A smartphone design approach to user communication interface for administering storage system network

Abstract

This paper investigates the feasibility and potential of using a mobile smartphone as a user administration control for storage system network. It includes the design and implementation of a mobile smartphone software system that can be used to perform system administration activities on the storage system without the need of using a laptop or desktop system. In the paper the design of some effective metaphors to present the storage system on the limited display area of a mobile smartphone device and the set of system features chosen for implementation are presented. Current storage system administration is limited to using storage controller console or Microsoft Windows Clients. The solution described in this paper provides an alternative smart interface to the storage system. This research effort is focused on investigating the potential of using mobile smartphone software application as a smart user interface protocol to communicate with the storage system network.