Auto-Snapshot Manager Analysis Tool

• US 20150074055A1
• Filed: 02/14/2014
• Published: 03/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Jacoby, Robert B., Manfield, Jill Leslie
• Granted Patent: US 9,396,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/639
• 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 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• 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 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16

Abstract

The invention pertains to a method and information handling system (IHS) for analyzing snapshot operation data of one or more snapshot operations associated with at least one storage device and at least one host computer. An embodiment of a method of the present invention begins by locating the snapshot operation data. Next, configuration information is assembled from the snapshot operation data. Further, debug data associated with the one or more snapshot operations is stored. An analysis is performed including the snapshot operation data, the configuration information, and the stored debug data. Next, the method identifies one or more issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis. Finally, the method provides a report to one or more users including the configuration information, the one or more identified issues, and the one or more action plans.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for analyzing snapshot operation data of one or more snapshot operations associated with at least one storage device and at least one host computer, the computer-implemented method comprising:

locating the snapshot operation data associated with the one or more snapshot operations associated with the at least one storage device and the at least one host computer;

assembling configuration information from the snapshot operation data;

storing debug data associated with the one or more snapshot operations;

performing an analysis including the snapshot operation data, the configuration information, and the stored debug data;

identifying one or more issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

providing a report to one or more users including the configuration information, the one or more identified issues, and the one or more action plans.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a vendor type of a vendor that provided the one or more snapshot operations, and performing the analysis including the snapshot operation data based upon the vendor type.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the snapshot operation data includes one or more log files with one or more hardware, software, or configuration characteristics of the one or more snapshot operations.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more issues include one or more issues at the at least one host computer, one or more issues at the at least one storage device, or one or more issues at an interface between the host computer and the storage device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more issues include one or more hardware, configuration, or software issues.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more issues include one or more potential issues.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein:

the configuration information includes at least one hardware characteristic, software characteristic, environmental characteristic, configuration characteristic, or network characteristic;

the one or more identified issues include an issue with at least one of;

hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software, software version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, multipath input/output (MPIO) configuration, or performance characteristic; and

the one or more action plans include an action plan to correct or update at least one of;

hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software, software version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, multipath input/output (MPIO) configuration, or performance characteristic.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing the snapshot operation data from two or more snapshot operations, the computer-implemented method comprising:

locating the snapshot operation data associated with the two or more snapshot operations associated with the at least one storage device and the at least one host computer;

assembling configuration information from the snapshot operation data;

storing debug data associated with the two or more snapshot operations;

performing an analysis including the snapshot operation data, the configuration information, and the stored debug data;

identifying one or more issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

providing a report to one or more users including the configuration information, the one or more identified issues, and the one or more action plans.

9. An Information Handling System (IHS) comprising:

a data module configured to locate the snapshot operation data associated with the one or more snapshot operations associated with the at least one storage device and the at least one host computer;

the data module further configured to assemble configuration information from the snapshot operation data;

the data module further configured to store debug data associated with the one or more snapshot operations;

a computing module configured to perform an analysis including the snapshot operation data, the configuration information, and the stored debug data;

the computing module further configured to identify one or more issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

a reporting module configured to provide a report to one or more users including the configuration information, the one or more identified issues, and the one or more action plans.

10. The IHS of claim 9 wherein the computing module is further configured to determine a vendor type of a vendor that provided the one or more snapshot operations, and the computing module is further configured to perform the analysis including the snapshot operation data based upon the vendor type.

11. The IHS of claim 9 wherein the snapshot operation data includes one or more log files with one or more hardware, software, or configuration characteristics of the one or more snapshot operations.

12. The IHS of claim 9 wherein the one or more issues include one or more issues at the at least one host computer, one or more issues at the at least one storage device, or one or more issues at an interface between the host computer and the storage device.

13. The IHS of claim 9 wherein the one or more issues include one or more hardware, configuration, or software issues.

14. The IHS of claim 9 wherein the one or more issues include one or more potential issues.

15. The IHS of claim 9 wherein:

the configuration information includes at least one hardware characteristic, software characteristic, environmental characteristic, configuration characteristic, or network characteristic;

the one or more identified issues include an issue with at least one of;

hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software, software version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, multipath input/output (MPIO) configuration, or performance characteristic; and

the one or more action plans include an action plan to correct or update at least one of;

hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software, software version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, multipath input/output (MPIO) configuration, or performance characteristic.

16. The IHS of claim 9 wherein the IHS analyzes the snapshot operation data from two or more snapshot operations, the IHS comprising:

a data module configured to locate the snapshot operation data associated with the two or more snapshot operations associated with the at least one storage device and the at least one host computer;

the data module further configured to assemble configuration information from the snapshot operation data;

the data module further configured to store debug data associated with the two or more snapshot operations;

a computing module configured to perform an analysis including the snapshot operation data, the configuration information, and the stored debug data;

the computing module further configured to identify one or more issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

a reporting module configured to provide a report to one or more users including the configuration information, the one or more identified issues, and the one or more action plans.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor coupled to an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:

locate snapshot operation data associated with one or more snapshot operations associated with at least one storage device and at least one host computer;

assemble configuration information from the snapshot operation data;

store debug data associated with the one or more snapshot operations;

perform an analysis including the snapshot operation data, the configuration information, and the stored debug data;

identify one or more issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

provide a report to one or more users including the configuration information, the one or more identified issues, and the one or more action plans.