein said second view displays a mapping of the selected OS volume to Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) Logical Units (LUs) in the SAN.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising program code for:

concurrently displaying the host centric view and a topology view in adjacent windows within the GUI; and

enabling dynamic change of the topology view to highlight hosting partitions associated with a scalable host selected by a user within the host centric view.