Unified Backup Storage Interface Hierarchy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional backup administration systems are inefficient and require significant time and effort to manage backup storage due to the complexity of modern IT infrastructures, which often involve multiple storage servers, devices, and media, leading to disparate views that complicate understanding and management of storage situations.
Innovation Solution
The development of systems and methods that provide a unified graphical user interface displaying a collapsible hierarchy, allowing administrators to view aggregate storage capacity information and detailed insights into backup servers, storage devices, and media, facilitating transitions between big-picture and detailed views.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If traditional backup administration systems are used to manage multiple storage servers, devices, and media, then comprehensive storage information can be obtained, but the time and effort required for administrators to understand and manage the storage situation increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple disparate storage views (backup servers, storage devices, and storage media) into a single unified hierarchical view. This merging allows administrators to see all storage information in one place rather than switching between multiple views, thereby maintaining complete storage information while significantly reducing the time and effort required to manage and understand the storage situation.
2Measurement precision
If multiple separate views are provided for different storage elements, then detailed information for each element can be accessed, but the complexity of the interface increases and navigation becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the unified storage view into a hierarchical structure with backup servers at the top level, storage devices at the intermediate level, and storage media at the detailed level. This segmentation allows administrators to access detailed information for each storage element while organizing it in a structured, navigable hierarchy that reduces interface complexity compared to providing multiple separate views.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested hierarchical structure where backup servers contain storage devices, which in turn contain storage media. This nesting allows detailed information to be accessed by drilling down through levels while maintaining a simplified top-level view, thereby providing measurement precision without increasing overall interface complexity.
3Productivity
If a unified view of all storage elements is provided, then navigation efficiency improves, but the ability to display detailed information for each element may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic unified view that can be interactively expanded and collapsed. Administrators can start with a high-level overview for efficient navigation, then dynamically expand specific nodes to view detailed information about particular storage elements. This dynamic behavior allows the interface to adapt to different navigation needs, maintaining both navigation efficiency and the ability to display detailed information when required.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for providing backup storage interfaces may include (1) identifying a set of backup servers, a set of storage devices, and a set of storage media within a computing environment available to a backup system, (2) identifying a request to view storage information for the backup system, and, in response to the request, (3) displaying, within a graphical user interface, a unified list comprising the set of backup servers, the set of storage devices, and the set of storage media, and (4) displaying, within the unified list, storage capacity information relating to at least one item within the unified list. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.