Extensible method for obtaining an historical record of data backup activity (and errors) and converting same into a canonical format

• US 20050005194A1
• Filed: 01/27/2004
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AC Findus LLC, Hegenscheidt-MFD GMBH and Company KG
• Original Assignee: Bocada Incorporated
• Inventors: Bear, Cory, Scanlan, Liam
• Granted Patent: US 7,469,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

An extensible method and system for obtaining an historical record of data backup activity (and errors) from a plurality of data backup software devices, and converting the same into a canonical format, is disclosed. In the first aspect, a method comprises the steps of providing a late-binding mechanism that provides the invention with extensibility so that it can be made to inter-operate with an arbitrary variety of backup software devices. In the second aspect, an interface for requesting and returning a canonical backup activity log is disclosed. In the third aspect, an interface for requesting and returning a canonical backup error log is disclosed. In the fourth aspect, the use of a canonical format enables the data to be cross-referenced, consolidated and compared.

Claims

1-3. -3. (canceled)

4. A method of representing records of data backup activity from one or more data backup products having different formats in a common format, the method comprising:

obtaining records of data backup activity from the one or more data backup products; and

generating a canonical backup log containing backup job records corresponding to the records from the one or more data backup products, the canonical backup log including one or more of a date and time that a data backup operation took place, a proprietary name of the data backup client, a fully qualified host name of the data backup client, a number of bytes that were backed up, a number of files or objects that were backed up, a proprietary data backup level name or a default value, a canonical data backup level name or a default value, a description of where the information in the data backup job record was obtained, a number of seconds that elapsed during the data backup operation or a default value, a number of errors or a default value, a data and time the data backup will expire or default value, a logical target name, and a media label of the storage media to which the data backup was written.