Registering and storing dependencies among applications and objects in a computer system and communicating the dependencies to a recovery or backup service
First Claim
1. A method for utilizing applications'"'"' state dependency information to efficiently perform a backup service operation in a computer system, comprising the acts of:
- registering applications loaded in said computer system with an application dependency application programming interface (API) for communication of application state dependency information among applications, a common software agent, a storage component utilized by said agent, and a backup service;
storing in said storage component said applications'"'"' state dependency information;
communicating by said agent, said applications'"'"' state dependency information from said storage component to said backup service;
maintaining by said agent, hierarchical application dependencies of said registered applications for backup operation; and
retroactively recovering by said agent, said computer system to a pre-crash state after selectively analyzing said state dependency information and determining an application freeze order.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An application programming interface protocol is provided for making requests to registered applications regarding applications'"'"' dependency information so that a table of dependency information relating to a target object can be recursively generated. When all of the applications'"'"' dependencies are captured at the same time for given volume(s) or object(s), the entire volume'"'"'s or object'"'"'s program and data dependency information may be maintained for the given time. With this dependency information, the computer system advantageously knows not only which files and in which order to freeze or flush files in connection with a backup, such as a snapshot, or restore of given volume(s) or object(s), but also knows which volume(s) or object(s) can be excluded from the freezing process. After a request by a service for application dependency information, the computer system can translate or process dependency information, thereby ordering recovery events over a given set of volumes or objects.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for utilizing applications'"'"' state dependency information to efficiently perform a backup service operation in a computer system, comprising the acts of:
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registering applications loaded in said computer system with an application dependency application programming interface (API) for communication of application state dependency information among applications, a common software agent, a storage component utilized by said agent, and a backup service; storing in said storage component said applications'"'"' state dependency information; communicating by said agent, said applications'"'"' state dependency information from said storage component to said backup service; maintaining by said agent, hierarchical application dependencies of said registered applications for backup operation; and retroactively recovering by said agent, said computer system to a pre-crash state after selectively analyzing said state dependency information and determining an application freeze order. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An application programming interface (API) embodied in a computer readable storage media having computer executable instructions for use in a computer system, said instructions comprising:
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instructions to register applications loaded in said computer system with said API for communication of application state dependency information among applications, a common software agent, a storage component utilized by said agent, and a service; instructions to store said application state dependency information in said storage component; instructions to communicate by said agent said application state dependency information from said storage component to said service; instructions to maintain hierarchical application dependencies of the registered applications for service operations; and instructions to retroactively recover said computer system to a pre-crash state after selectively analyzing said state dependency information and determining an application freeze order. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer system, comprising:
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a plurality of applications loaded and registered in said system, wherein at least one of said applications has at least one external state dependency with other said applications; a storage component for storing application state dependency information, wherein said dependency information is configured to include information about said at least one external state dependency; an agent that functions according to communication protocols of an application programming interface (API) in said system for processing said at least one application'"'"'s state dependency information, said application'"'"'s state dependency information includes information about dependencies among said applications, and said API is configured to communicate said state dependency information among said applications, said agent, said storage component utilized by said agent, and a backup service; said service makes requests to said agent for said application'"'"'s state dependency information;
said agent collects, stores and packages said application'"'"'s state dependency information in response to a request by said service, and delivers said application'"'"'s state dependency information to said service for further processing by said service;said agent maintains hierarchical application dependencies of said registered applications for a backup operation, and retroactively recovers said computer system to a pre-crash state after selectively analyzing said state dependency information and determining an application freeze order. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification