Techniques for Policy-Based Data Protection Services

• US 20150134618A1
• Filed: 11/12/2013
• Published: 05/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Teterin, Boris, Lolayekar, Santosh C., Murali, Pratik, Talati, Vinod
• Application Number:
  US14/078,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20150134618A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/654
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

Examples are disclosed for a data protection service available to a tenant having access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that may be included in a cloud computing network. In some examples, the tenant may be able to view backups and/or recover backed up data based on the one or more policies for the data protection service. The one or more policies may be generic to an application, a system or a configuration for the tenant to access and/or utilize the shared pool of configurable computing resources. Other examples are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

setting one or more policies for a data protection service available to a tenant having network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources, the one or more policies generic to an application, a system or a configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources;

provisioning the shared pool of configurable computing resources based, at least in part, on the one or more policies for the data protection service; and

notifying the tenant of the one or more policies.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

backing up data for an object associated with the application, the system or the configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources, the data backup performed according to the one or more policies;

providing information to enable the tenant to view the data backup;

receiving a recovery request to recover backed up data based on the information provided to the tenant to view the data backup;

verifying tenant credentials to recover the data;

recovering the backed up data according to the one or more policies; and

providing the backed up data to the tenant for the tenant to restore the object to a recovery point or a consistent state.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising the tenant credentials based on a service level agreement between the tenant and an administrator for the shared pool of configurable computing resources.

4. The method of claim 2, the one or more policies comprising on-demand backing up of data for the object, scheduled backing up of data for the object, minoring backup data to a local, primary storage location or mirroring backup data to a remote, secondary storage location.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

monitoring a utilization rate of the provisioned shared pool of configurable computing resources;

modifying the one or more policies based on the utilization rate; and

notifying the tenant of the modified one or more policies.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising:

the one or more policies including on-demand backing up of data and the utilization rate indicating one of a low frequency of on-demand backups initiated by the tenant or low amounts of data associated with on-demand backups initiated by the tenant; and

re-provisioning the shared pool of configurable computing resources based, at least in part, on the modified one or more policies such that less computing resources are provisioned to support the modified one or more policies.

7. The method of claim 2, recovering the backed up data according to the one or more policies comprises recovering the backed up data from at least one of a local, primary storage location or a remote, secondary storage location.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

backing up data for an object associated with the application, the system or the configuration used by the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources, the data backup performed according to the one or more policies;

determining that the backed up data is needed to restore the object to a recovery point or a consistent state;

recovering the backed up data according to the one or more policies; and

using the backed up data to restore the object to the recovery point or the consistent state.

9. The method of claim 1, the shared pool of configurable computing resources comprising a cloud computing network.

10. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry;

a policy module for execution by the circuitry to set one or more policies for a data protection service available to a tenant having network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources, the one or more policies generic to an application, a system or a configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources;

a provision module for execution by the circuitry to provision the shared pool of configurable computing resources based, at least in part, on the one or more policies for the data protection service; and

a notification module for execution by the circuitry to notify the tenant of the one or more policies.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising:

a backup module for execution by the circuitry to backup data for an object associated with the application, the system or the configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources, the data backup performed according to the one or more policies;

a view module for execution by the circuitry to provide the tenant information to view the data backup;

a request module for execution by the circuitry to receive a recovery request to recover data based on the information provided to the tenant to view the data backup;

a verify module for execution by the circuitry to verify tenant credentials to recover the data;

a recover module for execution by the circuitry to recover the backed up data according to the one or more policies; and

a restoration module for execution by the circuitry to provide the backed up data to the tenant for the tenant to restore the object to a recovery point or the consistent state.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, the one or more policies comprising backing up the data based on an on-demand tenant request for backing up data for the object, scheduled backing up of data for the object, mirrored backing up of data for the object to a local, primary storage location or mirrored backing up of data for the object to a remote, secondary storage location.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, comprising:

a utilization module for execution by the circuitry to monitor a utilization rate of the provisioned shared pool of configurable computing resources;

the policy module to modify the one or more policies based on the utilization rate; and

the notification module to notify the tenant of the modified one or more policies.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising:

a backup module for execution by the circuitry to backup an object associated with the application, the system or the configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources, the data backup performed according to the one or more policies;

a recover module for execution by the circuitry to determine that the backed up data is needed to restore the object to a recovery point or a consistent state and then recover the backed up data according to the one or more policies; and

a restoration module for execution by the circuitry to recover the backed up data according to the one or more policies and use the backed up data to restore the object to the recovery point or the consistent state.

15. At least one machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed by a system cause the system to:

set one or more policies for a data protection service available to a tenant having network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources, the one or more policies generic to an application, a system or a configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources;

provision the shared pool of configurable computing resources based, at least in part, on the one or more policies for the data protection service;

notify the tenant of the one or more policies; and

backup data for an object associated with the application, the system or the configuration for the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources, the data backup performed according to the one or more policies.

16. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 15, comprising the instructions to cause the system to:

provide information to enable the tenant to view the data backup;

receive a recovery request to recover data based on the information provided to the tenant to view the data backup;

verify tenant credentials to recover the data;

recover the backed up data according to the one or more policies; and

provide the backed up data to the tenant for the tenant to restore the object to a recovery point or a consistent state.

17. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 16, the one or more policies comprising on-demand backing up of data for the object, scheduled backing up of data for the object, minoring backup data to a local, primary storage location or minoring backup data to a remote, secondary storage location.

18. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 17, comprising the instructions to cause the system to:

monitor a utilization rate of the provisioned shared pool of configurable computing resources;

modify the one or more policies based on the utilization rate; and

notify the tenant of the modified one or more policies.

19. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 15, comprising the instructions to cause the system to:

determine that the backed up data is needed to restore the object to a recovery point or a consistent state;

recover the backed up data according to the one or more policies; and

use the backed up data to restore the object to the recovery point or the consistent state.

20. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 19, the instruction to cause the system to recover the backed up data according to the one or more policies comprises recovering the backed data from at least one of a local, primary storage location or a remote, secondary storage location.

21. A method comprising:

receiving, at a tenant capable of accessing a shared pool of configurable computing resources, one or more policies for a data protection service provided by an administrator, the one or more policies arranged to be generic to an application, a system or a configuration used by the tenant to access the shared pool of configurable computing resources;

applying the data protection service to an object associated with the application, the system or the configuration based on the one or more policies;

receiving information to view a data backup for the object that was created according to the applied data protection services; and

initiating a data recovery based on the viewed data backup via a recovery request.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising:

receiving the data backup based on verification of credentials of the tenant by the administrator responsive to the administrator receiving the recovery request; and

using the data backup to restore the object to a recovery point or a consistent state.

23. The method of claim 21, comprising the data backup recovered by the administrator responsive to the recovery request based on the one or more policies to include recovering the backed up data from at least one of a local, primary storage location or a remote, secondary storage location.

24. The method of claim 21, the one or more policies comprising on-demand backing up of data for the object, scheduled backing up of data for the object, minoring backup data to a local, primary storage location or mirroring backup data to a remote, secondary storage location.

25. The method of claim 21, the shared pool of configurable computing resources comprises a cloud computing network and the administrator providing the data protection service comprises a cloud administrator.