Security and licensing with application aware storage

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon for processing a data storage configuration request for an application, the computer readable medium comprising code stored thereon for:

• receiving, from a requester, the data storage configuration request;
• determining a first user level of a plurality of user levels at which said data storage configuration request is made by said requester, each of said plurality of user levels being associated with a different level of abstraction and proficiency with respect to processing performed in a data storage system for implementing the data storage configuration request;
• and
• servicing said data storage configuration request, said servicing including determining whether to perform said data storage configuration request in accordance with security criteria and at least one licensing provision, said security criteria defining, for each of said plurality of user levels, permitted operations that may be performed for different requesters in connection with said data storage configuration request, said at least one licensing provision identifying one or more of said plurality of user levels from which the requester is allowed to directly issue the data storage configuration request and said at least one licensing provision identifying allowable proxy requests issued between service providers each at a different one of said plurality of user levels in response to the data storage configuration request issued directly by the requester, wherein said data storage configuration request is an initial request made to a first service provider at the first user level that results in a chain of subsequent requests issued via proxy requests on behalf of the requester between service providers each associated with a different one of said plurality of user levels to service the data storage configuration request, said security criteria and said least one licensing provision indicating that the subsequent requests of the chain are allowable when issued via proxy requests on behalf of the requester and that at least a first of the subsequent requests of the chain issued to a second service provider is indicated as allowable when issued to the second service provider from another service provider via proxy request on behalf of the requester and is otherwise indicated as not allowed when the first request is issued directly from the requester to the second service provider.