Extensible system recovery architecture

• US 6,851,073 B1
• Filed: 07/26/1999
• Issued: 02/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thompson, Glenn A., Raghavan, Kartik N., Cabrera, Luis Felipe
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DIEU MINH T
• Application Number:
  US09/361,641
• Time in Patent Office: 2,017 Days
• Field of Search: 714/15, 714/19, 714/2, 714/13, 714/16, 714/20
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

A system recovery method and framework for backing up and restoring a system that cannot reboot. The framework defines a common process, environment, and syntax, whereby backup programs integrate with this framework by collecting and writing appropriate information to be used during system recovery in the proper format. The format is a System Information File, a text file that specifies the hard disk state of the system and the location of key partitions where key components of the operating system are located. The file also includes instructions for specifying programs to launch during the restore phase, and any commands that need to be run in error handling cases. The file also includes or references any additional drivers or files to copy to assist in the restore process. A framework for restoring is also provided, and includes reading the file to restore the disk partition state, creating a common environment, and configuring (initializing) the common environment. When the environment is configured, the programs specified in the file are run to restore the remainder of the system.

Claims

1. A method for backing up and restoring a computer system, comprising:

invoking an application programming interface for collecting information of an execution state of a program;

invoking an application programming interface for storing on a medium the collected information of the execution state of the program;

receiving information of the system state of a hardware device;

persistently storing on the medium the information of the system state of the hardware device;

retrieving the information of the system state of the hardware device stored on the medium;

restoring the state of the hardware device using the retrieved information of the system state of the hardware device stored on the medium;

retrieving the information of the execution state of the program stored on the medium; and

restoring the execution state of the program using the retrieved information of the execution state of the program stored on the medium.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising querying the system state of the hardware device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein querying the system state of the hardware device comprises querying the system state of the hard drive.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising executing a backup program for recording recovery information, including the core operating system and registry information.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising creating a restoration environment using the recovery information recorded on the medium, including the core operating system fifes and registry information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein creating a restoration environment further comprises installing a device driver.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising rebooting the computer system.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising invoking an application programming interface for collecting registry information.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising querying the system state of a catalog of unmodifiable files.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising executing a restore process for restoring the state of the hardware device.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising executing at least one restore program for restoring the execution state of the program using the retrieved information of the execution state of the program stored on the medium.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising persistently storing on the medium information specifying the programs to copy and execute upon restoration.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising persistently storing on the medium information specifying special driver files to load upon restoration.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein restoring the state of the hardware device further comprises scanning for current hard disk information of the computer system and comparing the current hard disk information to saved hard disk configuration information.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein invoking an application programming interface for collecting information of an execution state of a program comprises invoking an application programming interface for collecting information of an execution state of an operating system program.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein invoking an application programming interface for collecting information of an execution state of a program comprises invoking an application programming interface for collecting information of an execution state of an application program.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

18. A method for recovering from a failure of a computer system, comprising:

recording on a medium recovery information, including the execution state of at least one program, information of the system state of at least one hardware device, core operating system files, registry information, and a catalog listing of unmodifiable files;

restoring the system state of at least one hardware device using the recorded information of the system state of the hardware device;

creating a restoration environment using the recovery information recorded on the medium, including the core operating system files and registry information; and

restoring the execution state of at least one program using the recorded recovery information of the execution state of the program.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising recording on the medium at least one instruction for restoring configuration information of a backup storage device.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising recording on the medium instructions for restoring programs.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising recording on the medium information specifying special driver files to load upon restoration.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein recording on a medium recovery information, including the execution state of at least one program, comprises executing a backup program for invoking an application programming interface for collecting the execution state of the program.

23. The method of claim 18 further comprising executing a restore process for restoring the system state of at least one hardware device.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein restoring the system state of at least one hardware device comprises scanning a hard disk drive for the current system state of the hard disk drive and comparing the current state of the hard disk to the system state of the hard disk drive recorded on the medium.

25. The method of claim 18 further comprising rebooting the computer system after restoring the system state of at least one hardware device.

26. The method of claim 18 wherein creating a restoration environment further comprises installing a device driver.

27. The method of claim 18 further comprising executing at least one restore program for restoring the operating system files from a backup device.

28. The method of claim 18 further comprising executing at least one restore program for restoring the application program files from a backup device.

29. The method of claim 18 further comprising executing special error handling instructions saved on a backup device.

30. The method of claim 18 further comprising executing at least one restore program for restoring the execution state of the program using the retrieved information of the execution state of the program stored on the medium.

31. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 18.