Applying IEEE storage system management standards at the National Storage Laboratory Page: 4 of 12
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management. An enhanced follow-on SNMP protocol,
called the Simple ManageLient Protocol (SMP) and
developed to address shortcomings of the original
SNMP, currently undergoing evaluation by the
Internet Engineering Task Force [11].
Other organizations, including standards bodies
developing portable operating systems and open,
distributed-processing frameworks [12], have addressed
distributed system management concerns. Although
most of these efforts are network or operating systems
oriented approaches to management, a few have touched
upon areas likely to have an impact on storage-systems
management. An example is UNIX International's
System Management Working Group. This
organization has published several documents describing
storage device management [13] and hierarchical storage
management [14]. They state that effective storage
management is critical because it improves data process-
ing in several areas: performance, availability, space
utilization, device installation, and user productivity.
They conclude that inefficient storage is costly in terms
of machine and human resources and, eventually,
money.
The many developments in network and systems
management have led to a diversity of sometimes
incompatible methods of managing distributed
resources. A highly-visible attempt to address this
problem is the Open Software Foundation's Distributed
Management Environment (DME) architecture [15].
DME provides functions and services that unify and
support both network and systems management. It will
also provide support for future, distributed storage-
system management. The DME specifies an object-
oriented infrastructure for distributed management
applications and will support Internet and OSI
management protocols. It will also have a unified
management user interface that integrates all types of
management interactions, and will include distributed
notification services.
Still another set of global specifications for common
network management methods is the Network
Management Forum's Omnipoint. In its first release,
Omnipoint 1 include nearly one hundred specifications
that presents an envelope or wrapper around a number of
existing management standards. It is expected to provide
a common implementation profile for many of these
standards. A follow-on specification, called Omnipoint
2, will have increased breadth of functionality across
many industry focus groups and sector profiles.
The NSL has begun to investigate some of the specifics
of storage-system management and its vital importance
to the successful utilization of new storage-system
hardware and software technologies. The NSL effort
builds from much of the extant work in network andsystems management, and follows the guidelines of the
evolving IEEE Mass Storage Reference Model [16,17].
Storage-System Management
The availability of adequate storage-system-management
tools is now recognized as an important aspect of the
increasingly complex hierarchical storage systems
developed over the past decade [18]. Simply stated, the
role of storage-system management is to monitor and
control the available resources of a storage system in
ways that conform to the particular management
policies of a given site. A subtle assumption is that site
policies for storage are usually constructed to make
optimal use of resources, but there is no strict
requirement that efficient resource utilization be the
driving force behind such policies. For example, sub-
optimal usage may result when site policies provide to
a particular group of users (e.g., those with the most
money or power) an over-allocation of resources to the
detriment of the general user base and the storage
system as a whole. The IEEE SSSWG takes the
position that the intent of standards for storage-system
management is to provide a generalized framework for
the design of useful management subsystems and
applications, rather than to accommodate or force
specific management facilities or policies.
The basic role of storage-system management within
the IEEE SSSWG model is shown in Figure 1.
Storage-system management communicates with all
servers in the storage system and can communicate with
clients of the storage system as well. Other external
processes may also communicate with the storage-
system-management component of the model to affect
various management operations and behavior within the
storage system. Specific kinds of storage-system-
management services have been described in Version 5
of the IEEE Mass Storage Reference Model. Some of
the functions provided by storage-system management
may be included as part of a server's standard client
interface. We assume that there will be various levels of
authorization associated with storage-system-
management functions available through a server's
client interface. Without an adequate authentication and
authorization mechanism, potentially dangerous
operations could be performed by an arbitrary client,
leading to detrimental results.
Some management capabilities, such as administrative
configuration control or migration and de-fragmentation,
may not be provided via a server's general client
interface. These kinds of management operations may
be performed by the external processes of Figure 1 and
may be developed outside the scope of an IEEE storage
system.
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Louis, S. & Hyer, S. W. Applying IEEE storage system management standards at the National Storage Laboratory, article, December 4, 1992; California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1386534/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.