Patent ID: 7548963
Filing Date: 2009-06-16
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer-based method for automatically generating a multi-plan for a multi-layer storage area network, comprising: defining a plurality of planning layers including: a host layer; a storage device layer; and a network layer; for each of the planning layers, automatically calculating and ordering a set of plans according to at least one user-defined optimization criterion; automatically selecting potential devices for each of the planning layers from a plurality of device catalogue databases; each of the planning layers applying any one or more of a variance optimization, a preview optimization, a detail optimization, to prune the set of plans to one or more optimal plans, and for the host layer, storage layer and network layer and the input to the storage layer includes the output from the host layer and the input to the network layer includes the output from the storage layer; and generating plan variance in the storage layer by selecting an optimal host plan with respect to user provided criterion and discarding one or more of the remaining host plans; performing interoperability checking between the host layer and the storage layer; and wherein the above steps for the computer-based method for automatically generating the multi-plan for the multi-layer storage area network are performed by a computer processor.