Warm standby appliance

• US 8,745,171 B1
• Filed: 11/05/2010
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Maxsp Corporation
• Inventors: Keith, Robert O. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino, Joseph E
• Assistant Examiner(s): CONAWAY, JAMES E
• Application Number:
  US12/940,526
• Time in Patent Office: 1,306 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 707/204, 707/619, 714 4- 16
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

A warm standby appliance is described herein. The warm standby appliance is coupled to a storage server which is coupled to one or more servers. When a server fails, the storage server transfers a backed up image to the warm standby appliance, so that the warm standby appliance is able to replicate the failed server. While the failed server is inaccessible, the warm standby appliance is able to mimic the functionality of the failed server. When a new server or repaired server is available, the warm standby appliance is no longer needed. To incorporate the new server into the system quickly and easily, the server image of the warm standby appliance is sent to the new server. After transferring the image, the warm standby appliance is cleaned and returns back to a dormant state, waiting to be utilized again.

Claims

1. A system for providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. one or more first servers;

b. a second server coupled to the first servers wherein the second server stores data received from the first servers; and

c. one or more computing devices coupled to the second server, wherein the one or more computing devices perform functions of a number of the first servers that have failed upon receiving the data from the second server;

wherein when the number of failed first servers exceeds the number of computing devices, the second server generates a number of virtual servers to perform functions of the additional failed first servers.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the second server is a storage server.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more first servers back up the data onto the second server using a continuous backup scheme.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the second server stores system images of the one or more first servers.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the second server transfers one or more of the system images to the one or more computing devices when the number of first servers fail.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the one or more computing devices transfer the one or more of the system images to a replacement server for the number of first servers.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the one or more computing devices clears the one or more of the system images from the one or more computing devices.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more computing devices mimic the one or more first servers.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more first servers are accessible by customers.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more computing devices are running and available to receive the data from the second server before the number of first servers fail.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more computing devices is remotely accessible.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the second server generates a virtual server to perform functions of one of the number of first servers if the one or more computing devices are unavailable.

13. A method of providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. backing up data from one or more first servers to a second server;

b. transferring the data from the second server to one or more computing devices when one or more of the first servers fail; and

c. serving the data utilizing at least one of the one or more computing devices until the one or more first servers are replaced;

wherein when the number of failed first servers exceeds the number of computing devices, the second server generates a number a virtual servers to perform functions of the additional failed first servers.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 further comprising replacing the failed first servers.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the second server is a storage server.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the one or more first servers back up the data onto the second server using a continuous backup scheme.

17. The method as claimed in claim 13 further comprising storing system images of the one or more first servers on the second server.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17 further comprising transferring the system images from the second server to one or more of the computing devices when a number of the first servers fail, wherein the system images correspond to the number of failed first servers.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 further comprising transferring the system images from the one or more of the computing devices to one or more replacement servers for the number of failed first servers.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising clearing the system images from the one or more of the computing devices.

21. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein serving the data utilizing the one or more computing devices includes mimicking the number of failed first servers before the first servers failed.

22. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the first servers are accessible by customers.

23. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the computing devices are running and available to receive the data from the second server before the number of first servers fail.

24. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein at least one of the computing devices is remotely accessible.

25. The method as claimed in claim 13 further comprising generating one or more virtual servers with the second server to perform functions of the number of first servers if the one or more computing devices are unavailable.

26. The method as claimed in claim 13 wherein the one or more first servers are a part of a set of first servers.

27. A network of devices for providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. a set of first servers;

b. a second server coupled to the set of first servers, wherein the second server stores data received from the set of first servers;

c. one or more third servers coupled to the second server, wherein one or more of the third servers perform functions of a failed server of the set of first servers upon failure of the failed server and receiving the data from the second server if a third server is available, and if the number of failed first servers exceeds the number of third servers, the second server generates a virtual server for the additional failed server wherein the virtual server performs functions of the additional failed server;

d. a regional data center coupled to the second server for backing up the data regionally; and

e. a remote data center coupled to the regional data center for backing up the data remotely;

wherein the first servers, the second server, and the third servers further include a processor and a memory.

28. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the second server is a storage server.

29. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the set of first servers back up the data onto the second server using a continuous backup scheme.

30. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the second server stores a system image of each server of the set of first servers.

31. The network of devices as claimed in claim 30 wherein the second server transfers one or more of the system images to one or more of the third servers when one or more of the first servers fail, wherein the system images correspond to the failed servers of the set of first servers.

32. The network of devices as claimed in claim 31 wherein the third servers transfer the system images to a replacement server for the failed servers.

33. The network of devices as claimed in claim 32 wherein the third servers clear the system images from the third servers.

34. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the third servers mimic the failed servers of the set of first servers before the failed servers failed.

35. The network of devices as claimed in claim 30 wherein the second server transfers the system image to the virtual server when generating the virtual server, wherein the system image corresponds to one of the failed servers of the set of first servers.

36. The network of devices as claimed in claim 35 wherein the virtual server transfers the system image to a replacement server for the one of the failed servers of the set of first servers.

37. The network of devices as claimed in claim 36 wherein the virtual server mimics the one of the failed servers of the set of first servers before the one of the failed servers failed.

38. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the virtual server is generated in real-time.

39. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the second server continues to back up the data while running the virtual server.

40. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the set of first servers are accessible by customers.

41. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein the third servers are running and available to receive the data from the second server before the failed servers of the set of first servers fails.

42. The network of devices as claimed in claim 27 wherein at least one of the third servers is remotely accessible.

43. An apparatus for providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. a storage component;

b. a data backup application stored on the storage component for backing up data received from one or more servers;

c. a data restore application stored on the storage component for restoring the data received from the server by transferring the data to one or more standby servers;

d. a server generating application stored on the storage component for temporarily replacing a failed server, wherein the server generating application generates a virtual server for the number of failed servers that exceeds the number of standby servers;

e. a processor; and

f. a memory.

44. The apparatus as claimed in claim 43 wherein the data received comprises a server image.

45. The apparatus as claimed in claim 43 wherein the apparatus is remotely accessible.

46. The apparatus as claimed in claim 43 wherein the data is cleared from the storage component after the server is replaced.

47. A system for providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. one or more first servers;

b. a second server coupled to the first servers wherein the second server stores data including one or more system images received from the first servers; and

c. one or more computing devices coupled to the second server device, wherein upon receiving the data from the second server, if it is detected that one or more of the first servers are going to fail, one or more of the computing devices perform the functions of the first servers that are going to fail when the first servers fail;

wherein the second server transfers one or more of the system images to the one or more computing devices when the number of first servers fail and clears the one or more of the system images from the one or more computing devices after the number of first servers that failed have been replaced with one or more replacement servers, and further wherein the second server generates a number of virtual servers to perform functions of the failed first servers if before the generation of each of the virtual servers the one or more computing devices are unavailable, wherein the one or more computing devices are checked for availability before generating each new virtual server, wherein the second server deletes the number of virtual servers after the one or more of the failed first servers have been replaced, wherein the one or more computing devices each becomes a temporary replacement server instantaneously, wherein snapshots are taken of the one or more first servers, further wherein the frequency of the snapshots is dependent on the criticalness of the data on the one or more first servers.

48. The system as claimed in claim 47 wherein the data comprises applications that enable the functioning of the one or more first servers.

49. A method of providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. backing up data including one or more system images from one or more first servers to a second server;

b. detecting when one or more of the first servers are going to fail;

c. transferring the data from the second server to one or more computing devices when one or more of the first servers fail; and

d. serving the data utilizing one or more of the computing devices until the one or more failed first servers are replaced;

e. clearing the data from the one or more computing devices after the one or more failed first servers have been replaced,

wherein when the number of failed first servers exceeds the number of computing devices, the second server generates a number of virtual servers to perform functions of the failed first servers.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the data comprises applications that enable the functioning of the one or more first servers.

51. A system for providing network stability and data reliability, comprising:

a. one or more first servers;

b. a second server coupled to the first server wherein the second server stores data received from the first server; and

c. one or more computing devices coupled to the second server, wherein if the one or more computing devices are available to perform functions of one or more of the failed first servers, the second server causes the one or more computing devices to perform functions of a number of the first servers that have failed, and if the one or more computing devices are not available to perform functions of the one or more of the failed first servers, the second server generates a number of virtual servers to perform functions of the one or more of the failed first servers, wherein the one or more computing devices are checked for availability before generating each new virtual server, wherein the second server deletes the number of virtual servers after the one or more of the failed first servers have been replaced;

wherein the one or more computing devices each becomes a temporary replacement server instantaneously, wherein snapshots are taken of the one or more first servers, further wherein the frequency of the snapshots is dependent on the criticalness of the data on the one or more first servers.