DECOUPLED INSTALLATION OF DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• US 20100161773A1
• Filed: 12/01/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Alonzo, Christopher A., Gokhale, Parag, Prahlad, Anand, Kavuri, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 8,943,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing decoupled installation of data management systems used in conjunction with computer networks are disclosed. The method comprises installing data storage software in order to facilitate communication with a second computer in order to perform data storage operations. The software may be installed without knowledge of the second computer and/or the ability to communicate with the second computer. During the installation process, configuration parameters are obtained by the first computer and stored in a data structure. At least a portion of the configuration parameters recorded in the data structure is also provided to the second computer. The first and second computers subsequently communicate in order to register the first computer for use with the second computer.

Claims

1. A method of decoupled software installation for a first computer which communicates with a second computer that coordinates data storage operations with the first computer, comprising:

installing data storage software on the first computer, wherein a plurality of first computer configuration parameters are discovered by the first computer during software installation, and wherein the second computer does not communicate with the first computer during the software installation;

recording at least a portion of the first computer configuration parameters within a data structure;

communicating at least a portion of the first computer configuration parameters to the second computer; and

comparing first computer configuration parameters stored by the first and second machines.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and the second computers comprise at least a portion of a data storage system capable of performing data storage operations.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data storage operations comprise at least one of storage resource management operations and hierarchical storage management operations.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first computer comprises at least one of a client and a management component which provides instructions to transmit data to or from a client and a plurality of storage devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computer configuration parameters comprise at least one of a first computer display name, a first computer hostname, an operating system of the first machine, a plurality of hardware identifiers, a plurality of software information management (SIM) parameters, a plurality of platforms installed on the first machine, a plurality of selected folders, a first computer time zone, a designation of physical or virtual machine status, port numbers, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) identifier, a globally unique identifier (GUID), a server hostname, and a clock skew.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first computer configuration parameters are supplied by the software installation application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein substantially all of the first computer configuration parameters are discovered by the first computer during software installation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein during the comparison of first computer configuration parameters,

a discrepancy between like first machine configuration parameters selected from a first set of first machine configuration parameters causes the first machine parameters of the first machine to be updated to be equal to that of the second machine;

and

wherein a discrepancy between like first machine configuration parameters selected from a second set of first machine configuration parameters causes the first machine parameters of the second machine to be updated to be equal to that of the second machine; and

wherein a discrepancy between first machine configuration parameters selected from a third set of first machine configuration parameters causes the installation to fail so as to inhibit communication between the first and second computers.

9. A method of deploying a first computer for use with a second computer within a data storage system, comprising:

recording a plurality of first computer configuration parameters within a data structure;

transmitting at least a portion of the data structure to each of the first and second computers such that, upon receiving the data structure, at least one of the first and second computers possesses sufficient information so as to communicate with the other;

configuring at least one of the first and second computers to automatically discover the other machine after transmission of the data structure; and

comparing the first computer configuration parameters stored by the first and second computers.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first computer comprises at least one of a client and a management component which provides instructions to transmit data to or from a client and a plurality of storage devices.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first computer configuration parameters comprise at least one of a first computer display name, a first computer hostname, an operating system of the first machine, a plurality of hardware identifiers, plurality of software information management (SIM) parameters, a plurality of platforms installed on the first machine, a plurality of selected folders, a first computer time zone, a designation of physical or virtual machine status, port numbers, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) identifier, a globally unique identifier (GUID), a server hostname, and a clock skew.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein at least a portion of the first computer configuration parameters are transmitted to the first and second computers by a third computer different than either of the first or second computers.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein a disk image of a template first computer is copied to the first computer in order to provide the first machine with installed data storage software and first computer configuration parameters.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein during the comparison of first computer configuration parameters,

a discrepancy between like first machine configuration parameters selected from a first set of first machine configuration parameters causes the first machine parameters of the first machine to be updated to be equal to that of the second machine;

and

wherein a discrepancy between like first machine configuration parameters selected from a second set of first machine configuration parameters causes the first machine parameters of the second machine to be updated to be equal to that of the second machine; and

wherein a discrepancy between first machine configuration parameters selected from a third set of first machine configuration parameters causes the installation to fail so as to inhibit communication between the first and second computers.

15. A system for decoupled installation of data storage software, comprising:

a first computer possessing installed data storage software;

a second computer, wherein the first computer does not substantially communicate with the server computer during the software installation; and

a data structure containing a plurality of first computer configuration parameters which are necessary for communication between the first and the second computers,

wherein at least a portion of the first computer configuration parameters are provided to the second computer and wherein the first and second computers communicate after software installation in order to register the first computer for use in performing data storage operations with the second computer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first and the second computers comprise at least a portion of a data storage system capable of performing data storage operations.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first computer comprises at least one of a client and a management component which provides instructions to transmit data to or from a client and a plurality of storage devices.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first computer configuration parameters comprise at least one of a first computer display name, a first computer hostname, an operating system of the first machine, a plurality of hardware identifiers, a plurality of software information management (SIM) parameters, a plurality of platforms installed on the first machine, a plurality of selected folders, a first computer time zone, a designation of physical or virtual machine status, port numbers, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) identifier, a globally unique identifier (GUID), a server hostname, and a clock skew.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein at least a portion of the configuration parameters contained within the data structure are provided to the first computer from a third computer different than the first and second computers.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein registration comprises comparison of first computer configuration parameters, and wherein:

a discrepancy between like first machine configuration parameters selected from a first set of first machine configuration parameters causes the first machine parameters of the first machine to be updated to be equal to that of the second machine;

wherein a discrepancy between like first machine configuration parameters selected from a second set of first machine configuration parameters causes the first machine parameters of the second machine to be updated to be equal to that of the second machine; and

wherein a discrepancy between first machine configuration parameters selected from a third set of first machine configuration parameters causes the installation to fail so as to inhibit communication between the first and second computers.