Active element management and electronic commerce

A data storage system comprising a computer readable medium with code stored thereon for performing active element management, the computer readable medium comprising code for:

• performing, by an active element manager component executing on the data storage system, a data storage system management operation to provision storage far one of a plurality of different applications from a data storage device of the data storage system, said data storage management operation issued by a user interacting with said active element management component using a user interface at one of a plurality of levels to provision storage, each of said plurality of levels providing a different level of abstraction in connection with performing said data storage management operation to provision storage, each of said plurality of levels being in accordance with a different level of proficiency and knowledge for performing said data storage management operation to provision storage, said plurality of levels including a first level providing a customized interface that varies with the particular one of the plurality of applications for which the data storage management operations are performed, wherein when a user interacts at said first level when performing the data storage management operations to provision storage for the particular application, interface language and menu options to provision storage are customized for, and vary with, the particular application, wherein if a user interacts at said first level to provision storage for a first application, said interface language and said menu options are customized for the first application, and if a user interacts at said first level to provision storage for a second application different from the first application, said interface language and said menu options are customized for the second application thereby varying from said interface language and said menu options used to provision storage for the first application;
• collecting, by said active element manager component, context information, said context information including information about a current state of the data storage system in connection with said data storage system management operation;
• displaying, on said user interface, an indicator regarding an existing state in connection with one or more data storage system components of the data storage system upon which the active element manager is executing;
• and
• in response to selecting said indicator, performing processing including:
• connecting, by said active element manager component, a current session associated with said data storage system to a website;
• and
• providing, from said data storage system, said context information to said website for one of a vendor of the data storage system or a supplier of the data storage system, said active element manager component facilitating bi-directional communications with said website, said website including information about an entity for license or purchase in connection with said one or more data storage system components.

A computer-implemented method for performing data storage system management of a data storage system, the method comprising:

• providing an active element manager component that interacts with a user using a user interface to perform data storage system management operations to provision storage for one of a plurality of different applications from a data storage device of the data storage system, said active element manager component interacting with said user having a first user identifier using said user interface at one of a plurality of levels when performing the data storage management operations, each of said plurality of levels providing a different level of abstraction in connection with performing said data storage management operations to provision storage, each of said plurality of levels being in accordance with a different level of proficiency and knowledge for performing said data storage management operations to provision storage, said plurality of levels including a first level providing a customized interface that varies with the particular one of the plurality of applications for which the data storage management operations are performed, wherein when a user interacts at said first level when performing the data storage management operations to provision storage for the particular application, interface language and menu options to provision storage are customized for, and vary with, the particular application, wherein if a user interacts at said first level to provision storage for a first application, said interface language and said menu options are customized for the first application, and if a user interacts at said first level to provision storage for a second application different from the first application, said interface language and said menu options are customized for the second application thereby varying from said interface language and said menu options used to provision storage for the first application;
• collecting, using said active element manager component, context information, said context information including information about a current state of the data storage system;
• receiving user relevant information by said active element manager component from a website for one of a vendor or supplier of the data storage system, said user relevant information including information about an entity, said entity being available for purchase or license using said website and being relevant to said first user identifier;
• displaying said user interface in connection with a session using said active element manager component with said first user identifier;
• and
• in response to an input selection of a first indicator on said user interface, performing processing, said first indicator providing notification about a current condition of one or more components in the data storage system or about said entity, said processing including:
• providing, by said active element manager component to said website, said context information;
• and
• connecting, from said active element manager component to said website.