Patents by Inventor Christian Bolik
Christian Bolik has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 9977617Abstract: The method for managing one or more standard configurations includes calculating a plurality of configuration fingerprints for a plurality of storage systems. The configuration fingerprint is a numerical value that represents information about a configuration for one or more components of a storage system. The method also includes building a result set that includes the plurality of configuration fingerprints for the plurality of storage systems. The method also includes identifying a plurality of standard configurations for the plurality of storage systems from the result set based on the plurality of configuration fingerprints. The method also includes determining that a first storage system from the plurality of storage systems meets a standard configuration from the plurality of standard configurations. The method also includes creating metadata within the first storage system that describes the standard configuration.Type: GrantFiled: November 24, 2014Date of Patent: May 22, 2018Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Dietmar Noll
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Patent number: 9952940Abstract: Operating a shared nothing cluster system (SNCS) in order to perform a backup of a data element. The SNCS includes at least a first and a second storage node connected via a first network of the SNCS. The first and second storage nodes are configured to store a first set and a second set of blocks, respectively, in which the first and second set of blocks form a single data element. A backup server is connected to the first and second storage nodes, and the backup server includes a backup information table. The first and second storage nodes are configured to act as backup clients in a client-server configuration involving the backup server, upon receiving at the first and the second storage nodes a request to backup the data element. For each node of the first and second storage nodes, the node identifies one or more block sequences of consecutive blocks in a set of blocks of the data element stored in the node.Type: GrantFiled: August 17, 2015Date of Patent: April 24, 2018Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Nils Haustein, Dominic Mueller-Wicke, Thomas Schreiber
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Patent number: 9916107Abstract: The method for managing one or more standard configurations includes calculating a plurality of configuration fingerprints for a plurality of storage systems. The configuration fingerprint is a numerical value that represents information about a configuration for one or more components of a storage system. The method also includes building a result set that includes the plurality of configuration fingerprints for the plurality of storage systems. The method also includes identifying a plurality of standard configurations for the plurality of storage systems from the result set based on the plurality of configuration fingerprints. The method also includes determining that a first storage system from the plurality of storage systems meets a standard configuration from the plurality of standard configurations. The method also includes creating metadata within the first storage system that describes the standard configuration.Type: GrantFiled: October 29, 2015Date of Patent: March 13, 2018Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Dietmar Noll
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Patent number: 9710178Abstract: A method, computer program product, and system for determining an optimal volume placement on a storage system. The method includes acquiring at least a desired response time range for each storage volume associated with an application. The degree of optimization of volume placement is evaluated utilizing numeric scores assigned by a fitness function, and a recommendation is provided for storage volumes that should be moved to different storage pools, such that desired response times are met.Type: GrantFiled: April 10, 2015Date of Patent: July 18, 2017Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Stephen A. Byrd, Benjamin J. Randall
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Patent number: 9626105Abstract: A method, computer-readable storage medium and computer system for controlling a storage system, the storage system comprising a plurality of logical storage volumes, the method comprising: monitoring, for each of the logical storage volumes, one or more load parameters; receiving, for each of the logical storage volumes, one or more load parameter threshold values; comparing, for each of the logical storage volumes, the first load parameter values of said logical storage volume with the corresponding one or more load parameter threshold values; in case at least one of the first load parameter values of one of the logical storage volumes violates the load parameter threshold value it is compared with, automatically executing a corrective action.Type: GrantFiled: October 9, 2012Date of Patent: April 18, 2017Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Uwe Fiebrich-Kandler, Dietmar Noll
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Patent number: 9606728Abstract: A method, computer-readable storage medium and computer system for controlling a storage system, the storage system comprising a plurality of logical storage volumes, the method comprising: monitoring, for each of the logical storage volumes, one or more load parameters; receiving, for each of the logical storage volumes, one or more load parameter threshold values; comparing, for each of the logical storage volumes, the first load parameter values of said logical storage volume with the corresponding one or more load parameter threshold values; in case at least one of the first load parameter values of one of the logical storage volumes violates the load parameter threshold value it is compared with, automatically executing a corrective action.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2013Date of Patent: March 28, 2017Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Uwe Fiebrich-Kandler, Dietmar Noll
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Publication number: 20160299711Abstract: A method, computer program product, and system for determining an optimal volume placement on a storage system. The method includes acquiring at least a desired response time range for each storage volume associated with an application. The degree of optimization of volume placement is evaluated utilizing numeric scores assigned by a fitness function, and a recommendation is provided for storage volumes that should be moved to different storage pools, such that desired response times are met.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 10, 2015Publication date: October 13, 2016Inventors: Christian Bolik, Stephen A. Byrd, Benjamin J. Randall
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Patent number: 9460277Abstract: An identity of a user performing an operation with respect to an application is propagated, from a point at which the user authenticates, to one or more other applications in a multi-product environment. The application may be a management console associated with an information cluster. In an embodiment, an administrator logs on to a management console (using an identity) and invokes a management operation. The management console then performs a programmatic remote access login (e.g., using SSH/RXA) to one or more nodes using a system account, invokes an application, and passes in the identity. As the application performs one or more management operations, audit events are logged, and these events each contain the identity that has been passed in by the management console during the SSH/RXA login.Type: GrantFiled: December 6, 2010Date of Patent: October 4, 2016Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Neeta Garimella, Jayashree Ramanathan, Markus Rohwedder, Zhiguo Huang
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Publication number: 20160147759Abstract: The method for managing one or more standard configurations includes calculating a plurality of configuration fingerprints for a plurality of storage systems. The configuration fingerprint is a numerical value that represents information about a configuration for one or more components of a storage system. The method also includes building a result set that includes the plurality of configuration fingerprints for the plurality of storage systems. The method also includes identifying a plurality of standard configurations for the plurality of storage systems from the result set based on the plurality of configuration fingerprints. The method also includes determining that a first storage system from the plurality of storage systems meets a standard configuration from the plurality of standard configurations. The method also includes creating metadata within the first storage system that describes the standard configuration.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 24, 2014Publication date: May 26, 2016Inventors: Christian Bolik, Dietmar Noll
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Publication number: 20160147477Abstract: The method for managing one or more standard configurations includes calculating a plurality of configuration fingerprints for a plurality of storage systems. The configuration fingerprint is a numerical value that represents information about a configuration for one or more components of a storage system. The method also includes building a result set that includes the plurality of configuration fingerprints for the plurality of storage systems. The method also includes identifying a plurality of standard configurations for the plurality of storage systems from the result set based on the plurality of configuration fingerprints. The method also includes determining that a first storage system from the plurality of storage systems meets a standard configuration from the plurality of standard configurations. The method also includes creating metadata within the first storage system that describes the standard configuration.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 29, 2015Publication date: May 26, 2016Inventors: Christian Bolik, Dietmar Noll
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Patent number: 9342526Abstract: A mechanism is provided for providing storage resources of a storage management system. A storage service request is received comprising an indication of a service class. A determination is made of all resource managers mapped to the indicated service class according to a first mapping. For each of the determined resource managers: a determination is made of selected ones of all the storage resources controllable by the determined resource manager; monitoring data of the selected storage resources is gathered; the gathered monitoring data is compared for calculating a score for each one of the selected storage resources; and at least one function of the determined resource manager operable to control the storage resource having an optimum score is called.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 2013Date of Patent: May 17, 2016Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Michael Fiedler, Daniel Michel, Dietmar Noll, Christoph Reichert
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Publication number: 20160048430Abstract: Operating a shared nothing cluster system (SNCS) in order to perform a backup of a data element. The SNCS includes at least a first and a second storage node connected via a first network of the SNCS. The first and second storage nodes are configured to store a first set and a second set of blocks, respectively, in which the first and second set of blocks form a single data element. A backup server is connected to the first and second storage nodes, and the backup server includes a backup information table. The first and second storage nodes are configured to act as backup clients in a client-server configuration involving the backup server, upon receiving at the first and the second storage nodes a request to backup the data element. For each node of the first and second storage nodes, the node identifies one or more block sequences of consecutive blocks in a set of blocks of the data element stored in the node.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 17, 2015Publication date: February 18, 2016Inventors: Christian Bolik, Nils Haustein, Dominic Mueller-Wicke, Thomas Schreiber
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Patent number: 8930667Abstract: A method, computer readable storage medium and computer system for controlling the allocation of data to one of a plurality of storage units of a storage system, the method comprising: accessing a source storage unit comprising the data; gathering file system level (FS-level) metadata from the source storage unit; analyzing the gathered FS-level metadata for determining if the data should be moved to one of the other storage units, said other storage unit acting as a destination storage unit; and in case the data should be moved, displaying an indication of the destination storage unit and/or automatically moving the data to the determined destination storage unit.Type: GrantFiled: September 12, 2012Date of Patent: January 6, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Gabriel Alatorre, Christian Bolik, Dietmar Noll, Laura Richardson, Aameek Singh, Sudhir V. R. Koka
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Publication number: 20130318134Abstract: A mechanism is provided for providing storage resources of a storage management system. A storage service request is received comprising an indication of a service class. A determination is made of all resource managers mapped to the indicated service class according to a first mapping. For each of the determined resource managers: a determination is made of selected ones of all the storage resources controllable by the determined resource manager; monitoring data of the selected storage resources is gathered; the gathered monitoring data is compared for calculating a score for each one of the selected storage resources; and at least one function of the determined resource manager operable to control the storage resource having an optimum score is called.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 27, 2013Publication date: November 28, 2013Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Michael Fiedler, Daniel Michel, Dietmar Noll, Christoph Reichert
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Patent number: 8539562Abstract: One disclosed aspect of the present invention includes authentication and user account automation within a compute cluster for each cluster node that requires password or other credential administration. For example, a storage appliance computing system may rely on a plurality of subsystems (such as databases, storage management software, and application servers) that each have internal user accounts with associated passwords and credential keys that need to be changed at frequent intervals. Rather than requiring an administrator to manually manage all of these accounts, the presently described invention includes techniques and an authentication manager component to automatically manage, update, and refresh authentication information as required. Further, the authentication manager component may be used to perform and propagate automatic credential changes such as new sets of SSH keys or updated passwords as required within a computing system, and respond to new nodes or out-of-sync credentialing scenarios.Type: GrantFiled: December 9, 2010Date of Patent: September 17, 2013Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Neeta Garimella, Zhiguo Huang, Erick C. Kissel, Jayashree Ramanathan
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Publication number: 20130151804Abstract: A method, computer readable storage medium and computer system for controlling the allocation of data to one of a plurality of storage units of a storage system, the method comprising: accessing a source storage unit comprising the data; gathering file system level (FS-level) metadata from the source storage unit; analyzing the gathered FS-level metadata for determining if the data should be moved to one of the other storage units, said other storage unit acting as a destination storage unit; and in case the data should be moved, displaying an indication of the destination storage unit and/or automatically moving the data to the determined destination storage unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 12, 2012Publication date: June 13, 2013Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Gabriel Alatorre, Christian Bolik, Dietmar Noll, Laura Richardson, Aameek Singh, Sudhir V.R. Koka
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Publication number: 20120151563Abstract: One disclosed aspect of the present invention includes authentication and user account automation within a compute cluster for each cluster node that requires password or other credential administration. For example, a storage appliance computing system may rely on a plurality of subsystems (such as databases, storage management software, and application servers) that each have internal user accounts with associated passwords and credential keys that need to be changed at frequent intervals. Rather than requiring an administrator to manually manage all of these accounts, the presently described invention includes techniques and an authentication manager component to automatically manage, update, and refresh authentication information as required. Further, the authentication manager component may be used to perform and propagate automatic credential changes such as new sets of SSH keys or updated passwords as required within a computing system, and respond to new nodes or out-of-sync credentialing scenarios.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 9, 2010Publication date: June 14, 2012Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Christian Bolik, Neeta Garimella, Zhiguo Huang, Erick C. Kissel, Jayashree Ramanathan
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Publication number: 20120144453Abstract: An identity of a user performing an operation with respect to an application is propagated, from a point at which the user authenticates, to one or more other applications in a multi-product environment. The application may be a management console associated with an information cluster. In an embodiment, an administrator logs on to a management console (using an identity) and invokes a management operation. The management console then performs a programmatic remote access login (e.g., using SSH/RXA) to one or more nodes using a system account, invokes an application, and passes in the identity. As the application performs one or more management operations, audit events are logged, and these events each contain the identity that has been passed in by the management console during the SSH/RXA login.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 6, 2010Publication date: June 7, 2012Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Christian Bolik, Neeta Garimella, Jayashree Ramanathan, Markus Rohwedder, Zhiguo Huang
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Patent number: 8161011Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for analyzing a file system. A record module records file parameters comprising a file size, a file age, a time of last access, a file type, a recovery time objective, and an initial access time service level objective for each file in the file system. A file score module calculates a file score for each file using the file parameters. A system score module calculates the file system score as the sum of the normalized file scores. A process module processes the file system if the file system score exceeds a specified threshold.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 2007Date of Patent: April 17, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Carsten Brixius, Gregory John Tevis, David Gregory Van Hise
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Patent number: 7921246Abstract: A method for automatically identifying available storage components within a storage system, which are appropriate for storing consumer data in compliance with specified service level objectives (SLOs), including discovering available storage components; identifying and assigning service levels provided by each available storage component, wherein identifying and assigning service levels provided by each available storage component, includes classifying the available storage components based on their type of technology, and determining the SLO relevant capabilities of the available storage components; and storing resultant mapping of service levels to available storage components in a metadata repository.Type: GrantFiled: December 18, 2008Date of Patent: April 5, 2011Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christian Bolik, Nile Haustein, Einar El Lueck, Dietmar Noll