System and method for system state replication
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for backing up a first server, comprising the steps of:
- providing a disk storage connected to a second server, said disk storage comprising a staging area;
replicating changes to data files and system state files of the first server to the staging area connected to the second server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the first server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the second server;
wherein the staging area of the second server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the second server; and
upon detection of a failure of the first server, failing over the first server to the second server by merging the replicated system state files of the first server into a system state of the second server.
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Abstract
The invention generally describes a system and method for data backup and recovery, in particular for backing up an entire server (i.e., system state and data) in substantially real-time. The invention provides high availability by failing a source server over to a target server if the source server fails, where the target server is reconfigured nearly identically to the source server. The invention does not require the source and target servers to have identical hardware or operating system versions. The invention further allows for rapid, automatic, restoration of a source server.
71 Citations
69 Claims
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1. A method for backing up a first server, comprising the steps of:
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providing a disk storage connected to a second server, said disk storage comprising a staging area; replicating changes to data files and system state files of the first server to the staging area connected to the second server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the first server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the second server;
wherein the staging area of the second server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the second server; andupon detection of a failure of the first server, failing over the first server to the second server by merging the replicated system state files of the first server into a system state of the second server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for backing up a first server comprising the steps of:
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providing a disk storage connected to a second server, said disk storage comprising a staging area; replicating changes to data files and system state files of the first server to the staging area connected to the second server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the first server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the second server;
wherein the staging area of the second server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the second server;upon detection of the failure of the first server, failing over the first server to a third server by the steps of; copying the replicated data files of the first server from the second server to the third server; copying the replicated system state files of the first server from the second server to the third server, where the replicated system state files of the first server are copied to a staging area on the third server; and merging the copied system state files into a system state of the third server. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for backup of a source server, comprising:
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the source server, further including local storage and a connection to a network; a target server, including local storage and a connection to the network; a disk storage connected to the target server, said disk storage comprising a staging area; a replication component executing on the source and target servers, where the replication component replicates changes to data files and system state files of the source server to the staging area connected to the target server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the source server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the target server;
wherein the staging area of the target server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the target server;a failover component executing on the source and target servers, where the failover component on the target server; detects a failure of the source server, and upon detection of the failure of the source server, fails over the source server to the target server by merging the replicated system state files of the source server into a system state of the target server. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A system for backing up a source server comprising:
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the source server, further including local storage and a connection to a network; a backup server, including local storage and a connection to the network; at least one target server, including local storage and a connection to the network; a disk storage connected to a target server, said disk storage comprising a staging area; a replication component executing on the source and backup servers, where the replication component replicates changes to data files and system state files of the source server to the staging area connected to the target server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the source server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the target server;
wherein the staging area of the target server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the target server;a failover component executing on the source, backup, and target servers, where the failover component on the backup server; detects a failure of the source server, and upon detection of the failure of the source server, fails over the source server to a selected target server from the at least one target servers by the steps of; copying the replicated data files of the source server from the backup server to the selected target server; copying the replicated system state files of the source server from the backup server to the selected target server, where the replicated system state files of the source server are copied to a staging area on the selected target server; and merging the copied system state files into a system state of the selected target server. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A computer-readable medium encoding a program for backing up a first server, where the program comprises a set of instructions for performing the steps of:
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replicating changes to data files and system state files of the first server to a staging area stored in a disk storage connected to a second server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the first server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the second server;
wherein the staging area of the second server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the second server;detecting a failure of the first server; and upon detection of the failure of the first server, failing over the first server to the second server by merging the replicated system state files of the first server into a system state of the second server. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A computer-readable medium encoding a program for backing up a first server, where the program comprises a set of instructions for performing the steps of:
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replicating changes to data files and system state files of the first server to replicating changes to data files and system state files of the first server to a staging area stored in a disk storage connected to a second server;
wherein the replicated changes to the files of the first server are made to a corresponding copy of the files stored in the staging area of the second server;
wherein the staging area of the second server stores replicated versions of files that are locked to avoid overwriting of live files on the second server;detecting a failure of the first server; and upon detection of the failure of the first server, failing over the first server to the third server by the steps of; copying the replicated data files of the first server from the second server to the third server; copying the replicated system state files of the first server from the second server to the third server, where the replicated system state files of the first server are copied to a staging area on the third server; and merging the copied system state files into a system state of the third server. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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Specification