Method and apparatus for data loss assessment

• US 10,592,326 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2018
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Axxana (Israel) Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Axxana (Israel) Ltd.
• Inventors: Winokur, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Guyton, Philip
• Application Number:
  US15/913,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20180260265A1
• Time in Patent Office: 741 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0775 Content or structure details of the error report, e.g. specific table structure, specific error fields
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/805 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency

Abstract

A method, including receiving, by a secure processor housed in a disaster-proof casing located at a local site, recurring wireless signals from an application server and from a storage system that are collocated with the processor at the local site, the application server configured to store data to the primary storage system, and to mirror the data to a remote site, each of the wireless signals indicating a status of the application server or the storage system at a given time. A status log including the respective statuses of the application server and the storage system at the received times is stored to a memory in the casing, and subsequent to failures of the application server, the storage system and the mirroring, the status log analyzed to compute a data loss at the local site resulting from the failures of the application server, the storage system, and the mirroring.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a secure processor housed in a disaster-proof casing located at a local site, recurring wireless signals from a primary application server and from a primary storage system that are collocated with the disaster-proof casing at the local site, the primary application server configured to store data to the primary storage system, and to mirror the data to a secondary storage system at a remote site, each of the wireless signals indicating a status of the primary application server or the primary storage system at a given time;

storing, to a memory in the disaster-proof casing, a status log comprising the respective statuses of the primary application server and the primary storage system at the received times; and

subsequent to failures of the primary application server, the primary storage system and the mirroring, analyzing the status log to compute a data loss at the local site resulting from the failures of the primary application server, the primary storage system, and the mirroring.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving the recurring wireless signals comprises receiving recurring application status signals from the primary application server and receiving recurring storage status signals from the primary storage system, and comprising transmitting, by the secure processor, periodic wireless status request signals, wherein the primary application server transmits a given application status signal in response to receiving a given status request signal, and wherein the primary storage system transmits a given storage status signal in response to receiving the given status request signal.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a time period between the periodic wireless status requests signals is less than or equal to an input/output timeout period for the primary storage system.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein mirroring the data comprises the primary storage system mirroring the data to the secondary storage system at the remote site.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the status of the primary storage system comprises a status of the mirroring of the data to the remote site, and wherein the status of the mirroring comprises an amount of data not yet mirrored to the remote site.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mirroring comprises asynchronous mirroring or synchronous mirroring.

7. The method according to claim 1, and comprising receiving additional wireless signals from one or more active data center components that are collocated with the secure processor at the local site, each of the additional wireless signals indicating a status of a given active data center component at a given time, and storing, to the status log, the respective statuses of the one or more active data center components at the received times, wherein computing the data loss comprises computing the data loss resulting from the failures, at different times, of the primary application server, the primary storage system, the mirroring, and the one or more active data center components.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the primary application server executes a software application, and wherein the status of the primary application server comprises the status of the software application executing on the primary application server.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the status of the primary application server comprises a status of the mirroring of the data to the remote site, and wherein the status of the mirroring comprises an amount of data not yet mirrored to the remote site.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the status log comprises storing, upon failing to receive within a specified time period, a wireless signal from the primary application server, an entry to the status log indicating a failure of the primary application server, and storing, upon failing to receive within a specified time period, a wireless signal from the primary storage system, an entry to the status log indicating a failure of the primary storage system.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless signals comprise point-to-point wireless signals.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data loss is less than or equal to the data written, by the primary application server to the primary storage system, between respective times of the failures of the mirroring and the primary storage system.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data loss is less than or equal to the data written to the primary storage system between respective times of the mirroring and the primary application server.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recurring wireless signals comprise first wireless signals, and wherein analyzing the status log comprises transmitting, by the secure processor, a second wireless signal comprising the data log to a monitoring processor at the remote site, and analyzing, by the monitoring processor, the transmitted status log.

15. The method according to claim 1, and comprising generating a notification comprising the determined amount of data.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data loss comprises a time period or an amount of data.

17. The method according to claim 1, and comprising mirroring the data to a secure memory housed in the disaster-proof casing, wherein the computing the data loss comprises assessing a completeness of the data stored in the secure memory.

18. A data recovery system, comprising:

a disaster-proof casing;

a wireless transceiver contained within the disaster-proof casing and configured to receive recurring wireless signals from a primary application server and from a primary storage system that are collocated with the disaster-proof storage unit at a local site, the primary application server configured to store data to the primary storage system, and to mirror the data to a secondary storage system at a remote site, each of the wireless signals indicating a status of the primary application server or the primary storage system at a given time;

a memory contained within the disaster-proof casing;

a secure processor contained within the disaster-proof casing and configured to store, to the memory, a status log comprising the respective statuses of the primary application server and the primary storage system at the received times; and

circuitry configured to analyze, subsequent to failures of the primary application server, the primary storage system and the mirroring, the status log to compute a data loss at the local site resulting from the failures of the primary application server, the primary storage system, and the mirroring.

19. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the secure processor is configured to receive the recurring wireless signals by receiving recurring application status signals from the primary application server and receiving recurring storage status signals from the primary storage system, wherein the secure processor is configured to transmit periodic wireless status request signals, wherein the primary application server is configured to transmit a given application status signal in response to receiving a given status request signal, and wherein the primary storage system is configured to transmit a given storage status signal in response to receiving the given status request signal.

20. The data recovery system according to claim 19, wherein a time period between the periodic wireless status requests signals is less than or equal to an input/output timeout period for the primary storage system.

21. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the primary application server is configured to mirror the data by configuring the primary storage system to mirror the data to the secondary storage system at the remote site.

22. The data recovery system according to claim 21, wherein the status of the primary storage system comprises a status of the mirroring of the data to the remote site, and wherein the status of the mirroring comprises an amount of data not yet mirrored to the remote site.

23. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the mirroring comprises asynchronous mirroring or synchronous mirroring.

24. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the secure processor is configured to receive additional wireless signals from one or more active data center components that are collocated with the secure processor at the local site, each of the additional wireless signals indicating a status of a given active data center component at a given time, and to store, to the status log, the respective statuses of the one or more active data center components at the received times, and wherein the circuitry is configured to compute the data loss by computing the data loss resulting from the failures, at different times, of the primary application server, the primary storage system, the mirroring, and the one or more active data center components.

25. The data recovery system according to claim 24, wherein each of the active data center components is selected from a list consisting of a network switch, a storage area network director, a router and a firewall.

26. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the primary application server is configured to execute a software application, and wherein the status of the primary application server comprises the status of the software application executing on the primary application server.

27. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the status of the primary application server comprises a status of the mirroring of the data to the remote site, and wherein the status of the mirroring comprises an amount of data not yet mirrored to the remote site.

28. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the secure processor is configured to store the status log by storing, upon failing to receive within a specified time period, a wireless signal from the primary application server, an entry to the status log indicating a failure of the primary application server, and storing, upon failing to receive within a specified time period, a wireless signal from the primary storage system, an entry to the status log indicating a failure of the primary storage system.

29. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the wireless signals comprise point-to-point wireless signals.

30. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the data loss is less than or equal to the data written by the primary application server to the primary storage system between respective times of the mirroring and the primary storage system.

31. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the data loss is less than or equal to the data written, to the primary storage system, between respective times of the failures of the mirroring and the primary application server.

32. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the circuitry comprises the secure processor.

33. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the circuitry comprises a monitoring processor at the remote site, wherein the recurring wireless signals comprise first wireless signals, and wherein prior to analyzing the status log, the secure processor is configured to transmit, to the monitoring processor, a second wireless signals comprising the status log.

34. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the secure processor is configured to generate a notification comprising the determined amount of data.

35. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the data loss comprises a time period or an amount of data.

36. The data recovery system according to claim 18, wherein the circuitry is configured to compute the data loss by assessing a completeness of data mirrored, by the primary application server or the primary storage system, to the secure memory.

37. A computer software product, the product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium, in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer:

to receive, by a processor housed in a disaster-proof casing located at a local site, recurring wireless signals from a primary application server and from a primary storage system that are collocated with the disaster-proof casing at the local site, the primary application server configured to store data to the primary storage system, and to mirror the data to a secondary storage system at a remote site, each of the wireless signals indicating a status of the primary application server or the primary storage system at a given time;

to store, to a memory in the disaster-proof casing, a status log comprising the respective statuses of the primary application server and the primary storage system at the received times; and

subsequent to failures of the primary application server, the primary storage system and the mirroring, to analyze the status log to compute a data loss at the local site resulting from the failures of the primary application server and the primary storage system, and the mirroring.