GRAPHICAL STORAGE SYSTEM VISUALIZATION, TIMELINE BASED EVENT VISUALIZATION, AND STORAGE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION VISUALIZATION

• US 20090276714A1
• Filed: 05/02/2008
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Cruz, Art, Bocskai, Diana, Kandlikar, Yogesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,443,011 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/734
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

A method and system for visually displaying and navigating a computer storage system are disclosed. The storage system can be graphically browsed to select a particular entity in the storage system. A graphical timeline of events relating to the selected entity is displayed. Selecting an event from the timeline displays a graphical representation of the storage system at a time relating to the selected event or additional graphical detail about the selected event. Based on the selected event, configuration information for the entity in the storage system that experienced the event can be displayed and compared against the configuration of the entity at a different time or against a predefined template.

Claims

1. A graphical user interface (GUI) for visually browsing a computer storage system, comprising:

an entity graph of the computer storage system showing a graphical relationship between the entities in the storage system, the graph being centered on a selected entity, the graph being navigable in real-time through the hierarchical structure of the storage system;

a location information element for displaying a current location in the storage system, the location element showing a path through the hierarchical structure of the storage system from a top-level entity in the storage system to the entity at the center point of the graph; and

a status element for showing status information about the entity at the center point of the graph.

2. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein the entity graph is dynamically constructed in real-time based on a state of the storage system at the time the graph is drawn.

3. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein each point on the entity graph is provided with a uniform resource identifier such that the graph can be visually browsed via any point on the graph.

4. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein the entity graph can be navigated by clicking and dragging a point on the graph.

5. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein additional information regarding a point on the entity graph is displayed by placing a cursor over the desired point on the graph.

6. The GUI according to claim 1, further comprising:

a search element for searching for a particular entity in the storage system.

7. The GUI according to claim 1, further comprising:

an entity detail element for displaying details about the entity at the center point of the entity graph.

8. The GUI according to claim 1, wherein the storage system is a clustered file server system comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a switching fabric, each node including:

a network module configured to enable the node to communicate with other nodes and other entities;

a disk module configured to enable the node to connect to one or more disks; and

a management module configured to provide management functions for the node.

9. A graphical user interface (GUI) for visually browsing a computer storage system, comprising:

a list element for listing all of the entities in the storage system, the list being navigable through the hierarchical structure of the storage system, the list element including information about each entity in the storage system;

a location information element for displaying a current location in the storage system, the location element showing a path through the hierarchical structure of the storage system from a top-level entity in the storage system to a currently selected entity in the list element; and

a status element for showing status information about the currently selected entity in the list element.

10. The GUI according to claim 9, wherein the list element is dynamically constructed in real-time based on a state of the storage system at the time the list is created.

11. The GUI according to claim 9, wherein each element in the list element is provided with a uniform resource identifier such that the list can be browsed via any element in the list.

12. The GUI according to claim 9, further comprising:

a search element for searching for a particular entity in the storage system.

13. The GUI according to claim 9, wherein the storage system is a clustered file server system comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a switching fabric, each node including:

a network module configured to enable the node to communicate with other nodes and other entities;

a disk module configured to enable the node to connect to one or more disks; and

a management module configured to provide management functions for the node.

14. A graphical user interface (GUI) for visually browsing a timeline of events over a range of time, the events relating to a selected entity in a computer storage system, the GUI comprising:

a timeline having a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and a first side, the timeline comprising;

one or more rows, each row relating to a different event type;

a plurality of boxes in each row, each box relating to a predefined period of time;

an indicator to indicate that an event occurred, the indicator located in a box corresponding to a time when the event occurred and a row corresponding to the event type;

a first marker indicating a starting time for the range of time displayed on the timeline, the first marker positioned at the first end of the timeline;

a second marker indicating an ending time for the range of time displayed on the timeline, the second marker positioned at the second end of the timeline;

a scale positioned at the first side of the timeline, the scale displaying a larger range of time than the range of time displayed on the timeline; and

a slider positioned on the scale, the slider selectable to navigate along the scale, a first end of the slider indicating a position on the scale corresponding to the first marker and a second end of the slider indicating a position on the scale corresponding to the second marker, whereby moving the slider along the scale changes the range of time displayed on the timeline, the starting time on the first marker, and the ending time on the second marker.

15. The GUI according to claim 14, wherein if more than one event occurs for an event type within the predefined period of time indicated by one box, multiple indicators are displayed in the box, one indicator corresponding to each event.

16. The GUI according to claim 14, wherein if more than one event occurs for an event type within the predefined period of time indicated by one box, the indicator includes a number, the number indicating the number of events of the event type that occurred within the predefined period of time.

17. The GUI according to claim 14, the timeline further comprising:

a granularity selector for selecting the predefined period of time displayed by each box in the timeline.

18. The GUI according to claim 14, further comprising:

a location information element for displaying a current location in the storage system, the location element showing a path through the hierarchical structure of the storage system from a top-level entity in the storage system to the currently selected entity.

19. The GUI according to claim 14, further comprising:

a configuration information element for displaying configuration information for the selected entity.

20. The GUI according to claim 14, wherein selecting the indicator displays additional detail regarding the event.

21. The GUI according to claim 20, wherein if more than one event is identified by the indicator, the GUI further comprising:

a window for displaying a list of events identified by the indicator, wherein selecting an event from the list displays additional detail regarding the selected event.

22. The GUI according to claim 14, wherein the storage system is a clustered file server system comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a switching fabric, each node including:

a network module configured to enable the node to communicate with other nodes and other entities;

a disk module configured to enable the node to connect to one or more disks; and

a management module configured to provide management functions for the node.

23. A graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying details regarding a selected event that occurred on a selected entity in a computer storage system, the GUI comprising:

a graphical view of the storage system, the graphical view selected from one or more predefined views;

a view selection element for selecting among the predefined views;

a location information element for displaying a current location in the storage system, the location element showing a path through the hierarchical structure of the storage system from a top-level entity in the storage system to the selected entity;

an event identifier for identifying the selected event.

24. The GUI according to claim 23, wherein the graphical view is a physical system view, including disk shelves present in the storage system and adapters present on each disk shelf.

25. The GUI according to claim 23, wherein the graphical view is a disk-level view, including disk shelves present in the storage system and each disk on each disk shelf.

26. The GUI according to claim 23, wherein the graphical view is a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) level view, including the structure of the RAID.

27. The GUI according to claim 26, wherein the RAID level view includes each of the disks in a RAID group, each RAID group in a plex, and each plex in an aggregate.

28. The GUI according to claim 23, wherein the graphical view is a logical volume layout, including each logical unit number in a volume and each volume in an aggregate.

29. The GUI according to claim 23, wherein the graphical view is a capacity view of a logical volume, including a first indicator of a percentage of space used in the volume and a second indicator of a percentage of space available in the volume.

30. The GUI according to claim 23, further comprising:

a list of recently viewed event.

31. The GUI according to claim 23, further comprising:

an export option selector to select how the data shown in the graphical view is to be exported.

32. The GUI according to claim 23, wherein the storage system is a clustered file server system comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a switching fabric, each node including:

a network module configured to enable the node to communicate with other nodes and other entities;

a disk module configured to enable the node to connect to one or more disks; and

a management module configured to provide management functions for the node.

33. A graphical user interface (GUI) for comparing a first configuration of an entity in a computer storage system with a second configuration of an entity in the storage system, the GUI comprising:

a first information element for displaying information about the first configuration, the first configuration relating to the configuration of the entity at a time of a selected event;

a second information element for displaying information about the second configuration, the second information element being in proximity to the first information element to permit comparison, the second configuration selected from the group consisting of;

the entity of the first configuration at a different point in time, a different entity at a point in time near the time of the selected event, a different entity at a different point in time, and a predefined configuration template;

a location information element for displaying a current location in the storage system, the location element showing a path through the hierarchical structure of the storage system from a top-level entity in the storage system to the selected entity of the first configuration; and

an event identifier for displaying information corresponding to the selected event.

34. The GUI according to claim 33, further comprising:

a list of recently viewed events.

35. The GUI according to claim 33, further comprising:

a save element for saving the first configuration as a template.

36. The GUI according to claim 33, further comprising:

a template selector, whereby a predefined configuration template can be selected as the second configuration.

37. The GUI according to claim 33, wherein the storage system is a clustered file server system comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a switching fabric, each node including:

a network module configured to enable the node to communicate with other nodes and other entities;

a disk module configured to enable the node to connect to one or more disks; and

a management module configured to provide management functions for the node.