Patent ID: 9594770
Date: 2017-03-14
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method of operating a data storage system, comprising: maintaining respective sets of attributes for a set of storage devices of the storage system, the set of attributes for each storage device including a cost attribute, a capacity attribute and a set of quality-of-service attributes, the cost attribute expressing a cost of operating the storage device, the capacity attribute expressing a storage capacity of the storage device, and the quality-of-service attributes expressing levels of respective aspects of service provided by the storage device in operation; receiving a request from a user to obtain a user-specific virtual disk to store user data, the request including a set of request parameters including a price parameter, a capacity parameter and a set of quality-of-service parameters, the price parameter expressing a maximum price the user will pay for using the virtual disk, the capacity parameter expressing a minimum storage capacity the user requires for the virtual disk to store user data, and the quality-of-service parameters expressing levels of respective aspects of service the user requires to be provided by the virtual disk in operation; automatically applying a device selection function to the request to select a storage device to be mapped to the virtual disk in satisfaction of the request, the device selection function generating a respective score for each storage device based on the parameters of the request and the attributes of the storage device, the device selection function identifying a best suited storage device by comparing the respective scores of the storage devices; automatically creating the virtual disk in satisfaction of the request with a mapping to the best suited storage device to provide underlying physical data storage therefor; and providing an interface by which the user accesses the virtual disk for storing the user data thereon and retrieving the user data therefrom.