Patent ID: 7809739

Claim:
In a host system connected to a distributed storage system and on which executes one or more applications that require storage allocation, a processor-implemented method comprising: the processor executing a storage device configuration module within the host system, wherein the storage device configuration module performs the functions of: issuing a query from the host system to one or more storage devices connected to the host system for retrieval of configuration information of the one or more storage devices; and responsive to receipt of the configuration information: determining, at the host system, an optimal allocation of storage devices to an application running on the host system based on an analysis which involves matching characteristics of the configuration information received from the one or more storage devices with known storage and input/output (I/O) requirements of the application; and based on the optimal allocation determined by analyzing the configuration information received against the known storage and I/O requirements of the application, automatically assigning, at the host system, specific ones of the one or more storage devices to the application running on the host system; wherein the application subsequently access the assigned specific one or more storage devices to complete all subsequent storage and I/O processes of the application; wherein specific storage is assigned to specific applications running on the host system based on the received configuration information of the one or more storage devices compared against known I/O and other requirements of the specific applications; and wherein the issuing of the query to retrieve the configuration information for use in determining the optimal allocation is automatically initiated when a storage device is connected to the host system and occurs independent of any storage or I/O request being issued by an application executing at the host system.