US Patent 8438342 Automated application-based storage provisioning

Described are techniques for automatically provisioning storage for an application. A request to provision object-based storage for the application in a data storage system is received The request identifies the application and is received from a user interface interacting with the data storage system at a specified one of a plurality of user levels, each of said plurality of user levels being associated with a different level of abstraction with respect to first processing performed in implementing the request. The first processing is performed to provision object-based storage for the request. The first processing is determined in accordance with the application and includes a level of automation varying in accordance with the specified user level at which the user interface interacts with the data storage system. The automation includes selecting one or more default options in accordance with best practices of the application.