Delegation of data classification using common language

• US 8,548,964 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• 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: Nair, Manoj, Perrin, Stephen R.
• Primary Examiner(s): PEACH, POLINA G
• Application Number:
  US11/864,605
• Time in Patent Office: 2,195 Days
• Field of Search: 707/794
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification

Abstract

An information management system delegates information classification to an external computing resource, or classifier. The intelligence required to perform classification, including a series of logic and/or rules, is provided to the classifier. The logic and/or rules are translated from a first format to a second format understandable to the classifier. The information management system discovers objects of an entity and identifies them for the classifier. The classifier collects information about the objects, applies the logic and rules to the objects, and assigns one or more categories to each object. This classification information is translated from the second format to the first format and reported back to the information management system, which may use the assigned categories to identify and map service level objectives to available service levels. After service levels are selected, the corresponding actions can be orchestrated such that the objects of the entity receive the selected services.

Claims

1. In an information management system,

a method of providing efficient information management by delegation of information classification, the method comprising:

performing information management to identify services for objects in a computer system, by an information management server, wherein performing information management includes;

discovering, by the information management server, a plurality of objects in the computer system, wherein discovery of the plurality of objects is performed by the information management server using one or more first adapters, and wherein discovery of the plurality of objects includes one or more of identifying objects in the computer system, discovering information about objects in the computer system, or collecting information about objects in the computer system;

receiving, by the information management server, configuration information that includes classification logic and rules;

delegating, by the information management server, a secondary object classification process to one or more external computing resources, wherein delegation of the secondary object classification process includes dividing classification tasks among the one or more external computing resources so as to achieve a relative reduction in the amount of processing resources required by the information management server, and wherein delegation of the secondary object classification process includes sending, by the information management server, the classification logic and rules, and an associated second adapter, to the external computing resource, the second adapter being operable to translate the classification logic and rules from a first format to a second format that is different from the first format, the first format being compatible with the information management server and the second format being compatible with one of the external computing resources;

performing, by the information management server, an initial classification of the plurality of objects so as to generate initial classification information concerning the plurality of objects, and assigning, by the information management system, one or more categories to each of the plurality of objects that have been classified;

determining, by the information management server, services for each of the plurality of objects individually based on the assigned one or more categories of each object;

requesting, by the information management server, that the one or more external computing resources perform a secondary classification of the initially classified plurality of objects in the computer system, wherein the secondary classification is based on the classification logic and rules provided to the external computing resource by the information management server;

monitoring the external computing resource to ensure that classification is being performed;

receiving, by the information management server, secondary classification information from the external computing resource, the secondary classification information including high level data and being in a translated form compatible with the information management server, and identifying one or more of the plurality of objects and one or more categories assigned to the objects individually, wherein one of the categories is mapped to a service level objective by the information management server, and wherein when an object is associated with a plurality of lifecycle stages, mapping different categories to different respective lifecycle stages;

aggregating, by the information management system, the secondary classification information received from the one or more external computing resources with the initial classification information generated by the information management server;

continuously looping through the discovered plurality of objects until each of the discovered objects has been classified and mapped to a service level objective; and

utilizing, by the information management server, the aggregated information to drive treatment of one or more of the plurality of objects, wherein the treatment includes providing services to the objects that are determined by the one or more categories assigned to the objects, wherein one of the services is associated with the service level objective.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to further classification of the initially classified plurality of objects, discovering the plurality of objects.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising identifying the discovered plurality of objects to the external computing resource such that the external computing resource can apply the logic and rules to the discovered plurality of objects.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein utilizing the further classification information to drive treatment of one or more of the plurality of objects includes at least one of:

identifying one or more service level objectives for each object based on the assigned one or more categories;

mapping the one or more service level objectives to service levels available from service providers; and

orchestrating the services for one or more of the plurality of objects based on the assigned one or more categories, the identified one or more service level objectives, or both.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring the external computing resource to ensure that the external computing resource applies the logic and rules to one or more of the initially classified plurality of objects to generate the further classification information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising valuing the objects based on the assigned categories of the objects.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the logic and rules are specified by a user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the further classification information received from the external computing resource with the initial classification information generated by the information management server, and utilizing the aggregated classification information to drive treatment of objects in the computer system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, providing the logic and rules to a plurality of external computing resources, wherein the plurality of external computing resources apply the series of logic and rules to one or more objects to generate classification information.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising aggregating the classification information from the plurality of external computing resources and utilizing that aggregated classification information to drive treatment of objects in the computer system.

11. In a computing resource external to an information management system that provides efficient information management by delegation of information classification, a method of classifying objects in a computer system in order to perform information management, the method comprising:

receiving, from an information management server, translated classification logic and rules relating to information management categories for initially classified objects residing in the computer system, the classification logic and rules having been translated from a first format understandable by the information management server to a second format understandable by an external computing resource that receives the translated classification logic and rules, wherein the classification logic and rules are received in association with delegation of a secondary classification service to one or more external computing resources that include the external computing resource, wherein the secondary classification service concerns objects discovered by the information management server using one or more first adapters, and wherein delegation of the secondary classification service reduces a processing load on the information management server;

collecting, by the external computing resource, information describing the initially classified objects;

applying, by the external computing resource, the classification logic and rules to the initially classified objects so as to generate secondary classification information concerning those objects, the secondary classification information being in a translated form compatible with the information management server, wherein the classification logic and rules are driven at least by the collected information;

assigning, by the external computing resource, one or more categories of information management to each object;

reporting, by the external computing resource, high level information comprising the one or more categories assigned to each object to the information management server, so that the information management server can map the categories to a service level objective for each of the objects and so that the information management server can identify the services for each of the objects based on the one or more categories assigned to each object, wherein one of the services is associated with the service level objective for an object; and

reporting, by the external computing resource, the secondary classification information to the information management server for aggregation, by the information management server, with the initial classification information.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising reporting the further classification information to the information management server, the further classification information identifying the objects and corresponding assigned categories of information management.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the information management server utilizes the further classification information received from the external computing resource to drive treatment of one or more of the objects by doing at least one of:

identifying one or more service level objectives for each object based on the assigned one or more categories;

mapping the one or more service level objectives to service levels available from service providers; and

orchestrating services for one or more of the objects based on the assigned one or more categories, the identified one or more service level objectives, or both.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the logic and rules used to classify the objects use metadata associated with each object describing capabilities, features, a hash, and content, of each object.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the objects include at least one of directories, volumes, files, folders, user data, system data, applications, services, operating systems, instructions, and computer settings.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein each object'"'"'s collected information includes the content of the object as well as a hash function of the object.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein collecting information includes generating metadata for each object, the generated metadata used to assign the object to one or more categories.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the generated metadata is used in connection with information relating to each object'"'"'s content and infrastructure in classifying each object.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising, prior to collecting information describing the objects, receiving information identifying the objects from the information management server, wherein the information management server previously discovered the objects in the computer system.