Instantiating virtual appliances of a storage array

摘要

A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for efficiently processing information. In some embodiments, this includes selecting a service to add to a storage array, determining a virtual appliance associated with the service, and instantiating the virtual appliance. In some embodiments, instantiating the virtual appliance includes instantiating an image of the virtual appliance.

主权项

1. A method for processing information, comprising:
providing a user with a storage array comprising a set of one or more blades on which a default set of one or more virtual appliance images is preinstalled, wherein each of the virtual appliance images are associated with a virtual appliance that is configured to provide a corresponding service that has not yet been activated at the storage array; receiving from the user an indication of a need for a first service with respect to the storage array; determining, based at least in part on the indication, a first virtual appliance that provides the first service; and using a corresponding first virtual appliance image included in the default set of one or more virtual appliance images, and stored in a corresponding blade included in the set of one or more blades, to instantiate the first virtual appliance, wherein the instantiation creates a running instance of the first virtual appliance on the corresponding blade, wherein the running instance of the first virtual appliance is included in a dynamic set of one or more virtual appliances running on the set of one or more blades, wherein the dynamic set of one or more virtual appliances is changeable based on required services, by the user, by doing one or both of instantiating additional virtual appliance instances as newly needed and decommissioning previously-instantiated virtual appliance instances as they are no longer needed without adding or removing physical devices to or from the storage array, wherein instantiating the first virtual appliance further includes activating the first virtual appliance at least in part by entering a license key associated with the first virtual appliance from a distributor of the storage array.