Methods and systems for shared storage virtualization

A method for managing data stored in a storage architecture comprising a plurality of logical storage areas in at least one storage device, the storage architecture shared by a plurality of customers such that more than one customer is assigned storage on any single storage device, the method comprising:

• associating service expectancies with each customer, said service expectancies including expectancies and policies relating to one or more of system performance and system availability;
• storing the service expectancies and system policies for each customer in a service profile established for each customer and separate from any other customer profile, wherein the service expectancies and system policies are based on a previously established contract between an associated customer and a service provider, wherein the service expectancies and system policies relate to both system performance and system availability, wherein the service expectancies and system policies relating to system performance define a level of performance from the storage architecture to be provided to the associated customer;
• determining based at least in part on activity of a particular customer and on the service expectancies associated with the particular customer, that the particular customer requires additional storage in order to satisfy the service expectancies associated with the particular customer, said activity being distinct from a request by a customer for additional storage within the storage architecture;
• displaying to the particular customer an indication of available unassigned logical storage areas;
• receiving input from the particular customer selecting at least one of the available unassigned logical storage areas indicated by said displaying;
• and
• assigning the selected unassigned logical storage area to the particular customer, including, associating a customer-specific input/output port of the particular customer to the assigned logical storage area.

A method for managing data stored in a storage architecture comprising a plurality of logical storage areas in at least one storage device, the storage architecture shared by a plurality of customers such that more than one customer is assigned storage on any single storage device, the method comprising:

• associating service expectancies and system policies with each of the plurality of customers;
• storing the service expectancies and system policies for a particular customer in a service profile established for the particular customer and separate from any other customer profile, wherein the service expectancies and system policies are based on a previously established contract between the particular customer and a service provider, wherein the service expectancies and system policies relate to both system performance and system availability, wherein the service expectancies and system policies relating to system performance define a level of performance from the storage architecture to be provided to the particular customer;
• determining, based at least in part on activity of one of the plurality of customers and on the service expectancies and system policies associated with said one of the plurality of customers, that the customer's storage requirements have changed;
• displaying to the customer an indication of available unassigned logical storage areas;
• receiving input from the customer selecting at least one of the available unassigned logical storage areas indicated by said displaying;
• and
• assigning the selected unassigned logical storage area to the customer, including, associating a customer-specific input/output port of the customer to the assigned logical storage area.