International Business Machines Corporation

Lisa Anne Huston

David Lynn Merbach

James Patrick Smith

Duane Mark Baldwin

Gregory John Tevis

Mark L Yakushev

Daniel Graham Douglas

Michael L Lamb

William Roy Yonker

Sunil Bharadwaj

Kevin Joseph Webster

David George Derk

Allen Robert Heitman

Thomas Franklin Ramke, Jr

Raymond M Swank

Gregory John Knight

Douglas Paul Dunham

David W Groves

Paul Lawrence Bradshaw

Jason Ferris Basler

Nancy Lott Hobbs

Edward M Collins

Vinh-Thuan Nguyen-Phuc

Vincent Jomartin Hoang

Barbara J Camacho

Alireza Razzaghi Daryan

Roman David Druker

Ron H Clark

Amir Nakhforoush

Daryl Edward Mowrer

Austen M Cook

An inventory of computer resources requiring backup data protection including an estimate of future growth of storage resources along with a set of data retention policies, rules, and outcomes in conformance with business requirements, is created. An architecture for initial ingest of protected data and a backup execution approach is created, based on the resource inventory, a sizing and assumptions of resources and data, and the set of data retention policies, rules, and outcomes. An initial ingest copies the protected data to the backup storage. The initial ingest architecture is transformed to a steady-state ingest phase, by incrementally adjusting the resources based on progress of the initial ingest. Responsive to completing the initial ingest of protected data, a steady-state backup ingest is performed. A validity of the sizing and assumptions of architecture resources is determined and an adjustment to the resources is performed based on the validity determination.

Comprehensive data protection backup

Novel storage area networks (SANs) and methods of operation thereof utilize a plurality of hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units. A manager device, process or other functionality in communication with a plurality of agent processes, devices or other functionality, each of which is associated with a host. The agents identify attributes of (i) their associated hosts, (ii) interconnect to which that host is coupled, and/or (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled via the interconnect. The manager responds to these attributes identified by the agents to manage the SAN. The manager can be implemented on a first digital data processor and the hosts on further digital data processors. These digital data processors can be coupled via a first network, e.g., an IP or other network, to support communications between the manager and the agents. A second network, e.g., SCSI and/or fiber channel based fabric, separate from the first network, can be utilized as the interconnect between the hosts and the storage devices.

Storage area network methods and apparatus with centralized management

An apparatus, system, and method are provided for configuring a network feature for a network fabric. The apparatus includes an input module, a discovery module, a selection module and an assignment module. The input module receives a network feature configuration for a network fabric. The discovery module determines the network feature capabilities of each of a plurality of agents coupled to the network fabric. The selection module selects a preferred agent from the plurality of agents. The assignment module assigns the preferred agent to apply the network feature configuration to the network fabric through a management interface coupling the preferred agent to the network fabric.

Apparatus, system, and method for configuring zone control of a network feature in a heterogeneous network

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Rochester, MN, United States of America

Lisa Anne Huston