Scheduled recovery in a data protection system

• US 9,904,606 B1
• Filed: 06/26/2013
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Jauhal, Shern S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim
• Application Number:
  US13/927,432
• Time in Patent Office: 1,707 Days
• Field of Search: 707654, 707674
• 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 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

Systems and methods for scheduling a recovery operation for a host. A user interface is displayed and a recovery operation is configured. Configuration information for the recovery operation is stored and associated with a schedule that is also set via the user interface. The recovery operation may be an ad hoc recovery operation, a periodic recovery operation, and/or a validating recovery operation.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling a recovery operation to recover data in a system that includes multiple hosts, wherein different types of data stored in the system are backed up using different client backup modules, the method comprising:

displaying a user interface on a device;

selecting a host for the recovery operation in the user interface;

coordinating with a backup service to identify a client backup module that backed up the host in order to determine a manner in which data of the host was backed up by the client backup module;

coordinating with the backup service to select a recovery module from among multiple recovery modules based on the client backup module used in backing up the data of the host and based on circumstances of the host to which the data is being recovered by the recovery operation;

retrieving the recovery module from the backup service;

displaying the workflow in the user interface, wherein input into the workflow to configure the recovery operation is stored as persistent data by the backup server, wherein the workflow is adapted by the selected and retrieved recovery module to dynamically account for the manner in which the data was backed up by the client backup module and the circumstances of the host, wherein a portion of the workflow is common to recovery operations of different data types;

scheduling the recovery operation such that the recovery operation is performed according to a schedule, wherein the schedule is associated with the persistent data and the recovery operation is performed in accordance with the schedule and the persistent data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling the recovery operation includes scheduling an ad hoc recovery operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling the recovery operation includes scheduling a periodic recovery operation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein scheduling a periodic recovery operation includes a relative date for each recovery operation in the periodic recovery operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling the recovery operation includes scheduling a validating recovery operation to validate the recovered data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising performing heuristics on the recovered data to validate the recovered data.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the validating recovery operation includes an ad hoc recovery operation or a periodic recovery operation.

8. In a system that includes multiple hosts, wherein different types of data stored in the system are backed up using different backup modules, a storage device having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors of a computing system, implement a method for scheduling a recovery operation for a host, the method comprising:

selecting data to be recovered and selecting a host as a destination for the data;

coordinating with a backup service to identify a client backup module used to backup the selected data

coordinating with the backup service to select a recovery module from among multiple recovery modules maintained by the backup service based on the identified client backup module and based on circumstances of the host to which the data is being recovered during the scheduled recovery operation;

retrieving the recovery module from the backup service;

displaying a user interface on a device, wherein the user interface enables the recovery operation of the selected data to be configured and wherein the user interface includes a workflow for the recovery operation;

adapting the workflow by the selected recovery module when presenting the workflow in the user interface using the recovery module retrieved from the backup service to account for a manner in which the data was backed up by the client backup module;

displaying the adapted workflow on the device;

configuring the recovery operation using input received in the workflow through the user interface, wherein the input is stored as persistent data;

storing the persistent data in a storage device;

scheduling the recovery operation in a schedule, wherein the schedule is associated with the persistent data; and

performing the recovery operation by restoring the data to the host in accordance with both the schedule and the persistent data.

9. The storage device of claim 8, wherein scheduling the recovery operation includes scheduling an ad hoc recovery operation that is performed a single time.

10. The storage device of claim 9, wherein scheduling the recovery operation includes scheduling a periodic recovery operation.

11. The storage device of claim 10, wherein scheduling a periodic recovery operation includes a relative date for each recovery operation in the periodic recovery operation.

12. The storage device of claim 11, wherein the relative date for each recovery operation in the periodic recovery operation is determined according to a date on which the associated recovery operation is performed.

13. The storage device of claim 9, wherein scheduling the recovery operation includes scheduling a validating recovery operation to validate the recovered data.

14. The storage device of claim 12, the method further comprising performing heuristics on the recovered data to validate the recovered data.

15. The storage device of claim 13, wherein performing heuristics includes performing one or more of:

comparing a size of the recovered data with an anticipated size of the recovered data; and

accessing a portion of the recovered data to determine if the portion of the recovered data is readable.

16. The storage device of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises performing the scheduled recovery operation.

17. The storage device of claim 9, wherein the device is the host and wherein the host is the destination of the recovered data.

18. In a system that includes multiple hosts, wherein different types of data stored in the system are backed up using different client backup modules, a computing device comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one module stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the module configured to configure a recovery operation to recover data, the module including;

an agent;

a user interface component; and

a scheduler;

wherein the user interface component is operable to generate a user interface that presents a workflow and is configured to cooperate with a backup service to identify a client backup module that backed up the data and to determine a manner in which the data was backed up,

wherein the backup service maintains a plurality of recovery modules and wherein the user interface component coordinates with the backup service to select and retrieve a recovery module from the backup service that is associated with the client backup module,

wherein the workflow is configured to generate configuration information for the recovery operation by receiving input,

wherein the workflow is adapted in the user interface by the selected and retrieved recovery module based on the client backup module that backed up the data such that the workflow accounts account for the manner in which the data was backed up by the client backup module and for circumstances of the host to which the data is being recovered by the recovery operation,

wherein the agent cooperates with the workflow presented in the user interface to perform tasks related to configuring the recovery operation, and

wherein the scheduler is responsive to input to generate a schedule for the recovery operation, wherein the schedule is associated with the configuration information,

wherein the agent performs the recovery operation in accordance with the schedule and the configuration information, and

wherein the schedule includes a validation schedule to check results of the recovery operation.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the schedule for the recovery operation is one of an ad hoc recovery operation, a periodic recovery operation, and a validating recovery operation.

20. The computing device of claim 19,

wherein the periodic recovery operation includes setting a relative date that is based on a date on which each recovery operation in the periodic recovery operation is performed, and

wherein the validating recovery operation includes performing heuristics to validate the recovered data.