Business Continuity Optimization via Template Comparison
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern data centers face challenges in effectively monitoring, validating, and verifying business continuity policies and procedures due to logistical, organizational, and technical complexities, making it difficult to determine if disaster recovery scenarios, service level agreements, and configuration drift levels are met, which can lead to inefficiencies and potential downtime.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that compare representations of computing entities and their relationships to templates, determining if the system meets established thresholds such as disaster recovery scenarios, service level agreements, or configuration drift levels, and providing notifications for adjustments to ensure optimal business continuity by clustering units based on similar characteristics using hierarchical clustering algorithms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If comprehensive monitoring and validation of all data center components is implemented, then business continuity reliability is improved, but system complexity and operational difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex data center monitoring task into distinct functional modules: a monitoring module that collects component status data, a validation module that compares actual state against templates, and a reporting module that generates compliance assessments. This segmentation allows each module to handle specific aspects of business continuity monitoring independently, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive coverage of servers, databases, and applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-defining templates that specify desired states for data center components before actual monitoring begins. These templates contain predetermined criteria for server availability, database integrity, and application performance. By establishing these reference standards in advance, the system can automatically validate current states against known good configurations, simplifying the monitoring process while ensuring reliable business continuity assessment.
2Measurement precision
If detailed validation of disaster recovery scenarios and service level agreements is performed, then measurement precision of business continuity compliance is improved, but time and computational resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous feedback loops where the monitoring module constantly collects current state data from data center components, the validation module immediately compares this data against predefined templates, and the system generates real-time compliance assessments. This automated feedback mechanism provides precise measurement of business continuity compliance without manual intervention, achieving high measurement precision while minimizing time loss through automation rather than sequential manual validation steps.
3Ease of operation
If manual monitoring and verification of business continuity policies is conducted, then operational control is maintained, but productivity and efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service automation where the monitoring system autonomously collects component status data, the validation system automatically compares actual states against templates, and the system generates compliance reports without human intervention. This self-service approach maintains operational control through automated decision-making while dramatically improving productivity by eliminating manual monitoring tasks. The system serves itself by automatically detecting compliance violations and alerting administrators, providing both ease of operation through automation and high productivity through eliminated manual labor.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and systems for optimizing business continuity in IT environments. One such method involves comparing a representation and a template. The representation represents units of computing entities, and relationships between the units of computing entities. The method determines whether a system represented by the representation meets a threshold represented by the template based on a result of the comparing, and provides a result of the determining. The threshold can established by a disaster recovery site, a service level agreement, or a configuration drift, and the result of the determining can be used to evaluate the disaster recovery site, the service level agreement, or the configuration drift.