Method for extracting and storing records of data backup activity from a plurality of backup devices
First Claim
1. A method for backing up data, the method comprising:
- providing a computer network with data backup activity performed by a plurality of data backup products each with its own clients and servers, providing a host computer interfaced to said network, providing said host computer is running a software device or program that includes said method as one of its software components, providing for each data backup product a backup engine plug-in that will obtain records of data backup activity from that data backup product, providing records of data backup activity expressed as a canonical backup log containing backup job records including;
i. a date and time that a data backup attempt or operation took place, ii. a proprietary name of the data backup client, iii. a fully qualified host name of the data backup client, iv. a number of bytes that were backed up or default value, v. a number of files or objects that were backed up or a default value, vi. a proprietary data backup level name or a default value, vii. a canonical data backup level name or a default value, viii. a description of where the information in the data backup job record was obtained, ix. a number of seconds that elapsed during the data backup operation or a default value, X. a number of errors or a default value, xi. a data and time the data backup will expire or default value, xii. a logical target name, and xiii. a media label of a storage media the data backup was written to, and providing a request for the said canonical backup activity log from a software device or program, whereby said canonical backup activity log becomes a part of said software device or program in response to the asynchronous requests made by said software device or program, providing a database, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing records of data backup activity, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing records of data backup activity, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing backup client records, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing backup client records, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing backup target records, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing backup target records, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing data backup device name records, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing data backup device name records, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing backup level records, executing a process to said record to one or more data tables containing backup level records, executing scheduled requests for new records of data backup activity, and executing operator initiated requests for new records of data backup activity, whereby a general purpose database is made available for cross referencing and analysis of backup activity using third party tools.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for requesting, cross-referencing, extracting and storing historical records of data backup activity by using a software component that interfaces to a plurality of data backup software devices is disclosed. In the first aspect, a method of storing automated request-for-historical records of data backup activity schedules is disclosed. In the second aspect, a method for invoking requests through a component that interfaces to a plurality of data backup software devices is disclosed. In the third aspect, a method for receiving historical records of data backup activity from said component is disclosed. In a fourth aspect, a method for making alterations to said historical records of data backup activity is disclosed. In a fifth aspect, a method for inserting said historical records of data backup activity into a data table located in an open, relational database is disclosed. In a sixth aspect, a method for inserting subsets of said historical records of data backup activity into tables related to said central data table is disclosed. In a seventh aspect, a method for removing completed historical records of data backup activity refresh requests is disclosed. Through the use of a system and method in accordance with the present invention, the aforementioned database can be made self-refreshing, requiring minimal ongoing intervention subsequent to initial configuration. In addition, the aforementioned data refreshes can be manually invoked at any time.
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Citations
53 Claims
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1. A method for backing up data, the method comprising:
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providing a computer network with data backup activity performed by a plurality of data backup products each with its own clients and servers, providing a host computer interfaced to said network, providing said host computer is running a software device or program that includes said method as one of its software components, providing for each data backup product a backup engine plug-in that will obtain records of data backup activity from that data backup product, providing records of data backup activity expressed as a canonical backup log containing backup job records including;
i. a date and time that a data backup attempt or operation took place, ii. a proprietary name of the data backup client, iii. a fully qualified host name of the data backup client, iv. a number of bytes that were backed up or default value, v. a number of files or objects that were backed up or a default value, vi. a proprietary data backup level name or a default value, vii. a canonical data backup level name or a default value, viii. a description of where the information in the data backup job record was obtained, ix. a number of seconds that elapsed during the data backup operation or a default value, X. a number of errors or a default value, xi. a data and time the data backup will expire or default value, xii. a logical target name, and xiii. a media label of a storage media the data backup was written to, and providing a request for the said canonical backup activity log from a software device or program, whereby said canonical backup activity log becomes a part of said software device or program in response to the asynchronous requests made by said software device or program, providing a database, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing records of data backup activity, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing records of data backup activity, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing backup client records, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing backup client records, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing backup target records, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing backup target records, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing data backup device name records, execution of a process to add said record to one or more data tables containing data backup device name records, construction of a uniformly formatted record for insertion into one or more data tables containing backup level records, executing a process to said record to one or more data tables containing backup level records, executing scheduled requests for new records of data backup activity, and executing operator initiated requests for new records of data backup activity, whereby a general purpose database is made available for cross referencing and analysis of backup activity using third party tools. - View Dependent Claims (2)
providing a data table of request record data, providing said request table containing a record of the name of a backup data software program, providing said table containing a record the name of backup server on which the said backup program is running, providing said table containing a record data relating to the specific data backup software program, and providing said table containing data that are needed to communicate a request for records of data backup activity from said server such as;
i. passwords, and ii. user name, whereby the invention will invoke the transmission of requests for data relating to new data backup activities.
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3. An automatic refresh request generation system for a data backup system, comprising:
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a computer network with data backup activity performed by a plurality of data backup products wherein each data backup product generates records relating to the data backup activity; and
a host computer connected to the computer network that executes a canonical backup device, the canonical backup device further comprising;
a backup engine plug-in that obtains records of data backup activity from each data backup product and consolidate the records in a database; and
a refresh request unit that operates in the background of the host computer, the refresh request unit further comprising;
a timer that determines if an hour of the current day has changed since a previous refresh request, means for checking a string of values to determine if a refresh request is to be created, and means for creating the refresh request for a particular server-backup product combination. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An automatic refresh request generation device for a data backup system having a plurality of data backup products, each data backup product connected to a computer network and each data backup product generating records relating to the data backup activity for the data backup product, the device comprising:
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a backup engine plug-in that will obtain records of data backup activity from the plurality of data backup products and consolidate the records in a database that allows cross-referencing between the records from the plurality of data backup products; and
a refresh request unit that operates in the background of the device, the refresh request unit further comprising a timer that determines if an hour of the current day has changed, means for checking a string of values to determine if a refresh request is to be automatically initiated and means for initiating a refresh request for a particular server-backup product combination. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An automatic refresh request generation method for a data backup system having a plurality of data backup products, each data backup product connected to a computer network and each data backup product generating records relating to the data backup activity for the data backup product, the method comprising:
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obtaining records of data backup activity from each data backup product;
consolidating the records in a database that allows cross-referencing between records from the plurality of data backup products; and
automatically requesting the refresh of a particular data backup product, comprising determining if an hour of the current day has changed, checking a string of values to determine if a refresh request for the particular server is automatically initiated and initiating a refresh for a particular server-backup product combination if the refresh request has been initiated by inserting a record into the database. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system for inserting records from one or more data backup products into a canonical database, comprising:
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a computer network with data backup activity performed by a plurality of data backup products wherein each data backup product generates records relating to the data backup activity;
a host computer connected to the computer network that executes a canonical backup device; and
the canonical backup device further comprising;
a backup engine plug-in that obtains records of data backup activity from each data backup product; and
a database insertion unit that inserts the data from each record of a data backup product into a canonical database that allows cross-referencing between records from the plurality of data backup products, the database insertion unit further comprising means for inserting data from the record into a data backup portion, means for inserting data from the record into a backup client portion, means for inserting data from the record into a backup target portion, means for inserting data from the record into a backup device name portion and means for inserting data from the record into a backup level portion. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A device for inserting records from one or more data backup products into a canonical database, each data backup product connected to a computer network and each data backup product generating records relating to the data backup activity for the data backup product, the device comprising:
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a backup engine plug-in that will obtain records of data backup activity from each data backup product; and
a database insertion unit that inserts the data from each record of a data backup product into a canonical database that allows cross-referencing between records from different data backup products, the database insertion unit further comprising means for inserting data from the record into a data backup portion, means for inserting data from the record into a backup client portion, means for inserting data from the record into a backup target portion, means for inserting data from the record into a backup device name portion and means for inserting data from the record into a backup level portion. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method for inserting records from one or more data backup products into a canonical database, each data backup product connected to a computer network and each data backup product generating records relating to the data backup activity for the data backup product, the method comprising:
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obtaining records of data backup activity from each data backup product; and
inserting the records into a canonical database that allows cross-referencing between records from different data backup products, the data insertion further comprising inserting data from the record into a data backup portion, inserting data from the record into a backup client portion, inserting data from the record into a backup target portion, inserting data from the record into a backup device name portion and inserting data from the record into a backup level portion. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47)
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48. A system for inserting records from a plurality of data backup products having different formats into a canonical database, the system comprising:
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a computer network with data backup activity performed by a plurality of data backup products wherein each data backup product generates records relating to the data backup activity;
a host computer connected to the computer network that executes a canonical backup device; and
the canonical backup device further comprising a backup engine plug-in that will obtain records of data backup activity from each data backup product and a database insertion unit that inserts the data from each record of a data backup product into a canonical database, the database insertion unit further comprising means for inserting data from the record into a data backup table having a backup time and date field, a server name field, a client name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field, a target name field, a backup product name field, a backup level field, a backup canonical name field, a backup local data and time field, a backup bytes field, a backup file number field, a backup error count field, a days of week field, an hour of the day field and a backup volume field, means for inserting data from the record into a backup client table having a client name field, a server name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field and a client owner field, means for inserting data from the record into a backup target table having a server name field, a client name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field, a target name field, an ignore field and a ignore until field, means for inserting data from the record into a backup device name table having a backup product name field and means for inserting data from the record into a backup level table having a backup product name field, a backup level field and a backup canonical level field. - View Dependent Claims (49)
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50. A device for inserting records from one or more data backup products into a canonical database, each data backup product connected to a computer network and each data backup product generating records relating to the data backup activity for the data backup product, the device comprising:
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a backup engine plug-in that will obtain records of data backup activity from each data backup product; and
a database insertion unit that inserts the data from each record of a data backup product into a canonical database, the database insertion unit further comprising means for inserting data from the record into a data backup table having a backup time and date field, a server name field, a client name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field, a target name field, a backup product name field, a backup level field, a backup canonical name field, a backup local data and time field, a backup bytes field, a backup file number field, a backup error count field, a days of week field, an hour of the day field and a backup volume field, means for inserting data from the record into a backup client table having a client name field, a server name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field and a client owner field, means for inserting data from the record into a backup target table having a server name field, a client name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field, a target name field, an ignore field and an ignore until field, means for inserting data from the record into a backup device name table having a backup product name field and means for inserting data from the record into a backup level table having a backup product name field, a backup level field and a backup canonical level field. - View Dependent Claims (51)
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52. A method for inserting records from one or more data backup products into a canonical database, each data backup product connected to a computer network and each data backup product generating records relating to the data backup activity for the data backup product, the method comprising:
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obtaining records of data backup activity from each data backup product; and
inserting the data from each record of a data backup product into a canonical database, a database/assertion comprising inserting data from the record into a data backup table having a backup time and date field, a server name field, a client name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field, a target name field, a backup product name field, a backup level field, a backup canonical name field, a backup local data and time field, a backup bytes field, a backup file number field, a backup error count field, a days of week field, an hour of the day field and a backup volume field, inserting data from the record into a backup client table having a client name field, a server name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field and a client owner field, inserting data from the record into a backup target table having a server name field, a client name field, a client host name field, a client nickname field, a target name field, an ignore field and an ignore until field, inserting data from the record into a backup device name table having a backup product name field and inserting data from the record into a backup level table having a backup product name field, a backup level field and a backup canonical level field. - View Dependent Claims (53)
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Specification