Configuration system and method

A method comprising:

• selecting a candidate design configuration including computer systems and storage systems, wherein the candidate design configuration is associated with a plurality of failure events;
• modeling, by at least one processor, the candidate design configuration having a first failure event of the plurality of failure events to determine an amount of outage time associated with the first failure event for the candidate design configuration;
• and
• modeling, by the at least one processor, the candidate design configuration having a second failure event of the plurality of failure events determine an amount of outage time associated with the second failure event for the candidate design configuration.

A method comprising:

• selecting a candidate design including computer systems and storage systems, wherein the candidate design is associated with a plurality of failure events;
• modeling, by at least one processor, the candidate design having a first failure event of the plurality of failure events to determine an amount of data loss associated with the first failure event for the candidate design;
• and
• modeling, by the at least one processor, the candidate design having a second failure event of the plurality of failure events to determine an amount of data loss associated with the second failure event for the candidate design.

A method comprising:

• selecting a first candidate design;
• modeling, by at least one processor, the first candidate design having a failure event to determine:
• an amount of outage time associated with the failure event;
• and
• an amount of data loss associated with the failure event;
• and
• determining, by the at least one processor, a first total penalty cost associated with the first candidate design comprising:
• determining an outage time penalty cost by applying a first penalty cost rate function to the amount of outage time;
• determining a data loss penalty cost by applying a second penalty cost rate function to the amount of data loss;
• and
• adding the outage time penalty cost and the data loss penalty cost;
• multiplying the first total penalty cost associated with the first candidate design by a weighting factor to determine a weighted first total penalty cost;
• determining a first outlay cost associated with the first candidate design;
• and
• adding the first outlay cost and the weighted first total penalty cost to determine a total cost of the first candidate design.

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one processor;
• a candidate design generator executable on the at least one processor;
• a failure event generator executable on the at least one processor;
• a modeling module executable on the at least one processor and communicatively coupled to the candidate design generator and the failure event generator, the modeling module executable to estimate an outage time and an amount of data loss for each of a plurality of selected candidate designs, wherein each of the plurality of selected candidate designs includes computer systems and storage systems;
• and
• a penalty cost module executable on the at least one processor and communicatively coupled to the modeling module, the penalty cost module for determining a penalty cost associated with the estimated amount of outage time and the estimated amount of lost data for each of the plurality of selected candidate designs.

A method comprising:

• selecting a plurality of candidate designs for a system having computer systems and storage systems, and for each candidate design,
• modeling, by at least one processor, one of the plurality of candidate designs to determine an outage time for each of a plurality of failure events;
• applying an outage time penalty cost rate function to each outage time to determine a penalty cost associated with the outage time for each of the plurality of failure events for the candidate design;
• and
• weighting the outage penalty costs for each of the plurality of failure events to estimate a weighted total outage time penalty cost for the one candidate design.

A machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

• selecting a candidate design configuration having computer systems and storage systems;
• modeling the candidate design configuration having a failure event to determine an amount of downtime associated with the failure event;
• and
• applying a penalty cost rate function to the amount of downtime to determine a penalty cost associated with the failure event.

A system comprising:

• a memory unit to store instructions;
• and
• a processor to receive the instructions from the memory unit, the processor including:
• a candidate design generator;
• a failure event generator;
• a modeling module communicatively coupled to the candidate design generator and the failure event generator, the modeling module configured to estimate an outage time and an amount of data loss for a candidate design having computer systems and storage systems;
• and
• a penalty cost module communicatively coupled to the modeling module, the penalty cost module to determine a penalty cost associated with the estimated amount of outage time and a penalty cost associated with the estimated amount of lost data.