Integrated service management system

[0032]The present invention provides techniques for creation, operation and management of network-based storage services. Specific embodiments provide improved efficiency of the service management tasks used for designing, operating and accounting the robust and profitable network services, for example. In representative embodiments, techniques for constructing integrated network and storage services are provided. In a specific embodiment, the service comprises of three major service components: virtual private networks (VPN), application servers and storage area networks (SAN). Each of these service components has its own customer identification information, such as VPN identifier for VPN services, process identifier for application servers and logical unit number (LUN) for storage devices.

[0033]In a U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,488, entitled “Internet protocol virtual private network realization using multi-protocol label switching tunnels,” which is incorporated by reference herein in it ent