Techniques for tightly-integrating an enterprise storage array into a distributed virtualized computing environment

A method of operating an enterprise-class data storage array device in a distributed virtualized computing environment, the method comprising operating a redundant set of storage processors of the enterprise-class data storage array device to:

• execute, on the enterprise-class data storage array device, a cloud storage management node of the distributed virtualized computing environment to assign a logical disk to a virtual machine (VM) of the distributed virtualized computing environment, the logical disk including storage from a set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device;
• and
• at the enterprise-class data storage array device, process, from the set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device in a highly-available and deterministic manner, data storage operations directed at the logical disk;
• wherein executing the cloud storage management node on the enterprise-class data storage array device includes:
• receiving, at the enterprise-class data storage array device, a request from a storage scheduling node of the distributed virtualized computing environment to allocate a virtual disk to a particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment from the set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device;
• requesting allocation of a partition from the set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device;
• and
• upon the enterprise-class data storage array device receiving notice of allocation of the requested partition, communicating with the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment to establish an assignment of the requested partition to the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment as the virtual disk;
• and wherein the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment operates within a compute node on a remote server of the distributed virtualized computing environment, the redundant set of storage processors being configured to communicate with the particular VM via network interface circuitry over a network when establishing the assignment of the requested partition to the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment as the virtual disk.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions, which, when executed by a redundantly-provisioned storage processor of an enterprise-class data storage array device, causes the enterprise-class data storage array device to:

• at the enterprise-class data storage array device, process data storage operations directed at a set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device in a highly-available and deterministic manner;
• and
• operate the enterprise-class data storage array device as a cloud storage management node of a distributed virtualized computing environment to manage assignment of logical disks to respective virtual machines (VMs) of the distributed virtualized computing environment, the logical disks including storage from the set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device;
• wherein the instructions, when executed by the redundantly-provisioned storage processor, cause the enterprise-class data storage array device to, while operating the cloud storage management node:
• receive, at the enterprise-class data storage array device, a request from a storage scheduling node of the distributed virtualized computing environment to allocate a virtual disk to a particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment from the set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device;
• request allocation of a partition from the set of storage drives of the enterprise-class data storage array device;
• and
• upon the enterprise-class data storage array device receiving notice of allocation of the requested partition, communicate with the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment to establish an assignment of the requested partition to the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment as the virtual disk;
• and wherein the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment operates within a compute node on a remote server of the distributed virtualized computing environment, the redundantly-provisioned storage processor being configured to communicate with the particular VM via network interface circuitry over a network when establishing the assignment of the requested partition to the particular VM of the distributed virtualized computing environment as the virtual disk.