Resource mapping in a network environment

• US 7,673,031 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2006
• Issued: 03/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zheng, Yan, Lam, Sharon Yuet Mei, Leung, Alan Kin Chung, Jalagam, Sesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil; Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): KINSAUL, DANIEL W
• Application Number:
  US11/640,599
• Time in Patent Office: 1,170 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-226
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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

If retrieved information from a storage area network resource does not enable simple and direct mapping of the respective unknown type of storage area network resource to a known type of storage area network resource with sufficient certainty (because the collection of data does not match any known unique groupings of data associated with known types of resources), then a mapping function attempts to automatically map the storage area network resource to a respective known type of storage area network resource. For example, the mapping function attempts to identify the specific identity of the storage area network resource in question. After repeating a process of mapping and determining identities of one or more different resources in a storage area network environment, an advisory process applies a set of configuration rules to identify whether an arrangement of resources will work properly.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method in which a computer system initiates execution of software instructions stored in memory, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a collection of data associated with a resource in a storage area network environment, the collection of data comprising resource specific data collected from the resource, the resource being an unknown resource type that does not initially map to a known resource type based on the resource specific data;

modifying the collection of data;

identifying a specific identity of the resource based on utilization of the modified collection of data;

maintaining a set of mapping information to include multiple entries, each entry enables a mapping between a unique grouping of data and a corresponding specific identity of a storage area network resource that produces at least a portion of the unique grouping of data when queried;

in response to receiving the collection of data, and prior to modifying the collection of data, attempting to map the unknown resource type directly to a known resource type, associated with the storage area network environment, by searching a global map of resources;

in response to receiving the collection of data, and prior to modifying the collection of data, attempting to map the unknown resource type directly to a known resource type, associated with the storage area network environment, based on a generated user mapping history of resources that are manually mapped in the storage area network environment;

in response to attempting to map, failing to map the unknown resource directly to a known resource type;

wherein modifying the collection of data includes, subsequent to failing to map, applying a set of exclude patterns that remove data identified as not useful for mapping resources, and applying a set of include patterns that prevent deletion of data identified as useful for mapping resources; and

analyzing an arrangement of identified types of resources, according to a set of configuration rules to determine whether the arrangement is compatible for use in the storage area network environment Storing the specific identity of the resource in the set of mapping information.

2. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1, wherein receiving the collection of data associated with the resource includes communicating with the resource to obtain the collection of data from the resource, and receiving a character string of data originated by the resource, the character string including at least a portion of data reflecting a classification of the resource;

wherein modifying the collection of data includes eliminating a portion of data in the collection of data to produce the modified collection of data; and

the computer-implemented method further comprising;

verifying whether the character string matches any entries in a set of mapping information to identify the specific identity associated with the resource.

3. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 further comprising:

maintaining a set of mapping information to include multiple entries, each of which enables a mapping between a unique grouping of data and a corresponding specific identity of a storage area network resource that produces at least a portion of the unique grouping of data when queried;

comparing the collection of data with the set of mapping information to attempt to match the collection of data to a corresponding unique grouping of data in the set of mapping information in order to map the resource to the corresponding specific identity of the resource; and

in response to checking whether the collection of data matches any unique groupings of data in the set of mapping information, failing to match the collection of data with an entry in the set of mapping information.

4. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 further comprising:

maintaining multiple filters for selectively applying to the collection of data to produce the modified collection of data; and

wherein modifying the collection of data includes;

detecting that a first portion of the collection of data matches a pattern associated with a first filter of the multiple filters;

applying the first filter to remove a first data portion from the collection of data;

detecting that a second portion of the collection of data matches a pattern associated with a second filter of the multiple filters;

applying the second filter to remove a second data portion from the collection of data.

5. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1, wherein identifying the specific identity associated with the resource includes, via use of the modified collection of data, mapping the resource to a class including multiple possible specific identities of resources in which the resource may match but for which it is not specifically known which specific identity in the class the resource actually matches.

6. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1, wherein identifying the specific identity associated with the resource includes:

initiating application of a reverse lookup function to the modified collection of data to identify the specific identity associated with the resource, application of the reverse lookup function including;

identifying whether the modified collection of data matches a given pattern and, if so, applying a corresponding algorithm to attempt to match the resource to a qualified resource type that has been pre-tested for possible use in combination with other resources in the storage area network environment.

7. The computer-implemented method as in claim 2 further comprising:

initiating application of a reverse lookup function to the modified collection of data to identify the specific identity associated with the resource, application of the reverse lookup function including verifying whether character string information associated with a known specific identity of a given storage area network resource matches any portion of the modified collection of data.

8. The computer-implemented method as in claim 2, wherein identifying the specific identity associated with the resource based on the modified collection of data includes:

parsing the modified collection of data;

matching a portion of the modified collection of data with a set of character string information associated with corresponding known vendor types to identify at least one vendor type associated with the resource; and

the computer-implemented method further comprising;

subsequent to matching, providing notification that the resource maps to each of at least two different vendor types.

9. The computer-implemented method as in claim 2, wherein identifying the type associated with the resource based on the modified collection of data includes:

parsing the modified collection of data;

matching a portion of the modified collection of data with a set of character string information associated with corresponding known model types of resources to identify at least one model type associated with the resource; and

the computer-implemented method further comprising;

subsequent to matching, providing notification that the resource maps to each of at least two different model types.

10. The computer-implemented method as in claim 2 further comprising:

prior to modifying the collection of data, comparing the collection of data with a set of mapping information to identify a specific identity of the resource; and

wherein modifying the collection of data occurs in response to failing to match the collection of data with an entry in the set of mapping information.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the specific identity associated with the resource includes:

applying a reverse lookup process to the modified collection of data, to match the unknown resource with a known identity, when a resource under test, associated with the modified collection of data, is a host bus adapter driver;

applying a matching process to the modified collection of data, to match the unknown resource with a known identity, when the resource under test, associated with the modified collection of data, is an operating system;

applying a reverse lookup process to the modified collection of data, to match the unknown resource with a known identity, when the resource under test, associated with the modified collection of data, is switch firmware; and

applying a matching process to the modified collection of data, to match the unknown resource with a known identity, when the resource under test, associated with the modified collection of data, is a storage array.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:

reverting back to an originally received character string from the collection of data in response to identifying empty data after modifying the collection of data by applying the set of exclude patterns.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:

in response to identifying an upgrade to resources, the upgrade invalidating a current mapping, changing the mapping to identify newly upgraded resources that are currently unknown to the mapping process.

16. The computer-implemented method as in claim 1 further comprising:

prior to modifying the collection of data, utilizing the resource specific data associated with the resource to attempt to match the resource to any of multiple known resource types;

wherein modifying the collection of data occurs in response to failing to match the resource to any of the multiple known resource types, the failing occurring because multiple different types of resources respond with the resource specific information when queried; and

wherein modifying the collection of data includes;

applying a text-based filter pattern to the resource specific information collected from the resource to produce the modified collection of data, the text-based filter pattern indicating a portion of the resource specific information to include in the modified collection of data.

17. The computer-implemented method as in claim 16, wherein identifying the specific identity of the resource includes:

via use of the modified collection of data, mapping the resource to a class including multiple possible specific identities of resources in which the resource may match but for which it is not specifically known which specific identity in the class the resource actually matches.

18. The computer-implemented method as in claim 17, wherein identifying the specific identity of the resource includes:

initiating display of an entry in a listing, the entry including an identifier of the resource;

displaying the entry to include the multiple possible specific identities; and

receiving input from a user selecting one of the multiple possible specific identities as being the specific identity of the resource.

19. The computer-implemented method as in claim 18 further comprising:

initiating application of a reverse lookup function to the modified collection of data to identify the specific identity associated with the resource, application of the reverse lookup function including verifying whether character string information associated with a known specific identity of a given storage area network resource matches any portion of the modified collection of data;

initiating application of a matching service function to the modified collection of data, the matching service function matching portions of the collection of data to known vendor information to identify possible specific vendor types associated with the resource; and

generating the multiple possible specific identities based on results of applying the reverse lookup function and the matching service function to the modified collection of data.

11. A computer program product including a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for processing data information, such that the instructions, when carried out by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform the steps of:

receiving a collection of data associated with a resource in a storage area network environment, the resource being unknown to a mapping process used in managing the storage area network environment, the collection of data containing configuration and settings information associated with the resource;

modifying the collection of data;

identifying the specific identity of the resource based on utilization of the modified collection of data;

maintaining a set of mapping information to include multiple entries, each entry enables a mapping between a unique grouping of data and a corresponding specific identity of a storage area network resource that produces at least a portion of the unique grouping of data when queried;

in response to receiving the collection of data, and prior to modifying the collection of data, attempting to map the unknown resource type directly to a known resource type, associated with the storage area network environment, by searching a global map of resources;

in response to receiving the collection of data, and prior to modifying the collection of data, attempting to map the unknown resource type directly to a known resource type, associated with the storage area network environment, based on a generated user mapping history of resources that are manually mapped in the storage area network environment;

in response to attempting to map, failing to map the unknown resource directly to a known resource type;

wherein modifying the collection of data includes subsequent to failing to map, applying a set of exclude patterns that remove data identified as not useful for mapping resources and applying a set of include patterns that prevent deletion of data identified as useful for mapping resources; and

analyzing an arrangement of identified types of resources according to a set of configuration rules to determine whether the arrangement is compatible for use in the storage area network environment Storing the specific identity of the resource in the set of mapping information.

12. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory unit that stores instructions associated with an application executed by the processor; and

an interconnect coupling the processor and the memory unit, enabling the computer system to execute the application and perform operations of;

receiving a collection of data associated with a resource in a storage area network environment, the resource being unknown to a mapping process used in managing the storage area network environment, the collection of data containing configuration and settings information associated with the resource;

modifying the collection of data;

identifying the specific identity of the resource based on utilization of the modified collection of data;

maintaining a set of mapping information to include multiple entries, each entry enables a mapping between a unique grouping of data and a corresponding specific identity of a storage area network resource that produces at least a portion of the unique grouping of data when queried;

in response to receiving the collection of data, and prior to modifying the collection of data, attempting to map the unknown resource type directly to a known resource type, associated with the storage area network environment, by searching a global map of resources;

in response to receiving the collection of data, and prior to modifying the collection of data, attempting to map the unknown resource type directly to a known resource type, associated with the storage area network environment, based on a generated user mapping history of resources that are manually mapped in the storage area network environment;

in response to attempting to map, failing to map the unknown resource directly to a known resource type;

wherein modifying the collection of data includes, subsequent to failing to map, applying a set of exclude patterns that remove data identified as not useful for mapping resources, and applying a set of include patterns that prevent deletion of data identified as useful for mapping resources; and

analyzing an arrangement of identified types of resources according to a set of configuration rules to determine whether the arrangement is compatible for use in the storage area network environment Storing the specific identity of the resource in the set of mapping information.