Hippodrome: running circles around storage administration

Abstract

Enterprise-scale computer storage systems are extremely difficult to manage due to their size and complexity. It is difficult to generate a good storage system design for a given workload and to correctly implement the selected design. Traditionally, initial system configuration is performed by administrators who are guided by rules of thumb. Unfortunately, this process involves trial and error, and as a result is tedious and error-prone. In this paper, we introduce Hippodrome, an approach to automating initial system configuration. Hippodrome is an iterative loop that analyzes an existing system to determine its requirements, creates a new storage system design to better meet these requirements, and migrates the existing system to the new design. In this paper, we show how Hippodrome automates initial system configuration. 1