Abstract: A method, system, language, and computer program product to enable a user to provide a high-level specification of storage requirements without having detailed knowledge of the underlying vendor-specific APIs and command line utilities for each possible storage device used to meet the storage requirements. The user does not specify how to implement the storage requirements. The system implements the high-level specification in hardware and/or software without further direction from the user.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product for adaptively implementing capabilities of a logical volume. If a particular capability is an inherent attribute of an existing storage device, the existing storage device is chosen to implement the volume. If the particular capability is not an inherent attribute of an existing storage device, one or more storage devices are selected and configured to provide the capability. If a capacity is requested for the logical volume and a storage device provides only a portion of the capacity, multiple storage devices having the capability are combined to provide the requested capability and capacity.

Abstract: A method, system, and language to express storage requirements. The language provides keywords and rules corresponding to commands for configuring a set of storage devices to provide requested capabilities of a logical volume. The language also has keywords and constructs for defining capabilities. The language supports direct inheritance of a capability, where a template specifies another template that contains rules to be used to provide a given capability. The language also supports indirect inheritance of a capability, where a template requires a capability but does not provide an implementation of the capability. In addition, the language is processed to “merge” rules by selecting a single storage device that conforms to more than one rule when possible. Merging rules enables a minimum number of storage devices to be used to meet a given logical volume configuration and set of capabilities.