Techniques for providing an application service to an application from an appliance-style application services platform

A method, performed in an application services platform connected to a network, the method comprising:

• connecting to the network through a network interface and discovering a plurality of applications running on a set of servers, the set of servers not including the application services platform, wherein the discovery is automatically triggered upon powering up and connecting the application services platform to the network by monitoring an exchange of signals on the network;
• querying a user to identify which of the plurality of applications running on the set of servers on the network the user wishes to manage using the application services platform;
• in response to querying the user, receiving an application service command from the user, the application service command giving a control circuit permission to provide an application service to an application of the plurality of applications running on a server of the set of servers on the network;
• and
• in response to receipt of the application service command, providing the application service to support operation of the application running on the server on the network, the application service being distinct from operating system services and security protection services provided by the set of servers;
• wherein the application services platform includes an array of storage devices supported by the platform chassis coupled to the control circuit, the array of storage devices being arranged to provide storage capacity for use by the application running on the server;
• and
• wherein providing the application service includes augmenting storage capacity of the application by providing additional storage capacity to the application running on the server by sharing storage of the array of storage devices of the application services platform with the application running on the server, the additional storage capacity being in addition to storage capacity on the server used by the application.

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface for communicatively connecting to a network;
• an array of storage devices;
• and
• control circuitry having a memory storing a program and a processor configured to execute the program, wherein, when the processor executes the program, the control circuitry is configured to:
• connect to the network through the network interface and discover a plurality of applications running on a set of servers, the set of servers being separate from the apparatus, wherein the discovery is automatically triggered upon powering up and connecting the apparatus to the network by monitoring an exchange of signals on the network;
• query a user to identify which of the plurality of applications running on the set of servers on the network the user wishes to manage using the apparatus;
• in response to querying the user, receive an application service command from the user, the application service command giving the control circuitry permission to provide an application support service, over the network interface, to a selected application of the plurality of applications running on a server of the set of servers on the network;
• and
• in response to receipt of the application service command, providing, over the network interface, the application support service to support operation of the application running on the server on the network, the application support service being distinct from operating system services and security protection services provided by the set of servers;
• wherein, when providing the application support service, the control circuitry is arranged to augment storage capacity of the application running on the server by providing additional storage capacity to the application running on the server by sharing storage of the array of storage devices with the application running on the server, the additional storage capacity being in addition to storage capacity on the server used by the application.