Namespace and storage management application infrastructure for use in management of resources in a storage system environment

• US 8,635,247 B1
• Filed: 04/28/2006
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Klinkner, Steven R., Hackworth, Brian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong, Huen
• Application Number:
  US11/414,593
• Time in Patent Office: 2,825 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/10, 707/783, 718/1
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/166 File name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/183 Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS network file access protocols H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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 namespace and storage management (NSM) application includes an infrastructure configured to enable efficient management of resources in a storage system environment. The NSM application executes on a NSM console and interacts with an NSM server to integrate namespace management and storage management in the storage system environment. The NSM server, in turn, interacts with one or more remote agents installed on host machines in the environment to convey application programming interface (API) function calls that enable remote management of the resources.

Claims

1. A system configured to enable management of resources in a storage system environment, the system comprising:

a management server that interacts with a plurality of namespace servers, the management server including a processor and a memory for storing operations executable by the processor;

a management application executing on a management console computer that receives an operation directed to the resources wherein the operation is managed by a plurality of worker threads and the worker threads manage a plurality of routines derived from the operation, the management application that interacts with the management server to integrate namespace management and storage management in the storage system environment, the management application having an infrastructure including at least one client presentation layer disposed over a library layer apportioned into at least one application programming interface (API) toolkit that;

handles API processing and communication with the management server and produce reusable components directed to namespace and storage management functions, the at least one API toolkit cooperating with the client presentation layer to prompt a user for user credentials, to be provided on-demand, to perform the operation upon the resources in the storage system, wherein one worker thread interacts with the client presentation layer to control display of only one dialog at a time on the management console to obtain the user credentials from the user and the one worker thread to share the user credentials among other worker threads, where the user credentials from the one worker thread and the other worker threads is sent to at least a first server and a second server to perform the operation upon the resources; and

employs a thread pool layer that utilizes the worker threads to process the operation apportioned among the worker threads into manageable APIs directed to the resources; and

a result tracker maintained by the thread pool layer, the result tracker that monitors progress of the manageable APIs and provides a completion notification summarizing thread operation results on the resources.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one API toolkit comprises an API client layer that is embodied as an API library that generates APIs used to interact with the management server.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the resources include instances of managed objects and wherein the at least one API toolkit further comprises a managed object layer that provides a plurality of templates that describe data and behavior associated with the managed objects, as well as interfaces that enable operations on those objects.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one API toolkit comprises a credential handling layer that provides an on-demand credential collection function that collects the user credentials needed to access the resources.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the management application is a namespace and storage management (NSM) application, the management console computer is a NSM console and the management server is a NSM server.

6. A method for enabling management of resources in a storage system environment, the method comprising:

executing a management application on a management console computer to initiate performance of an operation directed to a group of managed objects, the executed management application enabling interaction with a management server to integrate namespace management and storage management in the storage system environment, the management application having an infrastructure including at least one client presentation layer disposed over a library layer apportioned into at least one application programming interface (API) toolkit, wherein the group of managed objects are units of storage hosted by a plurality of servers;

decomposing the operation into a plurality of routines directed to the group of managed objects;

spawning a plurality of threads on the management application to manage the plurality of routines;

determining that user credentials are not provided to permit access by a user to the group of managed objects;

in response to determining that the user credentials are not provided, prompting the user for the user credentials, to be provided on-demand, to enable execution of the plurality of routines upon the group of managed objects on the plurality of servers, wherein the plurality of threads require the user credentials and one thread of the plurality of threads controls display of only one dialog at a time on the management console computer to obtain the user credentials from the user, wherein the one thread shares the user credentials among other threads, the other threads waiting on the dialog for the credentials to execute the plurality of routines upon the group of managed objects;

sending the user credentials, from the one thread and the other threads, to the plurality of servers, hosting the group of managed objects, the user credentials enabling execution of the plurality of routines on the group of managed objects;

utilizing the at least one API toolkit that handles API processing and communication with the management server, wherein the at least one API toolkit includes a thread pool layer that utilizes the plurality of threads to process the plurality of routines that are apportioned among the plurality of threads into manageable APIs directed to the group of managed objects; and

maintaining a result tracker by the thread pool layer, the result tracker monitoring progress of the manageable APIs and providing completion notifications summarizing thread operation results on the managed objects.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the management application comprises a namespace and storage management (NSM) application and wherein the management console computer comprises an NSM console.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

sending manageable APIs to an NSM server configured to translate the manageable APIs into additional APIs that initiate action by a remote agent directed to the managed objects; and

forwarding the additional APIs to servers hosting the managed objects.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

returning a failure notification to the NSM application indicating failure of an API due to user credentials that were not provided, before prompting the user for the user credentials.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the managed object comprises one or more shares.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

sending the routines to the management server, the management server including a processor configured to process the routines;

translating, by the management server, the routines into additional routines, the additional routines configured to initiate an action by a remote agent directed to the managed objects; and

forwarding the additional routines to the plurality of servers hosting the managed objects.

10. An apparatus configured to enable management of resources in a storage system environment, the apparatus comprising:

means for executing a management application on a management console computer to initiate performance of an operation directed to a group of managed objects, the executed management application enabling interaction with a management server to integrate namespace management and storage management in the storage system environment, the management application having an infrastructure including at least one client presentation layer disposed over a library layer apportioned into at least one application programming interface (API) toolkit, wherein the group of managed objects are units of storage hosted by a plurality of servers;

means for decomposing the operation into a plurality of routines directed to the group of managed objects;

means for spawning a plurality of threads on the management application to manage the plurality of routines;

means for determining that the user credentials are not provided to permit access by a user to the group of managed objects;

means for prompting the user for the user credentials, to be provided on-demand, to enable execution of the plurality of routines upon the group of managed objects on the plurality of servers, wherein the plurality of the threads require the user credentials and one thread controls display of only one dialog at a time on the management console computer to obtain the user credentials from the user in response to determining that the user credentials are not provided, wherein the one thread shares the user credentials among other threads, the other threads waiting on the dialog for the credentials to execute the plurality of routines upon the group of managed objects;

means for sending the user credentials, from the one thread and the other threads, to the plurality of servers, to enable execution of the plurality of routines on the group of managed objects;

means for utilizing the at least one API toolkit that handles API processing and communication with the management server, wherein the at least one API toolkit includes a thread pool layer that utilizes the plurality of threads to process the plurality of routines that are apportioned among the plurality of threads into manageable APIs directed to the group of managed objects; and

means for maintaining a result tracker by the thread pool layer, the result tracker monitoring progress of the manageable APIs and providing completion notifications summarizing thread operation results on the managed objects.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

means for sending the routines to the management server, the management server including a processor configured to process the routines;

means for translating the routines into additional routines, the additional routines configured to initiate an action by a remote agent directed to the managed objects; and

means for forwarding the additional routines to the plurality of servers hosting the managed objects.

11. A computer readable storage medium containing executable program instructions executed by a processor, comprising:

program instructions that execute a management application on a management console computer to initiate performance of an operation directed to a group of managed objects, the executed management application enabling interaction with a management server to integrate namespace management and storage management in the storage system environment, the management application having an infrastructure including at least one client presentation layer disposed over a library layer apportioned into at least one application programming interface (API) toolkit, wherein the group of managed objects are units of storage hosted by a plurality of servers;

program instructions that decompose the operation into a plurality of routines directed to the group of managed objects;

program instructions that spawn a plurality of threads on the management application to manage the plurality of routines;

program instructions that determine user credentials are not provided to permit a user to access the group of managed objects;

program instructions that, in response to determining that the user credentials are not provided, prompt a user for the user credentials, to be provided on-demand, to perform the plurality of routines upon the group of managed objects on the plurality of servers, wherein one thread controls display of only one dialog at a time on the management console computer to obtain the user credentials, wherein the one thread shares the user credentials among other threads, the other threads waiting on the dialog for the credentials to perform the plurality of routines upon the group of managed objects;

program instructions that send the user credentials, from the one thread and the other threads, to the plurality of servers, to enable execution of the plurality of routines on the group of managed objects;

program instructions that utilize the at least one API toolkit that handles API processing and communication with the management server, wherein the at least one API toolkit includes a thread pool layer that utilizes the plurality of threads to process the plurality of routines that is apportioned among the plurality of threads into manageable APIs directed to the group of managed objects; and

program instructions that maintain a result tracker by the thread pool layer, the result tracker monitoring progress of the manageable APIs and providing a completion notifications summarizing thread operation results on the managed objects.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising:

program instructions that send the routines to the management server, the management server configured to process the routines;

program instructions that translate the routines into additional routines, the additional routines configured to initiate an action by a remote agent directed to the managed objects; and

program instructions that forward the additional routines to the plurality of servers hosting the managed objects.