Imminent failure prioritized backup

• US 8,341,121 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Claudatos, Christopher Hercules, Andruss, William Dale
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Phuong Thao
• Application Number:
  US11/904,972
• Time in Patent Office: 1,915 Days
• Field of Search: 707/204, 707/999.204, 707/609, 707/640, 707/694, 707/821, 707/999.007
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/004 Error avoidance G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases

Abstract

A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for backing up or archiving objects in the event of imminent failure, comprising receiving an indication of imminent failure, determining a prioritization of the objects, and indicating the prioritized objects to a backup application. Prioritization may be determined by the nature of the imminent failure, and the objects are backed up according to the prioritization. The objects may be prioritized according to object location, object type, or timestamp.

Claims

1. A method for backing up individual objects, comprising:

receiving an indication of an imminent failure, wherein the indication is received by a trigger, wherein the trigger includes a system poll, an interrupt, and a manual trigger;

using the indication of the imminent failure to select a policy, wherein the policy specifies a target for backing up the individual objects and a set of parameters for backing up the individual objects wherein the set of parameters includes at least one criterion for prioritizing the individual objects, wherein the target is selected from a set of targets based on a data transfer speed of the target, wherein based on the data transfer speed includes testing the data transfer speed of the target;

determining a priority order of object types, wherein a first object type of the object types has a higher priority than a second object type of the object types;

determining whether a backup of an individual object of the individual objects exists;

based on the determination that the backup of the individual object of the individual objects does not exist, assigning a higher priority to the individual object;

determining a prioritization of the individual objects according to the priority order of the object types and by timestamps, wherein the individual objects are associated with the timestamps, wherein determining the prioritization of the individual objects includes determining a nature of the imminent failure, wherein determining the nature of the imminent failure includes identifying a component associated with the imminent failure, wherein a higher priority is assigned to an individual object of the individual objects stored at the component;

indicating the prioritized individual objects to a backup application; and

backing up the prioritized individual objects according to the prioritization.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining the priority order of the object types includes determining a nature of the imminent failure.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the indication of the imminent failure is generated by a Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) monitor.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the indication of the imminent failure is generated manually.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining the prioritization of the individual objects includes applying the at least one criterion.

6. A system for backing up individual objects, comprising:

a processor configured with a logic to;

receive an indication of an imminent failure, wherein the indication is received by a trigger, wherein the trigger includes a system poll, an interrupt, and a manual trigger;

use the indication of the imminent failure to select a policy, wherein the policy specifies a target for backing up the individual objects and a set of parameters for backing up the individual objects wherein the set of parameters includes at least one criterion for prioritizing the individual objects, wherein the target is selected from a set of targets based on a data transfer speed of the target, wherein based on the data transfer speed includes test the data transfer speed of the target;

determine a priority order of object types, wherein a first object type of the object types has a higher priority than a second object type of the object types;

determine whether a backup of an individual object of the individual objects exists;

based on the determination that the backup of the individual object of the individual objects does not exist, assign a higher priority to the individual object;

determine a prioritization of the individual objects according to the priority order of the object types and by timestamps, wherein the individual objects are associated with the timestamps, wherein determining the prioritization of the individual objects includes determining a nature of the imminent failure, wherein determining the nature of the imminent failure includes identifying a component associated with the imminent failure, wherein a higher priority is assigned to an individual object of the individual objects stored at the component;

indicate the prioritized individual objects to a backup application; and

back up the prioritized individual objects according to the prioritization of the individual objects.

7. A computer program product for backing up individual objects, comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therein for:

receiving an indication of an imminent failure, wherein the indication is received by a trigger, wherein the trigger includes a system poll, an interrupt, and a manual trigger;

using the indication of the imminent failure to select a policy, wherein the policy specifies a target for backing up the individual objects and a set of parameters for backing up the individual objects wherein the set of parameters includes at least one criterion for prioritizing the individual objects, wherein the target is selected from a set of targets based on a data transfer speed of the target, wherein based on the data transfer speed includes testing the data transfer speed of the target;

determining a priority order of object types, wherein a first object type of the object types has a higher priority than a second object type of the object types;

determining whether a backup of an individual object of the individual objects exists;

based on the determination that the backup of the individual object of the individual objects does not exist, assigning a higher priority to the individual object;

determining a prioritization of the individual objects according to the priority order of the object types and by timestamps, wherein the individual objects are associated with the timestamps, wherein determining the prioritization of the individual objects includes determining a nature of the imminent failure, wherein determining the nature of the imminent failure includes identifying a component associated with the imminent failure, wherein a higher priority is assigned to an individual object of the individual objects stored at the component;

indicating the prioritized individual objects to a backup application; and

backing up the prioritized individual objects according to the prioritization.