System and method for policy based storage provisioning and management

A method for creating one or more storage provisioning policies, the method comprising:

• defining one or more storage attributes;
• defining one or more storage heuristic metadata associated with the one or more storage attributes;
• and
• specifying one or more storage heuristics using the defined one or more storage heuristic metadata associated with the one or more defined storage attributes to create a storage provisioning policy in the one or more storage provisioning policies, the storage provisioning policy usable to provision a storage device, wherein the provisioned storage device includes discoverable data that satisfies the storage heuristics for the storage attributes.

A method for provisioning one or more storage devices using discovered storage attribute data from the one or more storage devices and supported storage attributes with associated one or more defined storage heuristic metadata, the method comprising:

• creating a storage provisioning policy, wherein creating the storage provisioning policy comprises specifying storage heuristics using the one or more defined storage heuristic metadata associated with the one or more storage attributes;
• comparing the discovered storage attribute data associated with the one or more storage devices to the one or more storage heuristics in the storage provisioning policy;
• and
• if the discovered storage attribute data associated with a storage device in the one or more storage devices satisfy the one or more storage heuristics, provisioning the storage device.

A storage management device for creating one or more storage provisioning policies, the method comprising:

• one or more storage attributes;
• one or more storage heuristic metadata associated with the one or more storage attributes;
• and
• instructions for receiving a specification of one or more storage heuristics using the defined one or more storage heuristic metadata associated with the one or more defined storage attributes to create a storage provisioning policy in the one or more storage provisioning policies, the storage provisioning policy usable to provision a storage device, wherein the provisioned storage device includes discoverable data that satisfies the storage heuristics for the storage attributes.

A storage management device for provisioning one or more storage devices using discovered storage attribute data from the one or more storage devices and supported storage attributes with associated one or more defined storage heuristic metadata, the method comprising:

• instructions for creating a storage provisioning policy, wherein creating the storage provisioning policy comprises specifying one or more storage heuristics using the one or more defined storage heuristic metadata associated with the one or more storage attributes;
• instructions for comparing the discovered storage attribute data associated with the one or more storage devices to the one or more storage heuristics the storage provisioning policy;
• and
• if the discovered storage attribute data associated with a storage device in the one or more storage devices satisfy the one or more storage heuristics, instructions for provisioning the storage device.