Methods and systems for storage architectures

Abstract

Methods and systems for storage architectures are provided. Storage resource provider modules interface with storage resources to perform storage operations. A storage management data store maintains storage data associated with a storage environment of the storage resources. The storage resource provider modules retrieve and update the storage management data in response to processing the storage operations. In one embodiment, a storage management application requests a selected storage resource provider module to perform a selected storage operation. The storage management application determines the selected storage resource provider module by acquiring the storage management data in the data store.

1 . A method of managing storage across a heterogeneous storage environment, comprising: 
 providing a storage management application interfaced to a host application;    associating a plurality of storage resource provider modules with the storage management application;    storing storage management data on a storage management data store; and    associating the storage management data with the storage management application and with each of the storage resource provider modules;    wherein the storage management application accesses the data store when receiving a request to access a selected storage resource from the host application in order to be assigned to one of the storage resource provider modules by the data store, and wherein the assigned storage resource provider module retrieves and stores storage management data from and to the data store in order to satisfy the request.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, periodically updating the data store by a number of the storage resource provider modules when state changes are detected in storage resources.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in providing the storage management application, the storage management application is at least one of a Volume Manager (VM), a storage backup operation, a storage snapshot operation, and a storage area network (SAN) manager.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in providing the storage provider resource modules, each of the storage provider resource modules present a consistent calling syntax to the storage management application for requesting storage management operations.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the data store, the data store is accessed by at least one of an Application Programming Interface (API) Library, and an Object Module (OM) architecture having objects with associated methods.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in providing the data store, the data store is accessible via a data bus, and the data store resides in at least one of a volatile storage, a non-volatile storage, and a combination of the volatile and non-volatile storages.  
   
   
       7 . A storage management architecture system, comprising: 
 a plurality of storage resources;    a plurality of storage resource provider modules; and    a storage management data store having storage management data;    wherein each of the storage resource provider modules interfaces with a different storage resource, and stores and retrieves storage management data from and to the data store in order to maintain a consistent storage environment representation in the data store.    
   
   
       8 . The storage management architecture of  claim 7  further comprising: 
 a plurality of host applications and a storage management application that receives storage management operations from the plurality of host applications;    wherein the storage management application accesses the data store to select the storage resource provider modules that will process operations on behalf of the storage management application.    
   
   
       9 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 8  wherein a storage resource is dynamically bound to a storage resource provider module within the data store.  
   
   
       10 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 9 , wherein a storage management application uses the storage management data included in the data store to manage a storage environment on behalf of the plurality of host applications, and wherein the storage management application uses the storage resource provider modules to indirectly interface with the storage resources.  
   
   
       11 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 7 , wherein the storage resources include storage arrays and wherein two or more of the storage arrays have disparate interfaces from one another, where the interfaces are used to perform storage management operations on the storage arrays.  
   
   
       12 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 7 , wherein the storage management data is used to make decisions about storage management operations.  
   
   
       13 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 7 , wherein the data store is a database having access and update methods, where a number of the methods are publicly available for use and a number of the methods are private having restricted use.  
   
   
       14 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 7 , wherein the storage management data includes storage configuration settings and states associated with the storage resources.  
   
   
       15 . A storage management architecture system, comprising: 
 a plurality of storage resources, wherein each storage resource includes an interface used to perform storage management operations on the storage resources, wherein two or more of the interfaces are different from one another;    a plurality of storage resource provider modules, wherein each storage resource provider module communicates with one of the interfaces; and    a storage management data store capable of storing storage management data associated with the storage management operations;    wherein the storage resource provider modules act as an intermediary on behalf of a calling application when processing the storage management operations, and the provider modules retrieve and store results associated with processing the storage management operations in the data store.    
   
   
       16 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 15 , wherein the calling application is at least one of a host application and a storage management application.  
   
   
       17 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 15 , wherein the calling application retrieves the storage management data from the data store.  
   
   
       18 . The storage management architecture system  claim 15 , wherein the storage resource provider modules access the data store is accessible over a network.  
   
   
       19 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 15 , wherein the calling application requests one of the storage management operations by calling a storage resource provider module associated with a particular storage resource.  
   
   
       20 . The storage management architecture system of  claim 15 , wherein the provider modules provide consistent calling syntaxes to the calling application for requesting the storage operations.