RULE BOOK BASED RETENTION MANAGEMENT ENGINE

• US 20200133781A1
• Filed: 10/25/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Reddy Av, Mahesh, Kulkarni, Gururaj, Shankar D H, Swaroop, Muniswamy, Lakshminarayanan
• Granted Patent: US 11,106,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining retention periods or policies for backups are disclosed. A rule book stores relationships between rules and recommended retention periods. Data related to a backup is collected and organized. A query is generated from the organized data and used to identify a rule from the rule book. The retention period corresponding to the identified rule in the rule book is then applied to the corresponding backup.

Claims

1. A method for determining a retention period for a backup, the method comprising:

receiving raw data at a polling engine from at least a host, an application and a target device, wherein the host includes a source of data to be backed up during a backup operation and the target device is available space for storing the backup of the data;

interpreting the raw data into categories of factors to generate grouped data;

forming a query from the grouped data by a rule-maker;

searching a rule book based on the query to identify a retention period for the backup; and

storing the backup in accordance with the retention period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving raw data from a host includes polling the host and polling the target device and polling the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target device includes one or more of a primary storage site, a disaster recovery site, and an archive site.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the raw data is mapped to the categories of factors, the factors including one or more of a data type, a data change, a schedule, a storage type, and a storage quota available.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a user-defined retention policy that is added to the query before searching the rule book.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a rule to the rule book.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising revising the categories of factors based on historical data associated with the retention periods.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule book stores predetermined rules and recommended retention periods.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising publishing the retention period to a final buffer, wherein a policy engine enforces the retention period for the backup.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions for implementing a method for determining a retention period for a backup, the method comprising:

receiving raw data at a polling engine from at least a host, an application and a target device, wherein the host includes a source of data to be backed up during a backup operation and the target device is available space for storing the backup of the data;

interpreting the raw data into categories of factors to generate grouped data;

forming a query from the grouped data by a rule-maker;

searching a rule book based on the query to identify a retention period for the backup; and

storing the backup in accordance with the retention period.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein receiving raw data from a host includes polling the host and polling the target device and polling the application.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the target device includes one or more of a primary storage site, a disaster recovery site, and an archive site.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the raw data is mapped to the categories of factors, the factors including one or more of a data type, a data change, a schedule, a storage type, and a storage quota available.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising receiving a user-defined retention policy that is added to the query before searching the rule book.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising adding a rule to the rule book.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising revising the categories of factors based on historical data associated with the retention periods.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the rule book stores predetermined rules and recommended retention periods.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, further comprising publishing the retention period to a final buffer, wherein a policy engine enforces the retention period for the backup.