Storage space management in a thin provisioned virtual environment

Abstract

A storage space management system for a thin provisioned virtual environment may comprise an over-allocation computation engine to compute an over-allocation metric for a virtual datastore. The over-allocation metric may be computed based on virtual storage space allocated to corresponding virtual machines and actual physical storage allocated to the virtual datastore. Further, the over-allocation metric may indicate extent of over-allocation of the actual physical storage to the virtual datastore. An available space computation engine may determine an available space metric for the virtual machines based on available datastore space and available physical storage space. An analysis engine may obtain a time value indicating time left within which storage space available for the virtual machines would be utilized. Further, the analysis engine may provide the over-allocation metric, the available space metric, and the time value to a capacity planning unit for storage space management in the virtual environment.