Storage Area Network Methods and Apparatus with Centralized Management
First Claim
1. A storage area network (SAN), comprising one or more storage units, one or more host digital data processors coupled to the one or more storage units via an interconnect, one or more agents, each executing on an associated host digital data processor and each in communication with a manager digital data processor, the one or more agents each identifying attributes of any of (i) the host digital data processor with which that agent is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host digital data processor is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host digital data processor is coupled, and communicating those attributes to the host digital data processor, the one or more agents each responding to assignment, by the manager digital data processor, of a storage unit to the associated host digital data processor(s) by preventing access by that host digital data processor to others of said storage units in the SAN.
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Abstract
Novel storage area networks (SANs) and methods of operation thereof utilize a plurality of hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units. A manager device, process or other functionality in communication with a plurality of agent processes, devices or other functionality, each of which is associated with a host. The agents identify attributes of (i) their associated hosts, (ii) interconnect to which that host is coupled, and/or (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled via the interconnect. The manager responds to these attributes identified by the agents to manage the SAN. The manager can be implemented on a first digital data processor and the hosts on further digital data processors. These digital data processors can be coupled via a first network, e.g., an IP or other network, to support communications between the manager and the agents. A second network, e.g., SCSI and/or fiber channel based fabric, separate from the first network, can be utilized as the interconnect between the hosts and the storage devices.
154 Citations
51 Claims
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1. A storage area network (SAN), comprising
one or more storage units, one or more host digital data processors coupled to the one or more storage units via an interconnect, one or more agents, each executing on an associated host digital data processor and each in communication with a manager digital data processor, the one or more agents each identifying attributes of any of (i) the host digital data processor with which that agent is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host digital data processor is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host digital data processor is coupled, and communicating those attributes to the host digital data processor, the one or more agents each responding to assignment, by the manager digital data processor, of a storage unit to the associated host digital data processor(s) by preventing access by that host digital data processor to others of said storage units in the SAN.
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11. A storage area network (SAN) comprising
a plurality of hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units, a manager coupled with the hosts, a plurality of agents in communication with the manager, each agent associated with a host, each agents generating notifications of events with respect to any of (i) the host with which that agent is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled, the manager responding to an event notification by generating an operator notification if any of (i) a prior event notification for an underlying event has not previously been generated, or (ii) a time elapsed since any prior event notification for the underlying event has exceeds a predefined time interval.
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17. A storage area network (SAN) comprising
one or more hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units, a manager coupled with the one or more hosts, one or more agents in communication with the manager, each agent associated with a host, each of the one or more agents generating a notification of an event with respect to any of (i) the host with which it is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled, the manager comprising a policy engine, a store that maintains a pre-defined policy defines any of (i) attributes of at least selected hosts, and (ii) relationships of at least selected hosts with one or more storage units, the policy engine responding to notification of a least a selected event by effecting execution of an action according to the policy for that event.
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24. In a storage area network (SAN) of the type having a plurality of host digital data processors coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units, the improvement comprising
a manager digital data processor, a plurality of agents in communication with the manager digital data processor, each agent associated with a host digital data processor, the agents identifying attributes of any of (i) the host digital data processor with which it is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host digital data processor is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host digital data processor is coupled, the manager digital data processor responding to attributes identified by the agents to generate a user display of at least host digital data processors, storage units and relationships therebetween.
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33. In a storage area network (SAN) of the type having a plurality of host digital data processors coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units, the improvement comprising
a manager digital data processor, a plurality of agents in communication with the manager digital data processor, each agent associated with a host digital data processor, the agents identifying attributes of any of (i) the host digital data processor with which it is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host digital data processor is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host digital data processor is coupled, the manager digital data processor responding to attributes identified by the agents to generate a first view for displaying one or more graphical objects representing one or more respective components of the SAN, where a component comprises any of a storage unit, host digital data processor or interconnect, a second view for displaying information regarding attributes of a component whose respective graphical object is selected in the first view.
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37. A storage area network (SAN) comprising
a plurality of hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage devices, a manager, a plurality of agents in communication with the manager, each agent associated with a host, the agents each identifying attributes of any of (i) the host with which it is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled, the manager responding to attributes identified by the agents to generate a first view for displaying one or more graphical objects representing one or more storage devices and underlying logical units connected to the SAN, a second view for displaying information regarding attributes of any of a storage device and a logical unit whose respective graphical object is selected in the first view.
- 40. A storage area network according to claim 53, wherein the manager responds to operator selection of a logical unit in the first view for displaying attributes of that logical unit in the second view.
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41. A storage area network (SAN) comprising
one or more hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage devices, a manager, one or more agents in communication with the manager, each agent associated with a host, the agents each identifying attributes of any of (i) the host with which that agent associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled, the manager determining a topology of the SAN as a function of attributes identified by the agents and storing one or more aspects of that topology to a relational database.
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42. A storage area network according to claim 54, wherein the manager instantiates an object oriented programming (OOP) object (hereinafter, “
- manager”
object) corresponding to a component of the SAN, the component including any of a host, an interconnect and a storage unit. - View Dependent Claims (7, 10, 18, 19, 22, 23, 30)
- manager”
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43. A storage area network according to claim 55, wherein the manager
instantiates one or more further OOP objects (hereinafter, “ - peer”
objects) for at least selected manager objects, andstores to each peer object persistable data from the corresponding manager object. - View Dependent Claims (8, 20, 21, 31, 32)
- peer”
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44. A storage area network according to claim 56, wherein the manager maps each peer object into the relational database.
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45. The method of claim 56, wherein the manager
instantiates the manager objects and the peer objects in respective hierarchies, generates a pointer in a root object the hierarchy of manager objects that references a peer object in the hierarchy of peer objects containing attributes of other peer objects.
- 46. The method of claim 56, wherein the manager reconstructs peer objects by extracting the persistable data from the relational database, and utilizing stored methods therein to recreate the runtime mapping.
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47. The storage area network of claim 54, wherein
the manager executes on a first digital data processor, and one or more of the hosts comprise one or more respective other digital data processors.
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48. The storage area network of claim 60, wherein
the interconnect comprises a first network, the first digital data processor and the one or more other digital data processors are coupled via a second network, and the manager and the agents communicate via the second network.
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49. The storage area network of claim 61, wherein the first network comprises fiber channel and wherein the second network comprises an IP network.
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50. A storage area network (SAN) comprising
one or more hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage devices, a manager, one or more agents in communication with the manager, each agent associated with a host, the agents each identifying attributes of any of (i) the host with which that agent is associated, (ii) the interconnect to which that host is coupled, and (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled, the manager determining a topology of the SAN as a function of attributes identified by the agents and displaying one or more aspects of that topology that correspond to one or more predefined numerical criterion.
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51. The system of claim 63, wherein the criterion relates to a logical unit capacity being above or below a numerical threshold value.
Specification