System and method for providing data and application continuity in a computer system

• US 9,674,268 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2012
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPS Canada Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Geminare Incorporated
• Inventors: Geist, Joshua B.
• Primary Examiner(s): KATSIKIS, KOSTAS J
• Application Number:
  US13/364,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20120198023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,951 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 709217, 709219, 714 411, 714 412, 714 63
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A system and method for providing or maintaining data and application continuity in a computer system. According to an embodiment, the system comprises a communication interface for a client system, a network layer for receiving data from the client system, a hardware infrastructure for creating instances of the client system for replicating data, and an applications module for executing one or more applications on the replicated data. According to a further aspect, the system includes a portal interface configured for providing a remote user with control, audit and other functions associated with the user'"'"'s system configuration.

Claims

1. A system for providing business continuity to a plurality of unaffiliated enterprise systems, each enterprise system comprising an enterprise server, said system comprising:

a client workstation;

a computing unit containing a processor, a memory, and a communication interface, wherein the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface, wherein the communication interface is configured to communicate with a given enterprise server, wherein the processor is configured to present a network page via the communication interface to the client workstation, and wherein the network page contains a graphical user interface (GUI) input element configured to receive a user input from the client workstation; and

a plurality of replication servers, each replication server associated with a given enterprise server, wherein the computing unit virtually hosts the replication servers, wherein each replication server is configured to operate independently of each enterprise server, wherein each replication server is configured to asynchronously receive active data from a given enterprise server over the communication interface, wherein each replication server replicates the active data in real time independently of the given enterprise server, and wherein each replication server is configurable based on the user input; and

wherein the computing unit is further configured to switch one or more of said plurality of replication servers with a corresponding one or more enterprise servers in response to a failover event.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user input includes client server and network information, wherein the processor is configured to process said client server and network information and thereby generate a server definition for said replication server corresponding to the associated client system.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the processor runs a server creation engine configured to create said replication server on a hardware virtualization platform.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the processor runs a server control engine configured to create a control system for said replication server.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said control system is configured to operate a server in at least one of a pause mode, a replication mode, or a failover mode.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said communication interface comprises a wide area network communication protocol and configured to receive said active data from the client system in said wide area network communication protocol.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the user input includes client server and network information, wherein said processor is configured to process said client server and network information and thereby generate a server definition.

8. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the processor runs a server creation engine configured to create said replication server on a hardware virtualization platform of the hardware infrastructure.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processor runs a server control engine configured to create a control system for said replication server.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the network page contains a plurality of graphical user interface elements that are configured for a plurality of user inputs from the client workstation, wherein a set of controls, an access datum, an authentication, and a setup are defined according to the user inputs to enable a remote access to the client system, and wherein the replication server is created based on a server definition generated via the user inputs.

11. A system for providing data continuity for a plurality of unaffiliated enterprise systems, each of the enterprise systems comprising one or more enterprise servers, said system comprising:

a client workstation;

a computing unit containing a processor, a memory, and a communication interface, wherein the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface, wherein the communication interface is configured to communicate with a given enterprise server, wherein the processor is configured to present a network page via the communication interface to the client workstation, and wherein the network page contains a graphical user interface (GUI) input element configured to receive a user input from the client workstation;

a hardware infrastructure included in the computing unit, coupled to the processor, and configured for virtually hosting a plurality of replication servers, wherein one or more of said replication servers correspond to the one or more enterprise servers for each of the enterprise systems, and each of said replication servers are configured to operate independently of a corresponding enterprise server; and

wherein each of the one or more enterprise systems runs a replication engine configured to replicate active data that was asynchronously received from one or more of the enterprise servers, wherein each replication engine replicates the active data to the a corresponding replication server, and wherein said corresponding replication server replicates said active data in real time independently of the enterprise server, and wherein each of the replication servers is configurable based on the user input; and

wherein the computing unit is further configured to switch one or more of said plurality of replication servers with a corresponding one or more enterprise servers in response to a failover event.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the user input includes client server and network information, wherein the processor is configured to process said client server and network information and thereby generate a service definition for said hardware infrastructure.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the processor runs a server creation engine configured to create said replication server on said hardware infrastructure.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the processor runs a server control engine configured to create a control system for said replication server.

15. The system as claimed in claim 14, wherein said control system is configured to operate a server in at least one of a pause mode, a replication mode or a failover mode.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the network page contains a plurality of graphical user interface elements that are configured for a plurality of user inputs from the client workstation, wherein a set of controls, an access datum, an authentication, and a setup are defined according to the user inputs to enable a remote access to the client system, and wherein the replication server is created based on a server definition generated via the user inputs.

17. The system as claimed in claim 11, further including:

a network infrastructure comprising one or more client networks, wherein each of said one or more client networks comprising a private network configured for access by the client workstation.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a failover engine running on the processor and configured for switching at least one of the replication servers with the corresponding one or more client servers as a response to a failover event.