System and method for reporting available capacity in a data storage system with variable consumption characteristics
First Claim
1. A storage management system for a data storage system, comprising:
- a data storage manager to store data in an existing logical unit arrangement comprising multiple different types of logical units and to compute, for a given arrangement of logical units, an available capacity that represents storage capacity on the data storage system that can be utilized to store additional data; and
an administrative tool interfaced with the data storage manager to enable an administrator to propose a hypothetical logical unit arrangement that is different from the existing logical unit arrangement, the administrative tool reporting to the administrator how the hypothetical logical unit arrangement, if implemented, would affect available capacity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data storage system has an administrator tool that presents an existing LUN arrangement composed of one or more types of LUNs and an available capacity for the existing LUN arrangement. The administrator tool provides a graphical user interface (UI) that allows the administrator to propose different configurations with one or more additional hypothetical LUNs, without in fact creating them. The UI provides a set of controls representative of the different LUN types. The administrator can graphically manipulate the controls to vary characteristics of the hypothetical LUNs. As the administrator manipulates the controls, the system dynamically computes available capacity assuming a LUN arrangement that includes both the existing LUNs and the hypothetical LUNs. The graphical UI reports the changing available capacity as a response to the administrator'"'"'s manipulation so that the administrator can gain an appreciation of how the hypothetical LUNs might affect available capacity. Assuming there is sufficient available capacity, the administrator can direct the system to create new LUNs having the same characteristics of the hypothetical LUNs.
98 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A storage management system for a data storage system, comprising:
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a data storage manager to store data in an existing logical unit arrangement comprising multiple different types of logical units and to compute, for a given arrangement of logical units, an available capacity that represents storage capacity on the data storage system that can be utilized to store additional data; and an administrative tool interfaced with the data storage manager to enable an administrator to propose a hypothetical logical unit arrangement that is different from the existing logical unit arrangement, the administrative tool reporting to the administrator how the hypothetical logical unit arrangement, if implemented, would affect available capacity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A data storage system, comprising:
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a disk array having a number of disks that defines a physical storage space; a RAID management system to map a RAID-level storage space onto the physical storage space of the storage disks, the RAID-level virtual storage space presenting the physical storage space as multiple RAID areas including mirror RAID areas that store data according to mirror redundancy and parity RAID areas that store data according to parity redundancy, the RAID management system being operable to migrate data between the parity and mirror RAID areas; a cache memory; an administrator module interfaced with the RAID management system to enable an administrator to create one of three types of logical units (LUNs);
a cache-type LUN that stores data in the cache memory, a RAID1-type LUN that stores data in the mirror RAID areas, and an AutoRAID-type LUN that stores and migrates data among the mirror and parity RAID areas; andthe administrator module being configured to enable the administrator to propose various hypothetical LUN arrangements with different types of LUNs and to report to the administrator how the hypothetical logical unit arrangements, if implemented, would affect available capacity in the disk array and cache memory. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A program embodied on a computer-readable medium for managing a data storage system, comprising:
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a code segment to enable an administrator to specify characteristics of hypothetical logical units that may be added to the data storage system so that the administrator can try different hypothetical logical unit arrangements composed of multiple different types of logical units; a code segment to compute an available capacity of the data storage system that accounts for both existing logical units in the data storage system and the hypothetical logical units specified by the administrator; and a code segment to report the available capacity to the administrator so that the administrator can examine how the hypothetical logical unit arrangement, if implemented, would affect the available capacity. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. For use with a data storage system, a storage manager user interface (UI) embodied on a computer-readable medium to present an existing logical unit arrangement having one or more types of logical units on the data storage system, the storage manager UI further presenting controls representative of different types of hypothetical logical units that may be added to the data storage system, the storage manager UI enabling the administrator to graphically manipulate the controls to vary characteristics of the hypothetical logical units and to dynamically report, in response to the administrator'"'"'s manipulation of the controls, how the hypothetical logical units, if created, would affect available capacity.
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17. A method for managing a data storage system, comprising the following steps:
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enabling an administrator to specify characteristics of hypothetical logical units that may be added to existing logical units on the data storage system; computing an available capacity of the data storage system that accounts for both the existing logical units and the hypothetical logical units specified by the administrator; and reporting the available capacity to the administrator so that the administrator can examine how the hypothetical logical unit arrangement, if implemented, would affect the available capacity. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification