Patent ID: 7930476

Claim:
A method for provisioning storage of a data storage system for use by an application comprising: receiving one or more application provision requirements associated with a provisioning request to provision storage for use by the application; translating, in accordance with defaults customized for the application included in a policy, the one or more application provision requirements to one or more generic storage resource requirements, wherein said translating of the one or more application provision requirements provides a level of automation in accordance with a user interaction level that is associated with the one or more application provision requirements and indicates a user proficiency level; translating, in accordance with data storage system best practices included in said policy, the one or more generic storage resource requirements to one or more physical data storage requirements, wherein said physical data storage requirements include identification of one or more physical storage devices in said data storage system used in allocating storage to service said provisioning request; and allocating storage for use by said application in accordance with said physical data storage requirements.