Method, system, and apparatus for providing alert synthesis in a data protection system

• US 7,502,961 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2004
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thangarathnam, Manikandan, Srinivasan, Sundararajan, Shelton, William T Jr., Anand, Karandeep Singh, van Ingen, Catharine, Lashkari, Yezdi Z, Berkowitz, Brian T, Harikrishnan, Seetharaman, Kulkarni, Purushottam M
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman; Scott T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Contino; Paul F.
• Application Number:
  US10/937,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20060053347A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,643 Days
• Field of Search: 714/16, 714/21
• US Class Current: 714/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A method for diagnosing problems with protection of a data source and recovery of the same. The method includes diagnosing a copy of data located at the storage location and diagnosing a temporal version of the copy of data. Based on the diagnosis it is determined whether an error or a warning was detected. If either were detected a response is provided with a suggested solution.

Claims

1. A method for informing a user of the state of a data protection system, comprising:

monitoring activities of the data protection system, the data protection system including a data protector that communicates with a production location and a storage location to protect data of the production location, the data protector receives from a user a protection intent indicating how data of the production location is to be protected, the protection intent selected from a group consisting of replication of the data of the production location to the storage location, validation of data of the storaae location, and creation at the storage location temporal versions of the data of the production location, the data protector implementing the received protection intent;

determining if there are any potential problems with the data protection system in implementing the received protection intent for the production location, the potential problems including determining whether a copy of data of the production system stored at the storage location by the data protector is valid and whether copying a last temporal version of the data of the production location to the storaae location completed successfully;

if it is determined that there are no potential problems with the data protection system, providing a user an informational report regarding the state of the data protection system;

if it is determined that there are potential problems with the data protection system, determining the severity of the potential problem;

classifying the potential problem based on the severity of the problem; and

providing the user with a report corresponding to the classification of the potential problem

so that the user can determine whether the data protector is correctly implementing the protection intent of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the potential problem is classified as an error if the severity of the problem requires user interaction to proceed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the report informs the user of the potential problem and provides the user with a suggested solution to the potential problem.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the potential problem is classified as a warning if the severity of the problem does not require user interaction to proceed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the report informs the user of the potential problem and provides the user with a suggested solution to the potential problem or informs the user that no action is currently needed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the informational report informs the user that the data protection system is operating as expected.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring the potential problem for a change; and

in response to a change, changing the severity of the problem based on the change.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the report is generated based on a calculation of a number of failures over a period of time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the report is generated based on a calculation of a number of failures across a plurality of locations of the data protection system.

10. A method for diagnosing data at a storage location to determine whether a data protection system is correctly protecting data of a production location, comprising:

diagnosing a copy of data located at the storage location, the data having been copied by a data protector of the data protection system from the production location to the storage location, the data protector implementing a protection intent of a user that indicates how data of the production location is to be protected by creating temporal versions of the data at the storage location;

diagnosing a temporal version of the copy of data to determine whether the data protector is correctly protecting the data of the production location in accordance with the protection intent;

determining if an error was detected in the temporal version as a result of the data protector not correctly implementing the protection intent;

in response to detecting an error, reporting the error and providing a suggested solution;

determining if a warning was detected in the temporal version as a result of the data protector not correctly implementing the protection intent; and

in response to detecting a warning, reporting the warning and providing a suggested solution.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a copy includes, determining if the copy is valid.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a copy includes, determining if a copy job is currently running.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a copy includes, determining if a last copy job completed successfully.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a copy of data includes, diagnosing replication failures for the copy of data.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a copy includes, computing a number of failed copy jobs.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a copy includes, determining whether a threshold has been reached.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a temporal version includes, determining if the copy is valid.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a temporal version includes, determining if the last temporal version completed successfully.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a temporal version includes, determining if a temporal version was taken.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein diagnosing a temporal version includes, determining if the oldest intended temporal version is available.

21. A method for diagnosing data at a storaae location, comprising:

diagnosing a copy of data located at the storage location;

diagnosing a temporal version of the copy of data;

determining if an error was detected;

in response to detecting an error, reporting the error and providing a suggested solution;

determining if a warning was detected; and

in response to detecting a warning, reporting the warning and providing a suggested solution

wherein diagnosing a temporal version includes, determining a percentage of temporal versions that are missing over a predetermined period of time.

22. A method for diagnosing data at a storage location, comprising:

diagnosing a copy of data located at the storaae location;

diagnosing a temporal version of the copy of data;

determining if an error was detected;

in response to detecting an error, reporting the error and providing a suggested solution;

determining if a warning was detected; and

in response to detecting a warning, reporting the warning and providing a suggested solution

wherein diagnosing a temporal version includes, determining a percentage of temporal versions that are missing over a total period of time.

23. A computer system with a central processing unit and memory for informing a user of the state of a data protection system, comprising:

a routine that monitors activities of the data protection system, the data protection system including a data protector that communicates with a production location and a storage location to protect data of the production location, the data protector receives from a user a protection intent indicating how data of the production location is to be protected and implements the received protection intent;

a routine that determines if there are any potential problems with the data protection system in implementing the received protection intent for the production location, the problems including determining whether a copy of data of the production system stored at the storage location by the data protector is valid and whether copying a last temporal version of the data of the production location to the storage location completed successfully;

a routine that, if it is determined that there are no potential problems with the data protection system, provides the user an informational report regarding the state of the data protection system;

a routine that, if it is determined that there are potential problems with the data protection system, determines the severity of the potential problem;

a routine that classifies the potential problem based on the severity of the problem; and

a routine that provides the user with a report corresponding to the classification of the potential problem

so that the user can determine whether the data protector is correctly implementing the protection intent of the user.

24. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the potential problem is classified as an error if the severity of the problem requires user interaction to proceed.

25. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the report informs the user of the potential problem and provides the user with a suggested solution to the potential problem.

26. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the potential problem is classified as a warning if the severity of the problem does not require user interaction to proceed.

27. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the report informs the user of the potential problem and provides the user with a suggested solution to the potential problem or informs the user that no action is currently needed.

28. The computer system of claim 23, further comprising:

a routine that monitors the potential problem for a change and, in response to a change, changes the severity of the problem based on the change.

29. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the routine that determines whether there are any potential problems with the data protection system determines a percentage of temporal versions of the data that are missing over a total period of time.

30. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the routine that determines whether there are any potential problems with the data protection system determines a percentage of temporal versions of the data that are missing over a pre- determined period of time.