Patent ID: 8117235

Claim:
A method of configuring resources of a data storage system comprising: providing a definition for each of one or more tiers, each of said one or more tiers corresponding to a different class of consumer of data storage system resources, each of said one or more tiers having a different corresponding definition including a set of one or more clauses and a priority of each clause in said set relative to other clauses in said set, each of said clauses in said set being one of a plurality of predefined types of clauses specifying expected criteria, said plurality of predefined types of clauses including at least one goal clause specifying an objective for said each tier and including at least one configuration clause specifying a data storage system configuration characteristic dependent on a data storage system resource used in connection with data storage for consumers of said each tier; associating one or more data storage consumers with each of said one or more tiers; associating a first set of data storage system resources with a first of said one or more tiers in accordance with a corresponding first definition for said first tier, said first so used when processing storage provisioning requests and I/O requests for data storage consumers associated with said first tier, wherein said first set of data storage system resources is selected in accordance with first expected criteria that is included in clauses of the first definition and that is prioritized based on first relative priorities associated with the clauses of the first definition, said first set of data storage system resources having actual characteristics in accordance with the first relative priorities and the first expected criteria; periodically determining whether the first expected criteria are met; and automatically adjusting the first set of data storage system resources in accordance with the first expected criteria and the first relative priorities if the first expected criteria are not met.