Patent ID: 7587715

Claim:
A method for installing software components of a data storage management system, the method comprising: providing an install button on a console; wherein the console has a display for managing of a data storage environment, the data storage environment comprising a plurality of computers and a data storage system, the data storage system comprising a plurality of storage devices; displaying a second plurality of computers of the plurality of computers and a plurality of software components on the console; wherein the data storage management system for managing the data storage environment comprises the plurality of software components; selectively installing software components of the data storage management system locally on one or more computers included as part of the data storage management system or remotely from the console by selecting one or more computers presented on the display, wherein the one or more computers presented on the display are displayed in response to the selection of an operating system and the selection of one or more software components on the display; wherein the operating system of the one or more computers displayed matches the operating system of the selection of the one or more software components; enabling a selected software component to be installed on a third plurality of computers by a click of the install button and clicking the install button; and installing a database that is a repository representative of current and historical data of said storage environment and a first software component of the data storage management system, wherein the repository includes tabular data entries selected ones of which are populated by a user that are used to function in a state machine capacity to enforce rules and order of installation of other software components of the data storage management system, without further user intervention, wherein selected ones of said tabular data entries are indicated to be sharable and shared between selected ones of said software components.