Methods and apparatus for automating service lifecycle management

• US 8,918,493 B1
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Gillam, David A., Crable, Frederick, Beach, Nathan B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph E
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCLEOD, MARSHALL M
• Application Number:
  US13/536,705
• Time in Patent Office: 908 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1824 implemented using Network-attached Storage [NAS] architecture distributed or networked storage systems G06F3/067; protocols for distributed storage of data in a network H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to provide, in a cloud infrastructure environment having a compute layer, a network layer, a storage layer, and management layer, wherein the management layer has no knowledge of at least some of existing infrastructure services, selecting hosts containing host bus adapters and/or network adapters having unique identifiers, using the unique identifiers to analyze the storage layer for: storage groups having host initiators that match the unique identifiers of the host bus adaptors, and/or network file storage (NFS) exports exposed to the unique identifiers as client IP addresses.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in a cloud infrastructure environment having a compute layer, a network layer, a storage layer, and management layer, wherein the management layer has no knowledge of at least some of existing infrastructure services,

selecting hosts containing host bus adapters and/or network adapters having unique identifiers;

using the unique identifiers to analyze the storage layer for;

storage groups having host initiators that match the unique identifiers of the host bus adaptors; and

/or

network file storage (NFS) exports exposed to the unique identifiers as client IP addresses,

wherein one or more discovered cloud infrastructure services are adapted for and adopted into a data model of the management layer for continued service lifecycle management,

wherein the adopted service is analyzed for compatibility with an existing service offering in the cloud environment management layer, and if compatible, associated with the existing service offering, and

wherein a new service template is extrapolated from the structure and quality of service requirements of the adopted service and created as a new service offering in the cloud management layer.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the unique identifiers comprise world wide port names (WWPNs) and/or Internet protocol (IP) network adapters configured with IP addresses.

3. The method according to claim 2, further including using storage ports in the storage groups with unique identifiers for the hosts to identify potential zones in a fabric of the storage area network (SAN), wherein the presence as zone members of one or more of the storage ports and one of the HBAs identified by one of the WWPNs in one of the zones indicates the zone can be in use as a SAN path in a cloud infrastructure service.

4. The method according to claim 3, further including, through mediation with the compute layer, determining which storage volume and storage group should be used to boot the selected host.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein presence in the storage layer of an NFS export with a host IP address in a client list indicates the NFS export should be used as file storage in the cloud infrastructure service.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein the storage volumes are potentially visible to and in use by other hosts in the cloud infrastructure environment, wherein the occurrence of at least one of the storage volumes being visible to and in use by more than one of the hosts in the cloud infrastructure environment indicates that the hosts form a cluster of hosts.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the hosts identified as potential clusters of hosts are validated for adherence to business rules in the management layer including:

each host in the potential cluster recognizing the exact same shared storage volumes (SAN-based and/or NFS-based); and

each host in the environment having identical network configuration including;

the same number of host bus adapters with matching names;

the same number of network adapters with matching names; and

the same VLANs configured on each relative network adapter across hosts.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein any adopted cloud infrastructure service acts as if it had originally been fully configured and provisioned by the management layer into which it has been model adapted.

10. The article according to claim 1, wherein the unique identifiers comprise world wide port names (WWPNs) and/or Internet protocol (IP) network adapters configured with IP addresses.

11. The article according to claim 10, further including instructions for using storage ports in the storage groups with unique identifiers for the hosts to identify potential zones in a fabric of the storage area network (SAN), wherein the presence as zone members of one or more of the storage ports and one of the HBAs identified by one of the WWPNs in one of the zones indicates the zone can be in use as a SAN path in a cloud infrastructure service.

12. The article according to claim 11, further including instructions, through mediation with the compute layer, for determining which storage volume and storage group should be used to boot the selected host.

13. The article according to claim 11, wherein presence in the storage layer of an NFS export with a host IP address in a client list indicates the NFS export should be used as file storage in the cloud infrastructure service.

14. The article according to claim 11, wherein the storage volumes are potentially visible to and in use by other hosts in the cloud infrastructure environment, wherein the occurrence of at least one of the storage volumes being visible to and in use by more than one of the hosts in the cloud infrastructure environment indicates that the hosts form a cluster of hosts.

15. The article according to claim 14, wherein the hosts identified as potential clusters of hosts are validated for adherence to business rules in the management layer including:

each host in the potential cluster recognizing the exact same shared storage volumes (SAN-based and/or NFS-based); and

each host in the environment having identical network configuration including;

the same number of host bus adapters with matching names;

the same number of network adapters with matching names; and

the same VLANs configured on each relative network adapter across hosts.

16. The article according to claim 15, wherein any adopted cloud infrastructure service acts as if it had originally been fully configured and provisioned by the management layer into which it has been model adapted.

9. An article, comprising:

a computer readable medium containing non-transitory stored instructions that enable a machine to perform;

in a cloud infrastructure environment having a compute layer, a network layer, a storage layer, and management layer, wherein the management layer has no knowledge of at least some of existing infrastructure services,

selecting hosts containing host bus adapters and/or network adapters having unique identifiers; and

using the unique identifiers to analyze the storage layer for;

storage groups having host initiators that match the unique identifiers of the host bus adaptors; and

/or

network file storage (NFS) exports exposed to the unique identifiers as client IP addresses,

wherein one or more discovered cloud infrastructure services are adapted for and adopted into a data model of the management layer for continued service lifecycle management,

wherein the adopted service is analyzed for compatibility with an existing service offering in the cloud environment management layer, and if compatible, associated with the existing service offering, and

wherein a new service template is extrapolated from the structure and quality of service requirements of the adopted service and created as a new service offering in the cloud management layer.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor containing stored instructions to enable the system, in a cloud infrastructure environment having a compute layer, a network layer, a storage layer, and management layer, wherein the management layer has no knowledge of at least some of existing infrastructure services, to;

select hosts containing host bus adapters and/or network adapters having unique identifiers;

use the unique identifiers to analyze the storage layer for;

storage groups having host initiators that match the unique identifiers of the host bus adaptors; and

/or

network file storage (NFS) exports exposed to the unique identifiers as client IP addresses,

wherein one or more discovered cloud infrastructure services are adapted for and adopted into a data model of the management layer for continued service lifecycle management,

wherein the adopted service is analyzed for compatibility with an existing service offering in the cloud environment management layer, and if compatible, associated with the existing service offering, and

wherein a new service template is extrapolated from the structure and quality of service requirements of the adopted service and created as a new service offering in the cloud management layer.