Server-side storage area network management interface

• US 8,019,849 B1
• Filed: 04/06/2009
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Lopilato, Joe, Voigt, Charles, Jancaitis, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Jacobs; Lashonda T
• Application Number:
  US12/419,097
• Time in Patent Office: 890 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/224, 711/170, 714/6, 707/1, 707/10, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1827 Management specifically adapted to NAS management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067
• 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 centralized Storage Area Network (SAN) management system based on a distributed client-server architecture. The SAN management system may include a SAN management server and a browser client. In one embodiment, the browser client may be a “thin” client that may make minimal use of web technologies on the client side. The SAN management server may gather SAN information, render the SAN information into images in an image format suitable for display by the browser client, and provide the images to the browser client for display. The SAN management system, through the browser client, may provide views into a SAN based on host, device, fabric, and/or storage groups, as well as alerts to diagnose and avoid outages. In one embodiment, the browser client may provide an interface to access features of the SAN management system to perform SAN management functions.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

a web engine receiving, from a storage area network (SAN) management server, information corresponding to a plurality of SAN objects coupled to a SAN fabric;

the web engine generating an image from the information corresponding to the plurality of SAN objects, wherein the image includes information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of SAN objects, and wherein the image is in an image format displayable by a browser client; and

the web engine providing the image to the browser client for display by the browser client.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the browser client is configured to display one or more links configured to invoke one or more of tools, applications, or utilities provided by the SAN management server in response to user selection to perform one or more SAN management functions.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the SAN management server is configured to generate the image from the information corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of SAN objects in response to a request received from the browser client.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the SAN objects comprise one or more of a plurality of SAN fabric devices within the SAN fabric, a plurality of storage systems coupled to the SAN fabric, or a plurality of host systems coupled to the SAN fabric.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the image includes one or more of a topology map of the SAN fabric, detail information for one or more of the SAN objects, or one or more alerts for one or more of the SAN objects.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the image includes one or more user-selectable links each configured to display another image including another portion of the information corresponding to one or more of the SAN objects in response to user selection, wherein the other image is in the image format displayable by the browser client, and wherein the SAN management server is further configured to generate the other image in response to said user selection of the particular link.

7. The method SAN as recited in claim 1, wherein the SAN management server is further configured to:

generate an image map of the image for determining additional information corresponding to the one or more SAN objects from locations of user actions within the image; and

transmit the image map to the browser client;

wherein the browser client is further configured to;

determine a location of a user action within the image, wherein the location corresponds to one of the one or more SAN objects;

determine from the image map additional information corresponding to the one of the one or more SAN objects; and

display the additional information corresponding to the one of the one or more SAN objects.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the image format is one of JPEG, Graphic Interchange Format (GIF), or Portable Network Graphics (PNG).

9. A system, comprising:

a web engine configured to receive, from a storage area network (SAN) management server, information corresponding to from a plurality of SAN objects coupled to a SAN fabric;

wherein a web engine is further configured to

generate an image from the information corresponding to the plurality of SAN objects, wherein the image includes information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of SAN objects, and wherein the image is in an image format displayable by a browser client; and

provide the image to the browser client for display by the browser client.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein, to generate an image from the gathered information, the web engine is further configured to:

generate an image in a format used by the SAN management server; and

generate the image in the image format displayable by the browser client from the image in the format used by the SAN management server.

11. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the image includes one or more user-selectable links configured to invoke one or more of tools, applications, or utilities implemented on the SAN management server in response to user selection to perform one or more SAN management functions.

12. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the web engine is further configured to generate the image from the information corresponding to the SAN objects in response to one or more requests received from the browser client.

13. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the SAN objects comprise one or more of a plurality of SAN fabric devices comprised in the SAN fabric, a plurality of storage systems coupled to the SAN fabric, or a plurality of host systems coupled to the SAN fabric.

14. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the image includes one or more of a topology map of the SAN fabric, detail information for one or more of the SAN objects, or one or more alerts for one or more of the SAN objects.

15. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the image includes one or more user-selectable links each configured to display another image including another portion of the information corresponding to one or more of the SAN objects in response to user selection, wherein the other image is in the image format displayable by the browser client, and wherein the web engine is further configured to generate the other image in response to said user selection of the particular link.

16. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the web engine is further configured to:

generate an image map of the image for determining additional information corresponding to the one or more SAN objects from locations of user actions within the image, and

provide the image map to the browser client.

17. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the image format is one of JPEG, Graphic Interchange Format (GIF), or Portable Network Graphics (PNG).

18. A computer-accessible medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:

a web engine configured to receive, from a storage area network (SAN) management server, information corresponding to a plurality of SAN objects coupled to a SAN fabric;

wherein the web engine is further configured to generate an image from the information corresponding to the plurality of SAN objects, wherein the image includes information corresponding to one or more of the plurality of SAN objects, and wherein the image is in an image format displayable by a browser client; and

wherein the web engine is further configured to provide the image to the browser client for display by the browser client.

19. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the web engine is are further configured to invoking one or more of tools, applications, or utilities for performing one or more SAN management functions on the SAN management server in response to user selection of a link corresponding to the invoked tool, application, or utility on the browser client.

20. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the image includes one or more of a topology map of the SAN fabric, detail information for one or more of the SAN objects, or one or more alerts for one or more of the SAN objects.

21. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 18, wherein:

the web engine is further configured to generate another image in response to another request for another portion of the information corresponding to the SAN objects, wherein the another request is responsive to user selection of a link to the another image; and

wherein the web engine is further configured to provide the another image to the browser client.

22. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 18, wherein

the web engine is further configured to generate an image map of the image for determining additional information corresponding to the one or more SAN objects from locations of user actions within the image;

and

the web engine is further configured to provide the image map to the browser client.

23. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the image format is one of JPEG, Graphic Interchange Format (GIF), or Portable Network Graphics (PNG).