Method, system, and program for a policy based storage manager

A computer readable medium including:

• a first level of containers indicating first level attributes providing capabilities for a computational resource;
• a second level of storage containers indicating a plurality of storage attributes providing storage capabilities of a storage resource and storage management capabilities in addition to the storage capabilities of the storage resource and at least one function to manage the storage resource to store data according to the provided storage resource and storage management capabilities indicated in the storage attributes, wherein each defined storage container is adapted to provide requirements to determine a storage resource to store data having the data attributes, and herein the defined storage container is adapted to provide the storage resource with at least one function for storing the data;
• first level policies that map data attributes of the data to the first level containers;
• storage policies enabled to associate data attributes of the data concerned with the management of the data to storage containers by enabling operation to be performed, the operation comprising:
• determining storage attributes corresponding to data attributes of the data;
• determining one of the storage containers using information on the determined storage attributes and the first level container to which the data attributes of the data map;
• and
• using the at least one function indicated by the determined storage container to store the data in a manner that satisfies the storage attributes defined by the determined storage container.

A method of processing data to be stored, comprising:

• associating an application attribute with data characteristics of data based on an application policy, wherein the application attribute provides application capabilities concerned with properties and characteristics related to requirements demanded by a client application for data the client application generates or uses;
• determining an application attribute in a predetermined application container that corresponds to the data characteristics of the data, wherein the predetermined application container is adapted to be received by a data level policy manager and by a storage level policy manager to provide the storage resource with functions for storing the data having the data characteristics according to the provided application capabilities indicated in the application attribute;
• and
• using the functions indicated by the predetermined application container to store the data in a manner that satisfies the application attribute defined by the predetermined application container.

An article of manufacture comprising at least one of logic implemented in a hardware device and code stored in a computer readable storage medium, wherein the at least one of the logic and code when executed cause article of manufacture causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

• associating an application attribute with data characteristics of data based on an application policy, wherein the application attribute provides application capabilities concerned with properties and characteristics related to requirements demanded by a client application for data the client application generates or uses;
• determining an application attribute in a predetermined application container that corresponds to the data characteristics of the data, wherein the predetermined application container is adapted to be received by a data level policy manager and by a storage level policy manager and to provide the storage resource with functions for storing the data having the data characteristics according to the provided application capabilities indicated in the application attribute;
• and
• using the functions indicated by the predetermined application container to store the data in a manner that satisfies the application attribute defined by the predetermined application container.

A computer implemented method for storing data, comprising:

• determining attributes corresponding to data characteristics of the data;
• processing a plurality of first level containers in a computer readable medium to determine one first level container having first level attributes corresponding to the determined characteristics of the data;
• processing a plurality of second level containers in the computer readable medium to determine one second level container using information on the second level attributes corresponding to the determined characteristics of the data and the determined first level container, wherein each second level container indicates a plurality of second level attributes and at least one function, wherein the second level attributes include capabilities in addition to storage capabilities of a storage resource to store the data, wherein the storage resource is associated with the determined second level container;
• and
• using the at least one function indicated by the determined second level container to store the data in the storage resource in a manner that satisfies the attributes indicated by the determined second level container, including second level attributes providing capabilities in addition to the storage capabilities of the storage resource.

A system for storing data, comprising:

• means for determining attributes corresponding to data characteristics of the data;
• a computer readable medium including first level containers having first level attributes corresponding to the determined data characteristics and second level containers having second level, attributes and at least one function, wherein the second level attributes include capabilities in addition to storage capabilities of a storage resource to store the data;
• means for processing a plurality of first level containers to determine one first level container having first level attributes and at least one function corresponding to the determined characteristics of the data;
• means for processing the second level containers to determine one second level container using information on the second level attributes corresponding to the determined characteristics of the data and the determined first level container, wherein the storage resource is associated with the determined second level container, and wherein the storage resource associated with the determined second level container implements the second level attributes and the at least one function indicated in the second level container;
• and
• means for using the at least one function indicated by the determined second level container to store the data in the storage resource in a manner that satisfies the second level attributes indicated by the determined second level container, including attributes providing capabilities in addition to the storage capabilities of the storage resource.

An article of manufacture comprising at least one of logic implemented in a hardware device and code stored in a computer readable storage medium, wherein the at least one of the logic and code when executed communicate with a computer readable medium and cause operations, the operations comprising:

• determining attributes corresponding to data characteristics of the data;
• processing a plurality of first level containers in the computer readable medium to determine one first level container having first level attributes corresponding to the determined characteristics of the data;
• processing a plurality of second level containers to determine one second level container using information on the second level attributes corresponding to the determined characteristics of the data and the determined first level container, wherein each second level container indicates a plurality of second level attributes and at least one function, wherein the second level attributes include capabilities in addition to storage capabilities of a storage resource to store the data, wherein the storage resource is associated with the determined second level container;
• and
• using the at least one function indicated by the determined second level container to store the data in the storage resource in a manner that satisfies the second level attributes indicated by the determined second level container, including second level attributes providing capabilities in addition to the storage capabilities of the storage resource.