Mediation device for scalable storage service

1. A method of providing data storage resources as a service, comprising:

connecting to data storage resources in a datacenter controlled by a service provider;

enabling the service provider to allocate the data storage resources to one or more customers;

establishing contracts between the customers and the service provider to indicate allocation of the data storage resources by customer;

maintaining information about the datacenter and customers to whom the service provider has allocated the data storage resources, wherein maintaining comprises producing configuration information for the connected data storage resources and producing customer information in a table that associates the customers with the data storage resources allocated to those customers;

tracking usage of the allocated data storage resources by customer based on the configuration information and the customer information in the table to produce usage information;

assigning multiple levels of ownership to a billable device associated with the allocated data storage resources based on the contracts, wherein the multiple levels of ownership comprise ownership by a service provider including assigning responsibility of administration of the billable device and ownership by a customer of the service provider;

using the table to indicate ownership of the allocated data storage resources by customer based on the contracts, an entry in the table comprising:

a first field indicating the billable device;

a second field indicating equipment associated with the billable device in the first field; and

a third field indicating ownership of the billable device in the first field; and

using the usage information to generate billing information associated with the billable device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating user privileges with the ownership.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

providing a first interface usable by the service provider to manage the connected data storage resources; and

providing a second interface usable by customers to manage respective allocated data storage resources.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first interface enables an administrator of the service provider to view and modify the configuration information.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the interfaces enable administrators of the service provider and customer to both view and modify the ownership information and associated user privileges.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the allocated data storage resources comprise a storage device and a storage-related service available for the storage device, and wherein the second interface enables a customer to view and request that the storage-related service be performed.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

processing the request for the storage-related service.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocated data storage resources for each customer are used by the equipment, and the equipment comprises at least one server, the server being connected to the data allocated storage resources of the customer by an interconnect.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the interconnect is a Fibre Channel interconnect.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the customer information includes a World Wide Name (WWN) associated with a host bus adapter that couples the server to the Fibre Channel interconnect.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein ownership by customer is tied to the WWN associated with the host bus adapter.

12. The method of claim 3 , further comprising providing a Web server to export HTTP interface corresponding to the first and second interfaces.

13. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second interface provides to the customer a functionality that is different from a functionality provided by the first interface to the service provider.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein ownership by customer comprises ownership shared by more than one customer.

15. A method of providing data storage resources as a service, comprising:

connecting to data storage resources in a datacenter controlled by a service provider;

enabling the service provider to allocate the data storage resources to one or more customers;

establishing contracts between the customers and the service provider to indicate allocation of the data storage resources by customer;

maintaining information about the datacenter and customers to whom the service provider has allocated the data storage resources, wherein maintaining comprises producing configuration information for the connected data storage resources and producing customer information in a first table that associates the customers with the data storage resources allocated to those customers;

tracking usage of the allocated data storage resources by customer based on the configuration information and the customer information in the first table to produce usage information;

assigning multiple levels of ownership to a billable device associated with the allocated data storage resources based on the contracts, wherein the multiple levels of ownership comprise ownership by a service provider including assigning responsibility of administration of the billable device and ownership by a customer of the service provider;

using the first table to indicate ownership of the allocated data storage resources by customer based on the contracts, an entry in the first table comprising:

a first field indicating the billable device;

a second field using a unique identifier to indicate equipment connected to the billable device in the first field; and

a third field indicating ownership of the billable device in the first field; and

using the usage information to generate billing information associated with the billable device in a second table, an entry in the second table comprising:

a first field indicating customer account information;

a second field indicating a customer identifier associated with the account information in the first field; and

a third field indicating a billable event associated with the customer identifier in the second field.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

associating user privileges with the ownership;

providing a first interface usable by the service provider to manage the connected data storage resources;

providing a second interface usable by customers to manage respective allocated data storage resources; and

providing a Web server to export HTTP interface corresponding to the first and second interfaces.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the interfaces enable administrators of the service provider and customer to view and modify the ownership information and associated user privileges.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the allocated data storage resources comprise a storage device and a storage-related service available for the storage device, and wherein the second interface enables a customer to view and request that the storage-related service be performed, and further comprising processing the request for the storage-related service.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the allocated data storage resources for each customer are used by the equipment, and the equipment comprises at least one server, the server being connected to the allocated data storage resources of the customer by an interconnect, wherein the interconnect is a Fibre Channel interconnect and the customer information includes a World Wide Name (WWN) associated with a host bus adapter that couples the server to the Fibre Channel interconnect, and wherein ownership by customer is tied to the WWN associated with the host bus adapter.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second interface provides to the customer a functionality that is different from a functionality provided by the first interface to the service provider, wherein ownership by customer comprises ownership shared by more than one customer.