Restore Container Creation for Backup Validation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current data protection strategies face challenges in efficiently testing and verifying backup integrity due to resource unavailability, labor-intensive skills requirements, and regulatory complexities, which hinder effective backup testing and restoration in service provider-managed models, especially in cloud environments.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for creating restore containers within a central repository that match popular infrastructure containers, utilizing virtualization and data protection technologies to maintain a repository of backup test containers, allowing for on-demand restoration and incremental updates, thereby simplifying and automating the backup testing process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual backup testing is performed by data protection administrators, then backup integrity can be verified, but the process becomes labor-intensive and requires specialized skills that are difficult to obtain
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service backup testing through automated container orchestration. The backup testing system automatically provisions test containers, restores backup data, executes validation tests, and cleans up resources without requiring manual administrator intervention. This eliminates the need for specialized skills while maintaining verification reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-provisioning test containers and pre-configuring test environments before backup testing is needed. Containers are prepared in advance with necessary software stacks and configurations, so when backup testing occurs, the environment is already ready, eliminating the need for administrators to manually set up complex test environments.
2Reliability
If comprehensive backup testing is performed frequently, then backup validity is ensured, but resource availability becomes constrained and testing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic backup testing by scheduling test executions at optimized intervals. The orchestration system manages periodic test runs, automatically allocating resources and executing tests at predetermined times. This ensures backup validity is maintained through regular testing while preventing resource exhaustion by spacing tests appropriately.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the backup testing process into independent, parallelizable test containers. Each backup can be tested in its own isolated container environment, allowing multiple backups to be tested simultaneously without interfering with each other. This segmentation enables comprehensive testing to be performed in parallel, reducing total testing time while maintaining thorough validation.
3Measurement precision
If backup testing is performed with full resource allocation, then testing completeness is improved, but system productivity during testing periods decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates copy instances of production environments as isolated test containers. Instead of testing directly on production systems, the orchestration system provisions copy containers that replicate necessary software stacks and configurations. This allows complete testing to be performed on copies without impacting production system productivity, as tests run in isolated environments that can be created and destroyed as needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system moves backup testing from the production time dimension to a parallel testing dimension using containerization. Test containers operate in a separate dimensional space from production systems, allowing comprehensive testing to occur simultaneously with production operations. This dimensional separation enables complete testing without reducing production productivity, as both can occur in parallel without resource contention.
4Measurement precision
If a centralized repository of restore containers is maintained, then restore time objectives can be measured accurately, but infrastructure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container registry serves multiple functions: it stores container images, manages test container provisioning, tracks restore time metrics, and orchestrates test executions. By making the registry universal and multi-functional, the system avoids adding separate specialized infrastructure components. The same registry that manages container lifecycle also captures restore time measurements, achieving precise measurement without proportionally increasing infrastructure complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for creating a new restore container. A count that is determined for each unique infrastructure container of existing unique infrastructure containers is a number of instances in which a particular container type that is unique for each unique infrastructure container has been utilized. In response to both determining that the count for one unique infrastructure container is equal to or greater than a specified threshold and determining that a popular infrastructure container does not exist within a central repository that stores the existing unique infrastructure containers, the new restore container is created within the central repository by determining a most similar container of the existing restore containers whose software stack content matches, in part, software content in a first software stack of the popular infrastructure container more closely than does software content in the software stack of any other existing restore container.