Selective monitoring of archive and backup storage

• US 9,563,529 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2015
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patil, Sandeep R., Shiraguppi, Riyazahamad M., Sivakumar, Gandhi, Terry, Matthew A., Trevathan, Matthew B.
• Primary Examiner(s): KUDIRKA, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US14/715,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20150254156A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3096 wherein the means or processing minimize the use of computing system or of computing system component resources, e.g. non-intrusive monitoring which minimizes the probe effect: sniffing, intercepting, indirectly deriving the monitored data from other directly available data

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing information security in a network environment. The method includes receiving a user selection of a data section recorded on a storage system. The method further includes determining a monitoring routine for the data section. The method further includes determining a physical location at which the data section is recorded in the storage system. The method further includes monitoring the physical location for faults according to the monitoring routine.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

presenting, by a computer device, a graphic-user interface that displays a plurality of data sections included on a storage system in a hierarchical structure, wherein the storage system comprises a plurality of hard disk drives;

receiving, by the computer device, a user selection of a data section from the displayed plurality of data sections;

determining, by the computer device, a monitoring routine for the data section;

determining, by the computer device, a physical location at which the data section is recorded in the storage system; and

monitoring, by the computer device, the physical location for faults according to the monitoring routine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the physical location comprises determining a block and a sector of at least one of the plurality of hard disk drives at which the data section is recorded.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using predefined rules and parameters to automatically select information included on a storage system; and

receiving confirmation of the automatic selection by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining monitoring information for the selected data section, wherein the monitoring information includes:

an identifier;

a level of importance;

the monitoring routine;

a storage device identifier; and

a physical location of the selected data section.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifier describes a type of data being protected.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the level of importance is a value assigned by the user that indicates a relative importance of the selected data section.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the monitoring routine defines at least one of an interval and an event that triggers monitoring of the selected data section.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the monitoring routine comprises receiving a selection of the monitoring routine from the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the monitoring routine comprises:

receiving an importance level from the user; and

determining the monitoring routine based on the importance level.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring routine is based on a number of events.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the physical location for faults comprises measuring a parameter of the physical location, the parameter being one of:

bit error rate, magnetic signal strength, temperature, vibration, and read error rate.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the physical location for faults comprises:

measuring a fault parameter at the physical location;

determining whether the fault parameter exceeds a threshold; and

initiating corrective action when the fault parameter exceeds the threshold.

13. A system for selective monitoring of stored information, comprising:

a configuration module;

a monitoring apparatus; and

a storage system including a plurality of hard disk drives,

wherein,

the configuration module presents a graphic-user interface that displays a plurality of data sections included on the storage system in a hierarchical structure;

the configuration module receives a user selection of a data section from the displayed plurality of data sections;

the configuration module determines a monitoring routine for the user-selected data section;

the configuration module determines a physical location at which the user-selected data section is recorded in the storage system;

the monitoring apparatus receives the monitoring routine and the physical location from the configuration module; and

the monitoring apparatus monitors the physical location for faults according to the monitoring routine.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the configuration module determines the monitoring routine by receiving a selection of the monitoring routine from a user.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the determining the physical location comprises determining a block and a sector of at least one of the plurality of hard disk drives at which the data section is recorded.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

using predefined rules and parameters to automatically select information included on a storage system; and

receiving confirmation of the automatic selection by the user.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising determining monitoring information for the selected data section, wherein the monitoring information includes:

an identifier;

a level of importance;

the monitoring routine;

a storage device identifier; and

a physical location of the selected data section.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the identifier describes a type of data being protected;

the level of importance is a value assigned by the user that indicates a relative importance of the selected data section; and

the monitoring routine defines at least one of an interval and an event that triggers monitoring of the selected data section.

19. A computer program product for selective monitoring of stored information, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer readable hardware storage devices;

program code, stored on at least one of the one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, to determine a plurality of user-selected data sections recorded in a storage system by;

presenting a graphic-user interface that displays a plurality of data sections included on the storage system in a hierarchical structure; and

receiving a selection of the plurality of user-selected data sections from the displayed plurality of data sections;

program code, stored on at least one of the one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, to determine a respective monitoring routine for each respective one of the plurality of user-selected data sections;

program code, stored on at least one of the one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, to determine physical locations of the storage system at which the plurality of user-selected data sections are recorded in the storage system; and

program code, stored on at least one of the one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, to monitor the physical locations for faults based on the respective monitoring routines.