Netapp, Inc.

Network Appliance, Inc.

Benjamin Swartzlander

Vijay Mohan Deshmukh

Timothy J Thompson

Barry Schwartz

Nagender Somavarapu

Brian M Hackworth

Steven R Klinkner

Peter Logan Smoot

Joshua Hanan Flank

Senthilkumar Ponnappan

Alan G Yoder

Senthilkumkar Ponnappan

According to an embodiment of the invention, an agent scans a storage server, and collects information about files stored on the storage server. The agent then summarizes the information into a summary, and stores the summary on a database server. The summaries can be accessed by a system administrator using a graphical user interface (GUI). The summaries contain information about the use of the storage server, and highlight potential problem areas. By having an agent, rather than a multi-appliance management application (MMA) scan the storage server and create the summary, the MMA is able to perform other tasks.

Pre-summarization and analysis of results generated by an agent

A method and an apparatus to automatically create storage resource management (SRM) paths has been presented. In one embodiment, the method includes monitoring a data storage system to collect configuration data of storage objects in the data storage system and automatically creating a storage resource management (SRM) path for a storage object in the data storage system using at least a portion of the configuration data in response to a user request to scan the storage object.

Auto-creation of storage resource management paths

According to an embodiment of the invention, a filer or other storage server is coupled to a network to store files for users of the network. Agents are coupled to the filer, and performs a scan or file walk for a Multi-Appliance Management Application (MMA) which is coupled to the filer and can monitor and manage the filer. A directory structure of the filer may be divided into two or more paths, each of which may be scanned by an independent agent. The results of the scan, or file walk, are saved to a database server. In this way, multiple agents may be used to scan a single storage server, and the amount of time required for the scan is reduced.

Storage resource management across multiple paths

A method and an apparatus to automatically create storage resource management (SRM) paths have been presented. In one embodiment, the method includes monitoring a data storage system to collect configuration data of storage objects in the data storage system and automatically creating a storage resource management (SRM) path for a storage object in the data storage system using at least a portion of the configuration data in response to a user request to scan the storage object.

Centralized role-based access control (RBAC) for storage servers can include operating multiple storage servers, each configured to provide a set of clients with access to stored data, and using a separate network server to provide centralized RBAC. The network server may include an API proxy to proxy requests to access individual APIs of a storage server by an application which is external to the network server and the storage server and may control access to the individual APIs of the storage servers on a per-API, per-user and per-object basis. The API proxy may filter responses to API calls based on the access privileges of the user of the application which sent the API call. In some embodiments, the network server may implement a Windows domain server, an LDAP server or the like to evaluate security credentials of administrative users on behalf of multiple storage servers.

Centralized role-based access control for storage servers

A monitoring server remotely communicates with a storage server in order to monitor utilization of storage space of a write out-of-place file system on the storage server, the file system including a persistent point-in-time image (PPI) of its active file system, the PPI including at least part of the active file system, but does not duplicate said part of the active file system.

Method and system of automatically monitoring a storage server

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a filer or other storage server is coupled to a network to store files for users of the network. An agent is coupled to the filer, and performs a scan or file walk for a Multi-Appliance Management Application (MMA) which is coupled to the filer and can monitor and manage the filer. The agent assigns identification (ID) numbers to the directories while scanning them. The ID numbers are assigned in a depth first search (DFS) order to reduce the amount of resources required for specific queries that may later be required. Several types of queries, including determining the parent of a node, determining all of the children of a node, determining the immediate children of a node, and determining all of the ancestors of a node may be easily accomplished using the ID numbers.

Method and apparatus for representing file system metadata within a database for efficient queries

According to an embodiment of the invention, a directory on a storage server is scanned. A number of children of the directory is determined, and the number is added to a reference count. A child is scanned to collect information about the child, and the information is combined into a summary of the directory. After the child is scanned, the reference count is reduced by one. According to another embodiment of the invention, the storage server is scanned by an agent separate from the storage server.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Benjamin Swartzlander