Patent ID: 7945640

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving a storage request having a storage pool policy, a volume creation policy, and volume creation attributes; searching available storage in a dynamic storage pool and storage connectivity elements based upon the storage request; selecting front-end and back-end virtual local area networks (VLANs), zones, and virtual initiators (VIs) matching a service level agreement (SLA) for the storage request; determining a provisioning plan for the storage request comprising a host bus adapter (HBA), HBA ports, an array, array ports, the virtual targets (VTs), the VIs, the zones, the VLANs, virtual volume identity, and logical units by examining resources for the VTs and VIs including resource usage and input/output operations per second to select a VT/VI pair based on the SLA; masking and mapping the array on the array ports to the VIs; masking and mapping the virtual volume on the VTs to the HBA ports; creating a front-end zone for connectivity between the virtual targets and host bus adaptor ports; creating a back-end zone for connectivity between the VIs and the array ports; and outputting the provisioning plan to a user for display.