Protection status determinations for computing devices

• US 9,998,344 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2016
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eFolder, Inc.
• Original Assignee: eFolder, Inc.
• Inventors: Edwards, William Scott, Aguilera, Teresa
• Primary Examiner(s): Thieu, Benjamin M
• Application Number:
  US15/019,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20160162349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• 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 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/324 Display of status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Systems, methods, and media that provide backup protection statuses for computing devices are provided herein. Some methods may include determining a backup status for a first computing device, assigning a protection status for the first computing device based upon a comparison of the backup status and a compliance schema for the first computing device, and transmitting the protection status to a monitoring device utilized by an end user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

interrogating a replication receiver system to determine a backup status for a first computing device;

assigning a protection status to the first computing device based upon

a comparison of the backup status and a compliance schema for the first computing device, wherein the compliance schema comprises a backup interval for the first computing device based upon at least one of a time-bounded interval between backups,

a network connectivity threshold, an entitlement capacity, and a computing device workload;

monitoring a first computing device workload of the first computing device using a filter driver agent installed on the first computing device;

dynamically adjusting the backup interval when the first computing device workload is increasing or decreasing as detected by the filter driver agent; and

generating a graphical user interface that illustrates the protection status.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the protection status indicating whether backup services for the first computing device are being executed in accordance with the compliance schema.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the time-bounded threshold defines a maximum period of time in which a backup must be successfully executed before the compliance schema is considered violated.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising generating the compliance schema from user-defined thresholds.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising storing the compliance schema as a template.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising providing the template to a second client for use with a second computing device, the second client being different from a first client that owns the first computing device.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting the protection status to a monitoring device utilized by an end user to locate and determine an explanation for why the first computing device has not been backed up properly.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the backup status comprises any of network connectivity information, backup attempt information, entitlement capacity information, and any combination thereof.

9. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution by the one or more processors and when executed operable to perform operations comprising;

interrogating a replication receiver system to determine a backup status for a first computing device;

assigning a protection status to the first computing device based upon a comparison of the backup status and a compliance schema for the first computing device, wherein the compliance schema comprises a backup interval for the first computing device based upon at least one of a time-bounded interval between backups, a network-connectivity threshold, an entitlement capacity, and a computing device workload;

monitoring a first computing device workload of the first computing device using a filter driver agent on the first computing device, the filter driver agent being installed in a layer of the operating system of the first computing device and detecting write operations occurring in the operating system;

dynamically adjusting the backup interval when the first computing device workload is increasing or decreasing based on changes in the computing device workload measured by the filter driver agent; and

generating a graphical user interface that illustrates the protection status.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising applying a compliance schema to the first computing device.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising applying a custom compliance schema to the first computing device.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising transmitting an alert message when the protection status indicates that the first computing device has not been backed up according to the compliance schema.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the time-bounded threshold defines a maximum period of time in which a backup must be successfully executed before the compliance schema is considered violated.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising selectively modifying the compliance schema using dynamic thresholds.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising storing the compliance schema as a template.

16. The system according to claim 15, further comprising providing the template to a second client for use with a second computing device, the second client being different from a first client that owns the first computing device.

17. A method, comprising:

interrogating a replication receiver system to determine a backup status for each of a plurality of computing devices;

assigning a protection status to each of the plurality of computing devices based upon a comparison of the backup status for each of the plurality of computing devices and a compliance schema for each of the plurality of computing devices,

wherein the compliance schema comprises a backup interval for each of the plurality of computing devices based upon at least one of a time-bounded interval between backups, a network-connectivity threshold, an entitlement capacity, and a computing device workload, and

wherein if an insufficient amount of backup data is received by the replication receiver system when compared to a backup interval in a compliance schema, a computing device of the plurality of computing devices associated with the insufficient amount of backup data is assigned a protection status of non-compliant;

sorting the plurality of computing devices into groups according to their protection statuses;

generating a graphical user interface that includes one or more lists that comprise the plurality of computing devices which have been sorted according to their protection statuses; and

automatically taking a predetermined action with respect to at least one of the plurality of computing devices in the one or more lists based upon the protection statuses.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the predetermined action comprises:

determining whether or not backup services for the plurality of computing devices are being executed in accordance with the assigned compliance schema established for the plurality of computing devices; and

transmitting alert messages to a monitoring device when the backup services are not being executed in accordance with the assigned compliance schema.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising transmitting the alert message to the monitoring device via at least one of an SMS message and an email.