Presented herein are methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and devices for provisioning an application within a network storage system, which include: providing an application template; requesting input into the application template to construct the application in the network storage system and receiving the requested input; validating the input using standard templates for known applications stored within the network storage system; determining storage specifications within the network storage system based on the validated input; and creating storage and protocol objects associated with the application that identifies the storage specifications.