# US 11,307,770 B2 · Capacity forecasting based on capacity policies and transactions

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- Number: US 11,307,770 B2
- Document ID: US11307770B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/580,671
- Filed: 2019-09-24
- Published: 2020-01-16
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2013-11-01
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Sonia Cheng; Pamela H. Hurwitch; Roman Kisin; Anirudh Oswal; Deidre Paknad; Irina Simpson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11307770B2

## CPC

- G06F 11/3442: {for planning or managing the needed capacity}
- G06F 3/0608: {Saving storage space on storage systems}
- G06F 3/0619: {in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors}
- G06F 3/0634: {by changing the state or mode of one or more devices}
- G06F 3/0647: {Migration mechanisms}
- G06F 3/0653: {Monitoring storage devices or systems}
- G06F 3/067: {Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]}
- G06F 9/466: {Transaction processing}
- G06F 12/02: Addressing or allocation; Relocation (program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00)
- H04L 41/0894: Policy-based network configuration management
- H04L 41/22: comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
- H04L 67/1008: based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload (monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30)
- H04L 67/1097: for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
- G06F 11/3419: {by assessing time}
- G06F 2201/87: Monitoring of transactions
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a system and technique for capacity forecasting includes a host having a processor unit and a memory. Resource data associated with an environment is stored in the memory having inventory information of storage resources of the environment. A ledger module executable by a processor unit accesses policy data associated with data archival and creates an archival transaction. The ledger module targets data for the archival transaction, links at least one storage resource to the archival transaction, and forecasts a change in capacity of the linked storage resource for the archival transaction based on the policy data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system, comprising:
a host having a processor unit and a memory;
resource data associated with a computing environment stored in the memory, the resource data comprising inventory information of storage resources of the computing environment;
policy data stored in the memory, the policy data associated with data archival; and
a ledger module executable by the processor unit to:
access the policy data;
create a plurality of planned transactions based on the policy data;
target data for each of the plurality of planned transactions based on the policy data;
link at least one storage resource to each of the plurality of planned transactions from the resource data based on the target data; and
forecast a change in capacity of the at least one linked storage resource for each of the plurality of planned transactions based on the policy data;
create a plurality of planning scenarios, wherein each of the plurality of planning scenarios consists of a selection of the plurality of planned transactions organized as a wave of activities;
generate a comparison of key metrics for each of the planning scenarios of the plurality of planning scenarios to meet set cost and capacity savings goals; and
execute the selection of the plurality of planned transactions associated with one or more of the plurality of planning scenarios selected for execution by a user.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the ledger module is configured to define each of the plurality of planned transactions to include an initiation time based on the policy data.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the ledger module is configured to predict a duration of each of the plurality of planned transactions based on the target data.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the ledger module is configured to receive an indication of an actual change in capacity for the at least one linked storage resource in response to a completion of any one of the plurality of planned transactions.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the ledger module is configured to forecast the change in capacity due to compression of the target data.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the ledger module is configured to predict a cost change associated with the at least one linked storage resource resulting from each of the plurality of planned transactions.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the ledger module is configured to forecast whether the at least one linked storage resource is available for decommissioning based on each of the planned transactions.

### Claim 8

A computer program product for capacity forecasting for a computing environment, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising computer readable program code configured to perform a method comprising:
determining and storing in a memory resource data associated with a computing environment, the resource data having inventory information of storage resources of the computing environment;
storing policy data in the memory;
accessing the policy data;
creating a plurality of planned transactions based on the policy data, wherein the plurality of planned transactions comprises a primary transaction and two or more triggered transactions, wherein at least one of the two or more triggered transactions is based on the primary transaction;
targeting data for each of the plurality of planned transactions based on the policy data;
linking at least one storage resource to each of the plurality of planned transactions from the resource data based on the target data; and
forecasting a change in capacity of each of the at least one linked storage resource for the plurality of planned transactions based on the policy data.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising defining the plurality of planned transactions to include an initiation time based on the policy data.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising predicting a duration of the plurality of planned transactions based on the target data.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving an indication of an actual change in capacity for the at least one linked storage resource in response to a completion of the plurality of planned transactions.

### Claim 12 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising forecasting the change in capacity due to compression of the target data.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising predicting a cost change associated with the at least one linked storage resource resulting from the plurality of planned transactions.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising forecasting whether the at least one linked storage resource is available for decommissioning based on the plurality of planned transactions.

### Claim 15 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein:
the two or more triggered transactions comprise a first triggered transaction and a second triggered transaction;
the first triggered transaction is automatically generated based on a type of the primary transaction and a type of the computing environment; and
the second triggered transaction is generated based on the first triggered transaction and the type of the computing environment.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein each transaction of the plurality of planned transactions includes a start time, wherein the start time for each respective triggered transaction is defined relative to a parent transaction of the respective triggered transaction.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the primary transaction is a parent transaction for the first triggered transaction, and wherein the first triggered transaction is the parent transaction for the second triggered transaction.

### Claim 18

A system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to perform a method comprising:
determining and storing in a memory resource data associated with a computing environment, the resource data having inventory information of storage resources of the computing environment;
storing policy data in the memory, the policy data associated data transactions in the computing environment, the policy data including a planned initiation time for the associated data transactions;
accessing the policy data;
creating a plurality of data transactions based on the policy data and a selected transaction type to apply;
responsive to creating the plurality of data transactions, linking at least one storage resource to each of the plurality of data transactions;
creating a plurality of planning scenarios, each planning scenario comprising a unique selection of one or more data transactions of the plurality of data transactions;
generating a comparison of key metrics for each planning scenario of the plurality of planning scenarios; and
responsive to a selection of a particular planning scenario of the plurality of planning scenarios, executing the particular planning scenario.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The system of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:
determining a plurality of transaction types associated with the computing environment; and
receiving, from a user, a selection of the selected transaction type from the plurality of transaction types.

### Claim 20 (depends on 18)

The system of claim 18, wherein generating the comparison of key metrics for each planning scenario includes comparing each planning scenario to cost and capacity savings goals.