Patent Grant
9262146
1. Technical Field
This application relates to supplying software via data storage system.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems may include different resources used by one or more host processors. Resources and host processors in a computer system may be interconnected by one or more communication connections. These resources may include, for example, data storage devices such as those included in the data storage systems manufactured by EMC Corporation. These data storage systems may be coupled to one or more servers or host processors and provide storage services to each host processor. Multiple data storage systems from one or more different vendors may be connected and may provide common data storage for one or more host processors in a computer system.
A host processor may perform a variety of data processing tasks and operations using the data storage system. For example, a host processor may perform basic system I/O operations in connection with data requests, such as data read and write operations.
Host processor systems may store and retrieve data using a storage device containing a plurality of host interface units, disk drives, and disk interface units. The host systems access the storage device through a plurality of channels provided therewith. Host systems provide data and access control information through the channels to the storage device and the storage device provides data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems do not address the disk drives of the storage device directly, but rather, access what appears to the host systems as a plurality of logical disk units. The logical disk units may or may not correspond to the actual disk drives. Allowing multiple host systems to access the single storage device unit allows the host systems to share data in the device. In order to facilitate sharing of the data on the device, additional software on the data storage systems may also be used.
Different tasks may be performed in connection with a data storage system. For example, software may be executed on the data storage system in connection with performing data storage administration tasks such as for data storage configuration, management, and/or monitoring. In connection with performing administrative tasks, help facilities may be integrated with software used for performing the administrative tasks. The help facilities may be available locally on the data storage system, for example, using help files statically included on a CD-ROM. If there is insufficient information included in the help facilities on the data storage system, the customer may invoke a web browser in a different session and manually enter information to navigate and search different websites on the Internet in efforts to obtain additional relevant information for performing the data storage administrative tasks. The foregoing has drawbacks in that such searches can be time consuming and cumbersome, the customer may lack sufficient knowledge to perform accurate searches, and the customer may obtain incorrect information from unreliable sources. In connection with performing the first task, the user may perform the data storage administration in a first session connected to the data storage system. In connection with performing the second task of searching for additional information about the problems encountered in the first task, the user may start a second session by invoking the web browser to navigate and search websites on the Internet. There is no information shared between the two tasks performed other than that which the user enters manually.
The host systems run various types of software, at least some of which may be related to the data storage system. Such software distributed on a computer-readable medium such as a CD-ROM often becomes outdated soon after release. For example, software patches and additional drivers may be available after the software has been released for distribution. When a user installs the software, the CD-ROM with the retail software does not contain the most up to date information.
Some prior art systems provide for the updating of the software after the software is installed. For example, the Windows Update service from Microsoft Corporation allows installed software to receive certain updates from a remote server. Tax preparation software is another example of software that may be updated after the software has been installed by receiving updated tax forms from a remote server. However, the software updates may contain critical fixes necessary for stable installation or operation of the software. In addition, the updates necessary for software installed on a particular destination machine may differ based on the particular destination machine.
In general, the continual and rapid development of computers, computer software and related technology has revealed many problems with the typical update and distribution channels for computer software. For example, computer software is constantly and incrementally being upgraded and improved. The computer hardware and operating system environment on which the computer software is used is continually being changed, which requires additional changes in the computer software (e.g., new device drivers, new operating system calls, etc.).
A computer software developer will typically release an initial version of a software product. Thereafter, as new and improved computers and peripherals are developed, the software product will commonly be upgraded to take full advantage of the increased capabilities of the hardware. In addition, a software developer, to remain competitive, will often upgrade the software product to provide new features and functionality.
With the ever increasing pace of advancement in computer related technologies, software developers compete to be the first to offer a new feature or upgrade. As a result, sometimes software products are made available to the public with unknown errors or defects. Similarly, software products that work as intended on a particular computer with a particular configuration, may fail when installed on a different computer having a different configuration (e.g., different hardware, peripherals, operating systems, etc.). Software developers frequently provide fixes for their software products to correct defects that were undetected or unanticipated at the time the software product was released. Fixes are also provided to allow the software product to function correctly on a new computer or with a different operating system environment.
However, it is often difficult for software developers to make upgrades and fixes available to users. This difficulty not only deprives the user of access to the most reliable and up-to-date software products, it can result in lost sales to the software developer and can damage the goodwill and the development of a long term relationship with a customer by releasing a flawed or deficient software product.
Commonly, mass distribution of commercial software products is accomplished by copying the software product onto storage media (e.g. CD-ROMs, floppy disks, magnetic tapes, etc.). To take advantage of economies of scale, typically a large number of copies of the software product are made during the manufacture of a particular software product. Then, the storage media containing the software product is provided to distributors and retailers for sale to users.
However, given the rapid pace of software development, this manner of distribution is frequently insufficient. For example, it is not uncommon that defects are detected and fixes created shortly after a software product is introduced to the public. However, the software products that remain in the distribution chain contain the defect without the fix. This situation is frustrating for users who subsequently purchase the software product that is already obsolete (i.e. because of the defects).
Software can also be distributed over electronic bulletin board systems, the Internet, etc. In such systems, a user connects to the bulletin board or the Internet and then selects and downloads desired software. Such systems allow for rapid updating of software by simply supplying a new updated version of the software to the bulletin board. However, such systems also require a degree of user sophistication and technical expertise in the selection, downloading and installation of the new software. Moreover, such systems do not provide a user that has already obtained a software product with a simple, automatic way of learning of or obtaining upgrades or fixes for that product. The software provider may also have updated help files and other help utilities about which a user would have no way of knowing.
It may be desirable to utilize techniques in connection with data storage system management, configuration, and/or monitoring which provide for connections to other external locations and environments outside of the data storage system. It may also be desirable that such techniques provide for transfer of information between the data storage system and the environments external to the data storage system to assist the user in connection with performing different data storage system management tasks.
Software is supplied via data storage system. A software image is provided to the data storage system from an external website. It is determined that software needs to be installed on a host. The software image is retrieved from the data storage system. The software is installed on the host using the software image.
One or more implementations of the invention may provide one or more of the following advantages.
Software for a purpose such as host application upgrade or storage system application aware provisioning can be found reliably in one location: on the storage system that is being managed.
Features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
In accordance with a technique as described below, software is supplied via a data storage system. In at least one example, host agent software is downloaded from a managed storage system. With respect to application-aware storage provisioning, such provisioning requires knowledge of application and storage system internals. When provisioning a storage subsystem using an active element manager as described below, the active element manager can communicate with an agent running on an application server, and acquire in-depth information from that agent. This can be used to automate the provisioning of storage, instead of relying solely on user input.
Conventionally, installing host agent software for use by an element manager typically requires a manual installation process (from a CD), or an online electronic process (navigation to a web site and searching for the correct software). In such conventional installations, the user selects from a variety of versions for different operating systems, and often has problems finding the right software for a given configuration, and often times the software is out of date. Getting updates conventionally is also complicated because the version number of the storage system is often unknown or not provided.
In accordance with the technique described herein, the storage system can assist in the process of installing the host agent by providing a host agent image to the application server. The storage system can ship with host agent images already installed. If the storage system is being managed with an active element manager, the images can be dynamically provided by an external environment described below. Newer versions can also be uploaded when the external environment indicates a new version is available.
Thus, by use of the technique, host agent software can be provided for application aware provisioning such that such software can be found reliably in one location: on the storage system that is being managed. The user can connect with a browser to the storage system, retrieve the software, and proceed. In at least one implementation, for active element management, the software is guaranteed to be the most recent version, and newer versions can automatically be provided by the storage system as part of the external environment.
Referring to
Each of the host systems 14a-14n and the data storage systems 12 included in the computer system 10 may be connected to the communication medium 18 by any one of a variety of connections as may be provided and supported in accordance with the type of communication medium 18. Similarly, the management system 16 may be connected to the communication medium 20 by any one of variety of connections in accordance with the type of communication medium 20. The processors included in the host computer systems 14a-14n and management system 16 may be any one of a variety of proprietary or commercially available single or multi-processor system, such as an Intel-based processor, or other type of commercially available processor able to support traffic in accordance with each particular embodiment and application.
It should be noted that the particular examples of the hardware and software that may be included in the data storage systems 12 are described herein in more detail, and may vary with each particular embodiment. Each of the host computers 14a-14n, the management system 16 and data storage systems may all be located at the same physical site, or, alternatively, may also be located in different physical locations. In connection with communication mediums 18 and 20, a variety of different communication protocols may be used such as SCSI, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and the like. Some or all of the connections by which the hosts, management system, and data storage system may be connected to their respective communication medium may pass through other communication devices, such as a Connectrix or other switching equipment that may exist such as a phone line, a repeater, a multiplexer or even a satellite. In one embodiment, the hosts may communicate with the data storage systems over an iSCSI or a Fibre Channel connection and the management system may communicate with the data storage systems over a separate network connection using TCP/IP. It should be noted that although
Each of the host computer systems may perform different types of data operations in accordance with different types of tasks. In the embodiment of
The management system 16 may be used in connection with management of the data storage systems 12. The management system 16 may include hardware and/or software components. The management system 16 may include one or more computer processors connected to one or more I/O devices such as, for example, a display or other output device, and an input device such as, for example, a keyboard, mouse, and the like. A data storage system manager may, for example, view information about a current storage volume configuration on a display device of the management system 16, provision data storage system resources, and the like.
In one embodiment, the one or more data storage systems 12 of
In connection with an embodiment in which the data storage 12 is an appliance including hardware and software, the appliance may also include other software for performing different data services. For example, the appliance may include backup server software which interacts with software on the hosts 14a-14n when performing a backup operation.
In another embodiment, the data storage systems 12 may include one or more data storage systems such as one or more of the data storage systems offered by EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, Mass. Each of the data storage systems may include one or more data storage devices, such as disks. One or more data storage systems may be manufactured by one or more different vendors. Each of the data storage systems included in 12 may be inter-connected (not shown). Additionally, the data storage systems may also be connected to the host systems through any one or more communication connections that may vary with each particular embodiment and device in accordance with the different protocols used in a particular embodiment. The type of communication connection used may vary with certain system parameters and requirements, such as those related to bandwidth and throughput required in accordance with a rate of I/O requests as may be issued by the host computer systems, for example, to the data storage systems 12. It should be noted that each of the data storage systems may operate stand-alone, or may also be included as part of a storage area network (SAN) that includes, for example, other components such as other data storage systems. Each of the data storage systems may include a plurality of disk devices or volumes. The particular data storage systems and examples as described herein for purposes of illustration should not be construed as a limitation. Other types of commercially available data storage systems, as well as processors and hardware controlling access to these particular devices, may also be included in an embodiment.
In such an embodiment in which element 12 of
Servers or host systems, such as 14a-14n, provide data and access control information through channels to the storage systems, and the storage systems may also provide data to the host systems also through the channels. The host systems may not address the disk drives of the storage systems directly, but rather access to data may be provided to one or more host systems from what the host systems view as a plurality of logical devices or logical volumes (LVs). The LVs may or may not correspond to the actual disk drives. For example, one or more LVs may reside on a single physical disk drive. Data in a single storage system may be accessed by multiple hosts allowing the hosts to share the data residing therein. An LV or LUN (logical unit number) may be used to refer to the foregoing logically defined devices or volumes.
In following paragraphs, reference may be made to a particular embodiment such as, for example, an embodiment in which element 12 of
Referring to
The AEM 120 includes a user interface (UI) 102, an active management component 130, and one or more layers or levels of services, such as 106, 108 and 110, in connection with implementing a data storage request such as a data storage configuration request.
The user interface (UI) 102 may provide for one or more different types of user interfaces and associated data. For example, the UI 102 may provide support for a graphical user interface (GUI), command line interface (CLI), and the like, to support interactions between the data storage system 12 and the hosts 14a-14n of
The active management component 130 may be used in connection with facilitating communications between the UI 102 and the different service layers 106, 108 and 110 when performing active element management operations. Active element management operations may be characterized as those involving interactions with environments and locations external to the data storage system environment. Such external environments and locations may include, for example, other network locations and websites as described elsewhere herein. The active management component 130 may facilitate a two-way communication flow of information to and/or from the external environments. The active management component 130 may gather context information 145 describing the current context and state of the data storage system with respect to the current user and operation being performed. The component 130 may gather such information included in 145 by communicating with other components on the data storage system 12, such as one or more of the service layers 106, 108 and 110. The component 130 may communicate the context information 145 to a target location in an external environment such as a target network location on the Internet. The component 130 may facilitate selecting, in accordance with the context information 145 of the data storage system, a target location in the external environment, such as an Internet website, and communicating the context information directly to the target location. The component 130 may also be used to facilitate communicating information received from the target location to the user.
In the example 100, the component 130 is represented as a single logical component. However, an embodiment may integrate the operations and functionality of the component 130 in the UI 102 and/or other components included in the AEM 120.
It should be noted that there are two paths 142 and 144 illustrated in
In the example 100, the AEM 120 may include application services 106, intermediate or generic storage services 108, and physical storage services 110. In one embodiment, the user may interact with the UI communicating directly with any one of the different services 106, 108 and 110. In other words, a user may communicate directly with layer 106, 108 or 110. If a user provides an input request and/or data by directly communicating with one of the upper service layers, such as 106, the user request and/or data may be mapped to one or more lower service requests, such as by services of 106 communicating with services of 108 and/or 110 to implement the original input request. By connecting to the different service layers 106, 108 and 110, the UI may provide the user with exposure to different levels of abstraction in connection with performing data storage system management tasks. In one embodiment as described in more detail below, the different service layers may be in accordance with different levels of proficiency and knowledge with respect to performing data storage system management tasks for different applications.
The application services 106 may have an application-specific focus and provide a level of abstraction customized for an application such as, for example, a particular email application, law office application or medical office application, as well as a class of related applications, such as multiple email applications. The application services layer 106 may map the user provided inputs for use by the intermediate storage services 108. When a user interacts with the application services 106 for a particular application, the interface language may vary with the application. For example, if the application is a law office application, the interface language, menu options, and the like, may be tailored to the law profession. Similarly, a medical office application may utilize an interface language, menu options, and the like, familiar to the medical office. As such, the application services 106 may use one set of rules or mappings for each application to implement the application specific best practices for the user level. A first set of rules for the medical office application may be used to map the user input parameters using medical office terminology to parameters for the appropriate API calls for other services included in 108 and/or 110. A second set of rules for the law office application may be used to map the user input parameters using law office terminology to parameters for the appropriate API calls for other services 108 and/or 110. The user connecting to the data storage system at the application services 106 may be provided with a user interface customized for the selected level and application to perform a requested data storage configuration.
The intermediate storage services 108 may be an intermediate level. The application services 106 may communicate with the intermediate storage services 108 when implementing a request for data storage configuration. In one embodiment, a user connecting to the intermediate storage services 108 may be provided with a generic level of interaction which may not be tailored for the particular application. In other words, the same language and user interface may be presented to a user for multiple applications such as the medical application or law office application. As a variation to the foregoing, the intermediate storage services 108 may be customized for each application and provide for a more detailed level of exposure that varies per application.
The physical storage services 110 provide the most detailed or greatest level of exposure of the underlying data storage system. The physical storage services 110 may be customized for the particular storage vendor and associated options. The user interface for a user connected at to the physical storage services may include menu options and terms particular to the underlying storage vendor and the more knowledgeable user. For example, the user may specify particular devices, RAID levels and techniques, file types, SCSI and iSCSI terminology, and the like.
As an example in connection with a user making a data storage configuration request and communicating with the application services 106, the user may input data in connection with the request in an application specific context. For example, a user may make a data storage configuration request to configure data storage for a file system or email application. The data input by the user may be in the context of the particular application (e.g., a number of mailboxes, size of mailbox, storage group, and the like). The application-specific data received by the application services 106 may be mapped to one or more application-neutral or generic requests to the intermediate storage services 108. The intermediate storage services 108 may then make one or more calls to the physical storage services 110 to implement requests in the context of the physical storage devices 108a-108n, for example, for the particular data storage vendor and underlying hardware.
Software executed on the data storage system may provide for implementation of best practices for data storage configuration and data services in accordance with each particular application whose data is hosted on the data storage system. Such software may be included in the different service layers, such as 106, 108 and 110, of the AEM and are described in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/824,578, filed: Jun. 29, 2007, APPLICATION AWARE STORAGE, which is incorporated by reference herein. In such an embodiment using the different service layers, such as 106, 108 and 110 having an application-specific focus with each layer providing a different level of abstraction customized for each application, the UI may provide a user with different levels of exposure to information and requests when performing data storage system configuration tasks.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that an embodiment may include different service layers in connection with performing the techniques described herein. For example, an embodiment of the AEM 120 may not incorporate services which have an application-specific focus and may not be characterized as application aware.
It should be noted that the example 100 is one possible embodiment of the components used in connection with the techniques herein. As illustrated in
Referring to
The vendor website 202 may be a website of a data storage vendor or manufacturer, such as EMC Corporation. The partner or data storage supplier website 204 may be a website provided by a partner or data storage supplier. As an example, a partner or data storage supplier may be a distributor, reseller or VAR (Value added reseller) of the data storage systems of the vendor. In connection with examples provided herein, a particular partner or data storage supplier, such as a VAR, may be described for purposes of illustration and should not be construed as a limitation. As an example, a VAR may add additional hardware and/or software for use with the data storage system of a particular vendor and the VAR may sell the combination of the data storage system with VAR-added hardware and/or software to the customer. Each partner or data storage supplier may have a business relationship with the vendor or manufacturer of the data storage system. A customer may purchase a data storage system from one of the partners or data storage suppliers. As an example with respect to
As described herein, the AEM 220 may be used in connection with configuring and management of the data storage system in the data storage system environment. The AEM may also be used to facilitate connecting the AEM on the data storage system with external environments along with context information from the data storage system.
As an example in connection with existing data storage systems not utilizing the AEM, a user may perform a data storage configuration operation, such as provision data storage for mailboxes in connection with an email application hosting data on the data storage system 210. An error may occur in connection with performing the data storage provisioning and the user may open up a new window or another web browser session. The user may manually enter a URL of a website which the user knows has additional information relevant to the provisioning task for the email application. If the user does not know the URL, the user may first perform a search, such as using an Internet search engine, to determine the correct URL. Once the user has the correct URL, the user may navigate to the URL for the website and perform queries at the website to gain additional information about how to handle the error encountered. In the foregoing, two tasks are performed: a first task in connection with the provisioning operation and a second task in connection with the subsequent search for additional information in connection with the error from the provisioning operation.
In connection with the AEM, the AEM may be used to automate the foregoing process and automatically connect the user to the correct website. Furthermore, the user may be connected to a particular page on the website. The context information of the data storage system on which the user encountered the error may be communicated to the target location, such as the website. The AEM may be used to obtain the relevant context information for use in connection with subsequent interactions between the user and the website to which the user is being connected. Additionally, the user may receive through the AEM additional information from the external environment of the target location. Thus, the AEM serves to facilitate automatically connecting the user to the appropriate external environment, providing the relevant context information to the target location of the external environment, and facilitating further communications between the data storage system 210 and the external environment.
The AEM 220 may be configured by the VAR or other partner selling the data storage system 210 to connect the user to the appropriate target location and external environment. For example, for errors occurring with VAR hardware and/or software, a customer may be automatically connected to the website 204 with the appropriate context information 222 for the data storage system as well as VAR hardware and/or software. If an error occurs with the data storage system having nothing to do with the VAR products, the customer may alternatively be connected to the vendor website 202. The customer may be directed to any one or more target locations at the external environment such as, for example, a virtual or online user community, a customer support agent, online store, and the like. As described herein, the user community may be characterized as a virtual community having a common interest. In connection with the techniques herein, there may be user communities focused on a particular vendor's hardware, combination of data storage system and application hosting storage therein, and the like. Members of the user community may exchange information regarding the common area of interest, for example, via a user community hosted at a website location. The user community may include user forums, blogs, various sources of technical information, and the like.
Included at each of the websites 202 and 204 may be, respectively, user profile data 206 and 208. The user profile data 206, 208 may be data gathered about the user, such as customer-related information about data storage systems purchased, license information, and data regarding current and previous interactions with the websites. In one embodiment, the set of user profile data 208 may be a master or aggregate copy of user profile data. The user profile data 206 may be collected for a time period, such as in connection with user interactions during the time period, and then provided to the website 204 for incorporation into the master user profile 208. A vendor providing the website 202 may perform such data gathering and forwarding of user profile data 206 as a service to its partners or suppliers having a website such as 204.
The context information 222 may describe, for example, an error received, the recent operations performed by the user leading up to the error, information about the current data storage configuration, the user ID (e.g., the user login identifier as provided in connection with authentication), and the like. The user profile 208 may include, for example, current licensing information, and a variety of different types of historical user data such as service calls, previous problems reported to an interactive customer support agent, previous purchases (via online or other), and the like.
The AEM 220 may collect and provide selected context information 222 in accordance with the particular problem or other current context related to the user's data storage system environment. The AEM 220 may be characterized as the launching point or connection point to the external environments and target locations (e.g., such as over a computer network) in which the AEM 220 facilitates the two-way flow of information between the data storage system and the external environment(s). The two-way information flow facilitated by the AEM may be used to enrich the data storage system customer's experience in a variety of different interactions such as, for example, related to support, e-commerce, virtual or online user communities, and the like, at one or more external environments, such as websites 202 and/or 204 as will be described in more detail elsewhere herein.
As one example, the data storage system 210 may directly communicate and interact with the partner website 204. In turn, the partner website 204 may communicate with the vendor website 202, for example, to retrieve information which is then provided to the customer. The website 204 may communicate with the website 202 to indirectly expose the customer to selected filtered portions of the website 204. For example, the data storage system 210 may communicate directly with the website 204 and the website 204 may expose particular portions of the website 202 to the customer. As another example, the data storage system 210 may directly communicate with both the websites 202 and 204 in accordance with the configuration of the AEM 220.
Referring to
As an example, a VAR website may obtain selected technical information from different vendor websites dependent on the customer's data storage system. The VAR website may communicate with the appropriate vendor website to obtain the information which is then displayed to the customer via the AEM and web browser connected thereto. The customer may not be aware of the indirect communication between the VAR and vendor website.
Referring to
It should be noted that information flow in connection with the customer data storage system as facilitated by the AEM may be a combination of that which is illustrated in
In connection with the techniques herein, context information may be information that is transmitted from the data storage system to a target location in an external environment. Information that is received by the data storage system may include user-relevant information determined, for example, by code executing on one of the partner and/or vendor websites. Other information that may be communicated between the data storage system and external environments may vary with particular user interactions. The foregoing is described in more detail in following paragraphs.
Referring to
Referring to
The field 604 may include status information, such as in the form of a status code and subcode, indicating the status of the data storage system. The field 604 may include a numeric encoding of an error condition or state of the data storage system, for example, resulting from the most recent user operations. In one embodiment, the data storage system including the AEM as well as the different external environments with which the AEM communicates may utilize a common message catalogue. The AEM may provide information in 604 which is also commonly understood by other external environments with which the AEM can communicate.
The field 605 may include information regarding the storage capacity of the data storage system and also the amount of available or free data storage. Such information may relate generally to the state of the data storage system and can be useful for a variety of different purposes as described herein, such as, for example, support and problem diagnostics and e-commerce.
The field 606 may identify the particular applications for which storage is being hosted on the data storage system identified by 602. The field 606 may identify, for example, the type of application, such as a general category as email applications, as well as name the application instance, such as Microsoft® Exchange Server.
The field 608 may include other data storage configuration information such as, for example, identifying the particular disk drive vendor, size, speed, location (e.g., slot number), status, and the like.
The information in various fields of
Referring to
The user identifier 622 may be used as an index or identifier into the user profile information for each user. The user identifier 622 may be, for example, the identifier of 504 of
The license information 626 may describe the one or more licenses that the user has, for example, for the VAR or vendor software thereon. The license information may describe the license terms and provisions of the one or more licenses. For example, the license information 626 may indicate an expiration date, if any, for different software installed on the data storage system. The information in 626 may be useful, for example, in connection with facilitating e-commerce transactions to remind the user that a current license will expire, offer better or different license terms, and the like.
The support and service contract information 628 may include the level of support being provided to the user, such as by the partner. For example, the user may have purchased a contract for unlimited help support, a fixed fee for each problem inquiry, and the like. Information in 628 may be useful, for example, when the AEM is facilitating interactions between the user and online or telephone customer support interactions to indicate to the customer support personnel information on the relationship with the particular user.
The service call and problem history 630 may indicate a history of previous problems this user has had, the number of technician service calls dispatched to the customer's site by the partner and/or vendor, and the like. Such information may be useful in connection with subsequent interactions since the user may be experiencing the same or related problems.
The data storage information 632 may identify the particular hardware and/or software of the vendor and/or supplier. Such information may identify the hardware and/or software component name, version information, options and settings for configurations, storage capacity, and the like. The information in 632 may be useful, for example, in providing customer support, directing the user to information of interest, and in e-commerce transactions to notify the user regarding discounts on hardware/software of interest.
The website activity information 634 may identify recent user interactions and activities such as, for example, different electronic paper publications downloaded, different queries performed at the vendor and/or partner websites, and the like. The information in 634 may be useful, for example, in notifying the user of other information that may be of interest, indicating a level of proficiency of the user, and the like. For example, based on particular electronic publications downloaded or queries may at the vendor and/or partner website, it may be inferred that a user is a novice, or other level of proficiency with respect to a particular application and/or data storage system for data storage system management.
The live chat support information 636 may include a record of user interactions with online interactive help support. This may be useful in a manner similar as described in connection with 630 to provide a context for a current interaction since the current interaction for help may be a follow-up on a previous interaction for support assistance.
The phone support information 638 may include a record of user interactions with phone support. This may be useful in a manner similar as described in connection with 630 and 636 to provide a context for a current phone support interaction since the current phone support call may be a follow-up on a previous interaction for support assistance.
The user community information 640 may describe the membership and/or activities of the user identified in 622 for different online virtual user communities. For example, there may be virtual user communities for provisioning and management of data storage for a particular application on a particular vendor's data storage system. Examples of data that may be included in 640 are described elsewhere herein. Different virtual user communities focus on particular areas of interest, such as products of a vendor and/or VAR used with a particular application,
Information included in the user profile may be used in connection with providing selected user-relevant information to the AEM from the partner and/or vendor website. The user-relevant information may be targeted or customized for the particular user in accordance with the user's profile information. The customized information may take a variety of different form using a variety of different technologies. For example, customized information may be pushed from the vendor and/or partner websites to the AEM in the form of notices, alerts, emails, and the like, notifying the user about the existence of different products, services, papers, virtual user communities, sales events, discounts, upgrades, new software and/or hardware, and the like, that may be of interest to the user. This is described in more detail in following paragraphs.
Referring to
The user may be notified regarding relevant portions of the information 680 available at the website as selected in accordance with a user's profile.
Referring to
Included in area 710 are various messages that may be displayed when a particular user logs into the AEM. The information included in 710 may be customized and vary with the particular user. Notifications in area 710 may be provided from the vendor and/or partner website as described in connection with area 706. The area 710 may include new or additional postings in connection with various virtual user communities, such as blogs or user forums, that a user may belong to. In this example, element 710a indicates 5 new postings to a blog on Application 1 at the VAR website. The user currently logged into the AEM may participate in this blog at the VAR website and may have signed up to receive notification in connection with any new postings. Selection of 710a may connect the AEM to the location at the VAR website where the new postings can be found for the blog. Element 710b indicates that there are 8 new postings at the VENDOR website regarding a particular data storage system model. Selection of 710b may connect the AEM to the location at the VENDOR website for the indicated 8 new postings.
Area 720 may include a display of information used in connection with allocating storage for a particular application.
In one embodiment, the elements 705, 706a-e, and 710a-710b may be UI indicators having associated hyperlinks which, when selected, navigate to a target location in an external environment, such as an appropriate web page of a website in accordance with the selection. The web page may be located at a website such as the partner and/or vendor website. Additionally, the AEM may provide context information as described elsewhere herein to the target location. Examples of the types of data that may be included in the context information are illustrated, for example, in
With reference to the display 700, a user may be logged in and performing a data storage management operation, such as provisioning data storage for use by one of the applications using the interface area 720. In response to allocating additional storage for use by the application, the message or indicator 705 may appear on the display indicating low storage. In other words, the last operation of provisioning data storage for use by the application caused the amount of available or free storage to fall below some predefined threshold. By selecting 705, the AEM may be used to provide a connection between the current data storage management session, such as in connection with provisioning data storage for use by an application, and an external environment, such as another website, which may provide additional information, customer support, purchase of additional storage, and the like, related to the low storage condition or state of the data storage system. Additionally, the AEM may automatically collect and transmit to the target location context information regarding the current state of the data storage system including, for example, the amount of currently available free storage on the data storage system, the error message status code indicating the low storage condition indicated by 705, the current devices and associated storage capacities currently included in the data storage system, and the like.
In connection with the foregoing or other selection of a UI indicator from the display 700, another browser window may be opened and the AEM may provide for navigation to the external website including the appropriate page of the website for the blog, knowledge base/database, or other source of information for the selected UI indicator. As another example, if the UI indicator provides a connection to a database for information about a particular problem, selection of the UI indicator may navigate to the appropriate external website location, supply query terms to the database and query the database. The results of the query may be displayed to the user in a browser window.
As yet another example, selection of a UI indicator in 700 for a problem or error may connect the AEM to a chat room at a partner or vendor website where the user logged into the AEM may interact directly with a customer service representative or agent to schedule service, provide interactive customer assistance, and the like. The context information may be provided by the AEM to the agent at the partner or vendor website so the agent can examine the current context of the data storage system. This may assist the agent in diagnosing a problem and providing recommendations for solutions to the problem. Additionally, the agent may utilize the user profile information stored on the partner and/or vendor website in connection with providing additional context information about the user. In one embodiment, the context information transmitted by the AEM to the agent may include the user identifier. The agent may access the records from the user profile information for the user identifier. In this manner, the agent may be able to examine any existing problem histories and solutions to see, for example, what solutions for the same problem did/did not work previously for the same or similar problem. Using context information provided from the AEM, the agent may be able to detect the version of software on the data storage system and the particular problem the user encountered. The error may be related to a correction included in a later version of the software so the agent may recommend that the user install the updated software including the correction or patch. If a problem is recurring, the agent may recommend replacing a hardware component, providing a particular service for the component, and the like.
In the foregoing examples, the customer logged into the AEM does not have to provide the context information that may be useful to the customer service representative in problem analysis, service scheduling, providing recommended actions/next steps, and the like. Such context information is automatically collected and transmitted to the selected target location in the external environment.
With reference to the example 700 of
Referring to
The user may select 820 to navigate to a location on the VAR website providing live online/interactive support with a support agent. Selection of 820 provides for automatic connection to a subsequent web page and also propagates the context information to the support agent. As an alternative to online interactive support, the user may select 822 to have a support agent call the user back on the telephone. Selection of 822 may result in the context information being transmitted to a support agent and accessing contact information for the user from the user profile. The agent may then use the contact information to call back the user.
Selection of 824 may result in navigation to a web page where the latest VAR software updates are available.
Selection of 808 may result in navigation to a user community. The user community selected and displayed in 808 may be in accordance with the context information and/or user profile. The user may be a registered or active member of the user community as indicated in the user's profile data. If the user is not a member, the user community indicated in 808 may be selected based on the vendor and application indicated in the context information provided by the AEM. The user community may be used to provide insights from other users, for example, using the same vendor's data storage system for the same application. Another user may be able to make a recommendation regarding what next steps may be appropriate based on similar experiences, errors, and the like.
Selection of 810 may result in automatic navigation to a web page including databases that may be provide additional information about the low storage condition or state indicated in 804. Selection of 810 may result in navigation to a page of resources from which the user may make a further selection. The sources of information may include a database of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the VENDOR and/or VAR products, a knowledge base which is a technical support database, and a database of solutions to common questions and problems. Query terms may be automatically provided in accordance with the context information transmitted from the AEM, such as query terms in connection with the status of low available storage. It should be noted that information included in 810 may also be a portion of information associated with one or more virtual user communities. Alternatively, the information included in 810 may not be associated with any virtual community but may rather be generally available data sources on a website provided by a vendor and/or partner.
In connection with the foregoing the AEM automatically selects and navigates to a location based on current context information indicating the state of the data storage system at the time the AEM is connecting to the external environment and target location. The AEM automatically communicates the context information from the data storage system to the VAR website, or other external environment, so that the context information may be used in connection with subsequent user interactions.
Referring to
Selection of the UI indicator 705 results in a connection to the main or home web page 856 of the VAR website. From this main page 856, a user may make another selection navigating to a different web page for the VAR website 867. For example, selection of one of the links from area 806 of
In the example described in connection with
Referring to
With reference to
As described herein, regardless of the target location in the external environment to which the AEM connects, the AEM automatically collects and provides context information when communicating with the target location. As also described herein, providing the context information from the customer's data storage system including the AEM to the target location is only one way in which information can flow. Communication between the customer's data storage system and the external environment including the target location is bi-directional so that information may also be pushed from the target location to the data storage system. Information from external environments, such as the partner and/or vendor websites, may be provided to the AEM automatically or as part of the interactive dialogues. The information from the partner and/or vendor websites may be provided automatically resulting in notifications to a user when the user logs onto the AEM. Examples of such notifications are described above, for example in connection with the information used to populate sections 706 and 710 of
Information can be pushed to the AEM from a partner website and/or vendor website, directly or indirectly. Such information may include user-relevant information. Examples may include a new VAR service that is available, a recently discovered problem or security update that a user may want to know about, and the like. The information pushed to the AEM may be user-relevant information determined in accordance with the user profile data. The user profile data may be collected based on user interactions at the vendor and/or partner websites, data included in context information transmitted from various interactions with the AEM, data initially provided when the user makes a first purchase or acquires a first license with the partner or vendor. The user profile may include context-related history information for each user. Based on a user's profile, relevant information may be selected from the vendor and/or partner websites and the user may be provided notifications or alerts regarding the existence of the relevant information. For example, a user may perform operations on the vendor and/or partner website related to provisioning data storage system for an application. Subsequently, as new relevant information about provisioning data storage for the application on the vendor's data storage system becomes available, the user may be notified by pushing relevant notifications to the AEM which are presented to the user when the user logs into the AEM. For example, there may be new offerings regarding services, training, versions or updates of software for use with the particular application, online publications on the application or usage of features, known or serious problems related to the application, and the like. When such information becomes available on the vendor and/or partner website, the information relevant for the particular user may be pushed to the AEM. Thus, in accordance with one aspect of the techniques herein, targeted or selected information may be provided to the AEM which is customized for the particular users based on a previous history of user information as may be included in the user profile information for the users. The selection of information pushed to the AEM may be based on previously observed patterns of usage at the vendor and/or partner website and previous context information provided by the AEM.
In one embodiment, RSS technology may be used to provide information to the AEM from the one or more external websites or other environments. For example, RSS technology may be used to supply news, new product updates, new services, critical support information, and the like, as illustrated in providing notifications of 706 and 710 of
The techniques herein of the bidirectional information flow between the data storage system and one or more external environments may be used to facilitate and enrich the customer's experience using the data storage system by automatically connecting to the one or more external environments in connection with various operations and tasks, such as when an error occurs on the data storage system when the user is performing data storage administration tasks. The AEM may be used to automatically connect to the appropriate target location based on the current context of the data storage system, such as the particular error experienced or other status of the data storage system. The AEM may automatically provide context information describing the current context of the data storage system to the external environment and target location therein to which the AEM connects. Additional context-related information as may be included in user profile information for the particular user may also be utilized by the external environment, such as website of the partner and/or vendor. The techniques herein may be used in connection with facilitating support operations, such as by providing context information and automatic connection to chat or interactive support, relevant knowledge or data bases and relevant online or virtual user communities. In connection with providing support for vendor and/or partner products and services, various alerts or notifications may be provided to the AEM regarding new service and training offerings, product updates or upgrades, relevant technical tips, new postings in user communities, security alerts or problems as well as relevant solutions (e.g., patches), electronic paper publications, and the like. The techniques herein may also be used to facilitate electronic commerce transactions. For example, in connection with resource consumption alerts, such as the low amount of available storage alert included in 705 of
What will now be described in more detail is utilizing the techniques herein of the bidirectional flow of information from the customer data storage system to external environments in connection with virtual user communities. This is described in some detail above as one aspect of providing user support. The AEM captures context information about the data storage system and current user and provides this context information to an external environment, such as a vendor or partner website, hosting a user community. The techniques herein may be used in providing a bidirectional flow of information between the external environments hosting the user communities and the data storage system including the AEM that is customized for the particular user. As an example, a user community may exist on a partner or vendor website for customers provisioning data storage for a Microsoft® Exchange server. The user community may include blogs, FAQs, knowledge bases, solutions, electronically published papers, and the like as described elsewhere herein relevant to provisioning data storage for this particular email application server. Different users may be ranked within the user communities based on a favorable number or postings. The foregoing and other activities may be made available to a user on the data storage system and facilitated using the techniques herein with the AEM.
Referring to
Referring to
In connection with the bidirectional data flow described herein, the AEM may be used to provide information from user communities to the user and to allow a user to interact with the user communities. The user may interact with the AEM as the active launching point and communication point between the data storage system and the user communities hosted in the vendor and/or partner websites, and information related to the particular user and user community may be communicated using the bidirectional communication path as described herein.
As illustrated in connection with
A user may also navigate directly into the user community from a web browser on another computer system without utilizing the AEM. In other words, the user may connect to the user community using the techniques herein with the AEM as well as without utilizing the AEM. In such instances where the user interacts with the user community without going through the AEM, activities of the user while logged into the user community may be monitored and additional data added to the user profile information as may be stored on the partner and/or vendor website.
Referring to
Referring to
The AEM and bidirectional information flow may be used herein for user communities in which the information flow is customized for the particular user. The AEM may facilitate communications with the user communities located in external environments, such as vendor and/or partner website, in an automated fashion.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
In the example 1200, the AEM may be configured to connect to one of a variety of different target locations and environments depending on the current context information. This example illustrates the AEM connecting to different target locations in accordance with the error or status value, for example, as included in 506 of
The foregoing example 1200 illustrates how the techniques herein may be used to facilitate different types of transactions and operations ranging from electronic commerce to support.
Referring to
The information pushed from the website 1230 may be represented by 1252a regarding upcoming relevant vendor training offerings. The user may be presented with notifications regarding the information of 1252a as illustrated in
In one embodiment in connection with various training offerings as illustrated in
As another example, the UI indicator regarding low storage previously described in connection with
In connection with a state of the data storage system as may be indicated by context information, the techniques herein may be used to facilitate electronic commercial transactions.
As illustrated in
In connection with the techniques herein, the context information regarding the data storage system and particular user as recorded in the user profile may be used to leverage sales of particular services, products, and the like, that may relevant to the user. Any purchases made online may be recorded in the user profile information.
The techniques herein may be used to facilitate a variety of different operations and interactions. The user is interacting with the AEM which, in connection with the techniques herein, as connectivity to external environments and provides for a bidirectional communication path between the AEM and external environments.
As described herein, the AEM may be customized by the partner selling the data storage system. Such customization may include directing the AEM to particular websites in accordance with different status or error conditions, collecting additional information for use in connection with VAR or other partner-provided components associated with an error or status condition and the like. The AEM may be customized in accordance with the particular business practices and arrangements of the partner with third parties and the vendor. For example, the AEM may collect a first set of generic data which may be characterized as vendor-specific. The AEM may be customized to collect additional data for use in connection with user communities, support services, e-commerce, and the like as described herein, with VAR-specific products and services. The VAR or other partner may control and regulate the flow of information in a variety of different ways. For example, for one particular status or error, the AEM may connect to one particular website supported by the VAR. If VAR is contracting or outsourcing support services to a third party, the VAR may direct the AEM to contact (e.g., navigate to) a third party website for support issues and otherwise navigate to the VAR website.
Referring to
The user-relevant information that may be pushed to the data storage system for use by the AEM is described above, for example, in connection with
The techniques herein may be performed by executing code which is stored on any one or more different forms of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media may include different forms of volatile (e.g., RAM) and non-volatile (e.g., ROM, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks, or tape) storage which may be removable or non-removable.
The techniques herein may be used in connection with any operation performed by the AEM 120 of
It should be noted that as described herein, the AEM may facilitate automatically connecting to an external environment, and even a particular target location in the external environment. As part of this process, the AEM may provide the user identifier as part of the context information. The user identifier may be used, for example, as part of user authentication for the user of the AEM to connect to the external environment. For example, the user may be prompted to enter additional information as part of the authentication process to connect to a virtual user community, gain access to a partner or vendor site, and the like. In connection with a target location, a password may not be required, for example, if connecting to a public website without restricting access to particular users. In such instances, the user identifier included in the context information pushed to the website from the AEM may be used to track additional activities incorporated into the user profile information associated with the user identifier. Connecting to an external environment, such as a website provided by one of the vendors or data storage suppliers, may provide connection to one or more server computer system located at the particular website. Code may be executed on the one or more server computer systems in connection with performing the techniques described herein such as, for example, determining the user relevant information in accordance with the user profile information stored on a data storage device accessible to the server systems.
The techniques herein may be used to facilitate communication between the AEM and an external environment, such as a website, for electronic commerce purchases, upgrades, and other transactions. As described herein, the AEM may be used to monitor for failures of different components, such as different hardware component failures or signs of pending failure, and provide notification to the user. Pending failure may be determined, for example, by the AEM observing over time one or more types of errors of a component commonly known to indicate pending failure. The AEM may also be used to monitor data storage systems resources, such as data storage devices and components (e.g., batter backup power supply levels), in accordance with defined threshold levels and provide notification to the user when the resource levels falls below the specified threshold. For example, as illustrated herein, the AEM may monitor the amount of available disk storage and provide notification to the user when the amount falls below a threshold level. The threshold levels may be configurable, for example, by the partner as part of AEM configuration. The threshold levels may also be configurable by a user. By monitoring the data storage system for the occurrence of a threshold level, component failure, or other criteria, the AEM may provide notification of the particular event to the user, for example, via a user interface indicator 705 of
As described herein, the AEM may be used to facilitate a bi-directional information flow between the AEM and one or more external environments, such as one or more websites of a vendor and/or partner. The bi-directional information flow may be used in connection with performing a variety of different tasks and operations such as related to, for example, interactive automated support, electronic commerce, and/or virtual user communities. The AEM provides context information to enrich the task, operation, and the like, being facilitated using the bi-directional information flow. The context information is achieved in connection with data gathered regarding functions performed by an element manager as users manage and provision the storage. The AEM may use the data storage system to collect information as management operations are performed thereon (e.g., for data storage configuration, provisioning, monitoring and the like) for obtaining the context information provided by the AEM to an external environment. As described herein, the AEM may also receive information from one or more external environments, such as the websites of vendors and/or partners, as part of the bi-directional information flow to facilitate tasks such as interactive automated support and electronic commerce. The information received may be the user-relevant information provided to the AEM as well as other information exchanged as part of the bi-directional information flow. In connection with electronic commerce, the techniques herein may be used to facilitate interactions between the AEM and an external environment, such as the vendor or partner website, for initial purchase, renewal, extension, or upgrade for support agreements, warranties, and the like.
In particular, referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
With respect to host agent software running on the host for use with the storage device, such software helps ease of use for the customer or user. In particular, the host agent software may serve as a presence on the host to make provisioning easier. In the case of provisioning for an email application running on the host, the host agent software is able to interact with the email application and help automate such provisioning. Thus, when the customer or user wants to set up the storage device for use with the email application, the storage device can use the host agent software in an auto-detect mode to determine aspects of the email application that can be used to provision and otherwise configure the storage device appropriately, and, where necessary, also make adjustments to the email application.
AEM can use the storage device's connection to the external environment such that the storage device may serve as a “one stop shopping” channel or source for host software from the vendor or VAR, without requiring that all such software be preloaded before installation at the customer's or user's location, which preloaded software could quickly become stale.
Since AEM automatically detects the type of platform of the host (e.g., including the host's type and version of email application and operating system) the storage device only needs to be provided with the software appropriate to that platform. In particular, the storage device can feed information about the host and system 10 in general to the vendor or VAR so that the appropriate information and software and updates are provided as needed or requested.
Depending on the implementation and configuration, once the software is available on the storage device and AEM is started up, the software may be installed automatically or only after request or confirmation from the customer or user. AEM pulls the software image from the storage device and installs the software on the host.
For example, it may be determined automatically that the storage device is not highly available, in which case the user may be prompted to install multipathing software, which AEM can do by using a software image that was previously pushed to the storage device.
The various types of appropriate software may be pushed to and provided directly from the storage device, which avoids requiring that the host connect to multiple different websites. The storage device serves as a central point for multiple hosts, e.g., including multiple different types of hosts, and the storage device has sufficient information about the storage system as a whole to serve effectively as a central point for software installation and software updates for the multiple hosts.
The vendor or VAR can receive from the storage device an inventory of software installed on the host and the storage system, and can provide the storage device with the appropriate software images. All the vendor or VAR needs is a connection to the storage device, not the host or hosts. Thus, it is suitable for the vendor or VAR to have a backend system infrastructure set up for bidirectional flow of information with the storage device, to provide such images.
In at least some implementations, an event from the storage device may trigger an action which may result in a download. For example, the event may be a fault that causes a lookup for a cure on a website, such that the application/server/storage context is matched to known resolutions and a download of the fix is generated, which fix may apply to the storage device, or to a host that the application runs on.
The following includes examples of events that may trigger software downloads.
Context information may be collected while a user is logged onto and interactively using AEM to perform a task. Analysis may be optionally performed on the storage device to selectively forward context information to a website. The analysis may include extracting vendor-specific context information along with general context information and providing such information to a vendor website. The analysis may include extracting VAR-specific context information along with general context information and providing such information to the VAR website. One or more instances of context information may be transmitted to one or more websites at various points in time Analysis performed at each website to determine relevant software upgrades may make use of the context information as well as other information included in user profile data. When a vendor has a software upgrade, such as in the form of a patch, new software version, or event a new software product, and the like, the vendor may use the context information, and more generally information in a user profile, to determine which users to selectively notify regarding the software upgrade. If the software upgrade is of a general nature, the software upgrade may be provided to all users. If the software upgrade, for example, relates to performing certain tasks, operations that may be particular to one or more applications, and the like, the vendor may provide notification regarding software upgrades to selected users based on collected information including, for example, one or more instances of context information. Similarly, the VAR website may receive context information and use the one or more instances of the context information, alone or in conjunction with other user profile information, to selectively send notifications regarding relevant VAR software upgrades.
AEM may be configured by the VAR to connect to a vendor website providing context information. Context information including vendor specific information as well as possibly other information may be transmitted as described herein. In turn, as described above, analysis of the context information may be performed at the vendor website to provide notification regarding relevant vendor software upgrades. The information may include a link to a website location from which the software upgrade may be downloaded and installed.
Context information may be transmitted to any one or more locations in the external environment, such as a vendor website or VAR website. The external environment locations to which AEM connects and transmits context information may vary depending on, for example, configuration settings in AEM (and data storage system). Such configurations may be made by the VAR or other partner.
Information flow may make reference to providing software upgrade notifications. However, the same information flow also applies in connection with providing notification regarding relevant publications. Dataflow may occur to provide support information to a user of AEM. Context information may be collected at various times while the user is logged into AEM. Such context information may be transmitted to an external environment location such as the VAR website. AEM and the storage device may transmit the context information directly to one or more other locations in the external environment such as the vendor website as an alternative to, or in addition to, the VAR website.
AEM may be configured to initially contact the VAR website and to forward context information thereto at defined time intervals while the user is logged into AEM. An embodiment of AEM may not perform an initial analysis regarding the state of the storage system or other context information. At defined time intervals while the user is logged into AEM, AEM may collect and transmit context information to the VAR website. Analysis of the context information transmitted may be performed at the VAR website to transmit user-relevant software upgrade information to the data storage system. Upon receiving the context information, the VAR website may analyze the context information, alone or in conjunction with other user profile information, to determine relevant software upgrade information of the VAR. The VAR website may also communicate with the vendor website as needed, for example, to periodically obtain information regarding any software upgrades of the vendor. The VAR website may provide software upgrade information which is a combination of vendor and VAR software upgrade information determined as relevant in accordance with the context information as well as user profile information that may be collected over time. The VAR website may also serve as a filter to include only certain vendor software upgrades in the information provided to the data storage system.
As an example of the analysis that may be performed on the VAR website, the context information may be analyzed and, based on user activity (e.g., such as data storage configuration information, commands related to performing a particular task or application, searches performed of help files, knowledge bases, and the like), the data storage system may be selectively notified of software upgrades. The VAR website may indirectly facilitate providing information regarding relevant vendor-related software upgrades obtained from the vendor website. As such, the user of AEM may be unaware of any such communications with the vendor website.
The data flow may be the result of a configuration option or setting by a VAR in AEM. The user or customer of the data storage system may not be allowed to modify such a setting.
Analysis performed to determine relevant software upgrade information may use data storage configuration and current revision information. The data storage configuration information may indicate the relevant software installed and/or used in connection with the data storage system and the revision information may indicate the current version on the data storage system. In connection with providing information regarding relevant publications, trace log information regarding user activity such as performed on the data storage system and elsewhere (e.g., in connection with interactions in the external environment) may be used along with a user identifier and data storage system identifier to determine relevant publications about which to provide notification.
While the invention has been disclosed in connection with preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, their modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention should be limited only by the following claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part application claiming the benefit of and priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/906,127, filed Sep. 28, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,601,131 reference no. EMC-07-226, entitled “ACTIVE ELEMENT MANAGER”, the entirety of which patent application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Child | 12004391 | US |
