Instant Data Center Recovery via Network State Snapshot
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for enterprise backup and disaster recovery in data centers are inadequate in recreating the exact network and storage configurations of the original data center, leading to incomplete or inefficient recovery processes.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that create backup images of computers as snapshots, including network connection state information, which are then loaded as virtual machines in a cloud environment to recreate the network connections and storage configurations, allowing for the restoration of a functional equivalent of the data center.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional backup methods are used to create backup images, then backup creation is simple, but network connection state information is lost during recovery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by collecting network connection state information from metadata collection agents before the backup image is created. This pre-collection ensures that when recovery occurs, the network connection information is already available and can be immediately applied to restore network connectivity, eliminating the information loss that would otherwise occur with traditional backup methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the backup system into distinct functional components: backup image creation, metadata collection (separate from the backup image), and network state preservation. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally while working together to solve the overall problem of preserving network connection state information during backup and recovery.
2Reliability
If complete data center recovery is attempted, then recovery completeness is improved, but recovery time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-collecting and preserving network connection state information during the backup process. When recovery is needed, this pre-preserved information can be immediately applied without requiring time-consuming network discovery or configuration, thus achieving complete recovery without proportionally increasing recovery time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a copy of the network connection state information and stores it alongside the backup image. This copy enables rapid restoration of network connectivity during recovery by simply applying the copied state information, rather than reconstructing network configurations from scratch, thereby maintaining recovery completeness while reducing recovery time.
3Measurement precision
If network connection state information is collected and stored with backup images, then recovery accuracy is improved, but data storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates compact copies of network connection state information and stores them with backup images. These copies are sufficient for accurate recovery without requiring storage of entire network configurations or redundant data, thus improving recovery accuracy while minimizing the increase in data storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the essential network connection state information needed for recovery and separates it from the full backup image. This extraction approach ensures that only the critical data required for accurate recovery is stored, avoiding unnecessary storage overhead while maintaining high recovery accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
Facility for providing backup and restore of all data center components including physical machines, virtual machines, routers, networks, sub-networks, switches, firewall, directory lookup, DNS, DHCP and internet access. Virtual or physical machines are associated to data center components and a software defined network, storage, and compute infrastructure is provided.