Patent ID: 7640342

Claim:
A computer executed method for determining a configuration for a target data storage system includes the steps of: receiving, from a user interface, identifiers of one or more source data storage systems, wherein each of the one or more data storage systems comprise a plurality of components, the plurality of components comprising a data storage device; receiving utilization or response time data related to the one or more source data storage systems; wherein the utilization or response time data comprises utilization or response time for at least one of the plurality of components of the one or more source data storage systems; receiving performance characteristics of work performed on the one or more source data storage systems; wherein the performance characteristics of work performed comprises performance characteristics of work performed for at least one of the plurality of components of the one or more source data storage systems; wherein the performance characteristics comprise I/O operations comprising a number of read hits, read misses, least recently used writes, and write pending operations; receiving, from the user interface, a number of boxes corresponding to components to be included in a target data storage system, wherein components of the target data storage system are selected in response to the utilization and response time data; determining a recommended configuration of the target storage system by analyzing the performance characteristics of and the utilization of the plurality of the selected components as applied to the selected components included in the target data storage system based on the number of boxes selected and the performance characteristics; and displaying the recommended configuration of the target storage system.