Abstract: A method and an apparatus to increase conformance of a storage implementation of a data set to a storage policy are presented. In one embodiment, the method includes performing a conformance check of a data set state and an associated data management policy. The method includes identifying a set of tasks that can be performed to increase conformance of the data set state to the associated policy, and generating a task list using tasks from the set of tasks. The method further includes outputting an indication of the task list to a user and accepting from the user an approval of the task list before generating and executing a second task list.

Abstract: Methods and systems for mapping data-management requirements to the provisioning of a data storage system to conform to a set of user-defined data-management policies. A conformance engine with storage system awareness translates the set of data-management policies to a corresponding set of storage-provisioning policies and provisions the resources of the storage system thereby to conform the storage system to the data-management policies. A conformance checker continuously and automatically compares the provisioning of the storage system resources to the provisioning required to meet the data-management policies. When nonconformance is detected, the conformance engine automatically re-provisions the available resources of the storage system to conform the storage system to the data management policies.