Management interface for a system that provides automated, real-time, continuous data protection

• US 20060101384A1
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Fraisl, Daniel J., Hoeber, Anthony N., Sim-Tang, Siew Yong
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,913 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1873 Versioning file systems, temporal file systems, e.g. file system supporting different historic versions of files

Abstract

A data management system that protects data into a continuous object store includes a management interface having a time control. The time control allows an administrator to specify a “past” time, such as a single point or range. When the time control is set to a single point, a hierarchical display of data appears on a display exactly as the data existed in the system at that moment in the past. Preferably, the visualization includes both the structure of the hierarchy (e.g., the identity of the directories, their files, databases, and the like) and also the contents of the data objects themselves (i.e., what was in the files and databases). The time control enables the management interface to operate within a history mode in which the display provides a visual representation of a “virtual” point in time in the past during which the data management system has been operative to provide the data protection service. In addition, the management interface can be toggled to operate in a real-time mode, which provides an active view of the system data as it changes in real-time, typically driven by changes to primary storage. This real-time mode provides the user with the ability to view changes that occur to a set of data currently visible on the display screen. The interface also allows an administrator to specify and manage policy including, without limitation, how long data is retained in the management system. A policy engine enables the user to assert “temporal-based” policy over data objects.

Claims

1. A data management system, comprising:

a host driver associated with each of a set of data sources, the host driver monitoring and capturing application events and generating a continuous application-aware, data stream;

a set of nodes that share a distributed data storage, the nodes receiving and storing, as data objects, the continuous application-aware data streams generated by the host drivers, wherein the stored data objects comprise a distributed data object store; and

a display interface having a time control that enables specification of a past time and display of a representation of the distributed data object store, or a given portion thereof, as it existed at the past time.

2. The data management system as described in claim 1 wherein the time control is one of:

a linear timeline, a radial time dial, a calendar, and a search specification dialog.

3. The data management system as described in claim 1 wherein the display of the representation of the distributed data object store comprises a structure of a distributed data object store hierarchy and contents of one or more data objects at given locations in the distributed data object store hierarchy.

4. The data management system as described in claim 1 wherein the time control includes a zoom function to enable the past time to be specified at a first, coarse granularity or to a second, fine granularity.

5. The data management system as described in claim 1 wherein the display interface includes a display object, wherein selection of the display object causes the representation of the distributed data object store to switch to a current point in time.

6. The data management system as described in claim 5 wherein the display interface updates the representation of the distributed data object store in real-time as data streams generated by the host drivers are received.

7. The data management system as described in claim 5 further including the steps:

in response to selection of a given display object, displaying a set of one or more user-traversable versions of the given display object.

8. The data management system as described in claim 1 wherein the display interface includes a policy control that enables specification of a policy.

9. The data management system as described in claim 8 wherein the policy is a retention policy.

10. The data management system as described in claim 1 wherein the representation of the distributed data object store also includes contents of data objects in the distributed data object store.

11. In a data management system wherein data history of data sets are continuously generated by a set of application host drivers and stored, as a set of data objects, as a distributed data object store, the improvement comprising:

a processor;

code executable on the processor to generate a graphical user interface having a display element that enables specification of a past time; and

code executable on the processor and responsive to specification of the past time to generate a display of a representation of the distributed data object store, or a given portion thereof, as it existed at the past time.

12. The data management system as described in claim 11 wherein the display element is one of:

a linear timeline, a radial time dial, a calendar, a version link, and a search specification dialog.

13. The data management system as described in claim 11 wherein the display of the representation of the distributed data object store comprises a structure of a distributed data object store hierarchy and contents of one or more data objects at given locations in the distributed data object store hierarchy.

14. The data management system as described in claim 11 further including code executable on the processor to enable the past time to be specified at a first, coarse granularity or at a second, fine granularity.

15. The data management system as described in claim 11 further including code executable on the processor for displaying links to a set of one or more versions that existed at the past time and, responsive to selection of a link, for taken a further action with respect to a selected version.

16. A data processing system associated with a distributed data object store, comprising:

a processor;

code executable on the processor to generate a graphical user interface having a display element that enables specification of a search having a temporal constraint; and

code executable on the processor and responsive to the specification to generate a display of a representation of the distributed data object store, or a given portion thereof, as it existed at a point-in-time associated with the temporal constraint.

17. The data processing system as described in claim 16 wherein the representation of the distributed data object store also includes contents of data objects in the distributed data object store.

18. A data processing system associated with a distributed data object store, comprising:

a processor;

code executable on the processor to generate a graphical user interface having a time control that enables specification of a past time, the graphical user interface also including a display mode object having first and second positions;

code executable on the processor and responsive to specification of the past time when the display mode object is in the first position to generate a display of a representation of the distributed data object store, or a given portion thereof, as it existed at the past time; and

code executable on the processor when the display mode object is in the second position to generate a display of the representation of the distributed data object store, or a given portion thereof, a current point-in-time.

19. The data processing system as described in claim 18 wherein, when the display mode object is in the second position, the representation of the distributed data object store is updated in real-time as given data is received in the distributed data object store.

20. The data processing system as described in claim 18 further including code executable on the processor to enable specification of a retention policy.