Visual mapping of protection status for networking devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12229019-B2
Application number	US-202217710814-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2022
Priority date	Jun 25, 2020
Publication date	Feb 18, 2025
Grant date	Feb 18, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments are described for a method and system of applying data protection software mechanisms to network devices to auto-discover the networking equipment, save changes from memory (TCAM) to local storage, backup changes to protection storage, provide auditing and tracking history of changes, and provide the ability to deploy test/development copies of changes using software defined networking techniques. Embodiments include an efficient visual mapping aspect provided through a GUI to display the topography and backup/protection configuration of network devices in a system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of providing data protection for a plurality of partitioned network equipment devices, comprising:
creating a backup of each network device in a system, wherein the backup is performed by backup software connected to a data protection network device (DPND) coordinator;
pushing, from the DPND coordinator, one or more backup policies to individual DPND units for the network devices within the partition to provide a consistent-state backup of the network devices for backup of the configuration changes of the network devices to a protection storage device;
determining a location, a protection status, a connectivity characteristic, and a health status of each device in the system; and
displaying, in a visual mapping graphical user interface (GUI), an icon for each device relative to other devices based on the respective device location, a visual characteristic of the icon for each device based on a respective protection status, a connector from the icon to other connected devices based on the respective device connectivity characteristic, and a health indicator for each device based on a respective health status.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the GUI comprises a two-dimensional table indicating latitude and longitude information for each device, and further wherein the rows of the table provide the latitude information and the columns of the table provide the longitude information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the protection status for each device indicates whether the device has been fully, partially, or not backed up by the created backup operation, and further wherein the visual characteristic of the icon comprises one of a color of the icon, a shading pattern of the icon, or a shape of the icon.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein connections between directly or indirectly coupled devices are shown through line connectors.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the connections are determined through at least one of static routing information, dynamic routing information, peers and neighbor information, and VLAN information for each device relative to the other devices.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein each connector from the device to the other devices is displayed to reflect the device connectivity characteristic through a visual representation of the connector, and further wherein the device connectivity characteristic comprises at least one of a link speed, maximum transmission unit (MTU), device latency, and device bandwidth.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the visual representation of the connector comprises at least one of a line thickness, color, or pattern.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the respective health status is provided as a percentage metric derived from factors including: software version, device age, and sensor health.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the respective health status is displayed in a text window associated with the respective device icon.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the GUI display shows a Point-in-Time (PIT) view of the current device configuration, backup status, topographic mapping, and connectivity, and wherein the GUI includes a mechanism allowing a user to change the PIT along a time continuum to a point in the past.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein each device icon represents a plurality of devices in a location, and wherein the GUI includes nested GUI layers to provide different points of view, such that selecting on a first device icon dynamically reloads the table to show a network map view a next level of devices.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the data protection comprises protection software executed in a production software system, and each device represented by an icon comprises an out-of-band device coupled to other network equipment devices through a network implementing out-of-band protocols, and wherein the network equipment device is an interface device comprising one of: a managed switch, a router, a firewall, and a buffer.

13. A computer-implemented method of indicating a data protection status for a network of devices, comprising:
determining a location, a protection status, a connectivity characteristic, and a health status of each device in the system;
constructing a two-dimensional table indicating latitude and longitude information for each device, wherein the rows of the table provide the latitude information and the columns of the table provide the longitude information; and
displaying, in a visual mapping graphical user interface (GUI) and through the table, an icon for each device relative to other devices based on the respective device location, a visual characteristic of the icon for each device based on a respective protection status, a connector from the icon to other connected devices based on the respective device connectivity characteristic, and a health indicator for each device based on a respective health status.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the protection status for each device indicates whether the device has been fully, partially, or not backed up by the created backup operation, and further wherein the visual characteristic of the icon comprises one of a color of the icon, a shading pattern of the icon, or a shape of the icon.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein connections between directly or indirectly coupled devices are shown through line connectors, and wherein the connections are determined through at least one of static routing information, dynamic routing information, peers and neighbor information, and VLAN information for each device relative to the other devices, and yet further wherein each connector from the device to the other devices is displayed to reflect the device connectivity characteristic through a visual representation of a line thickness, color or pattern of the connector, and further wherein the device connectivity characteristic comprises at least one of a link speed, maximum transmission unit (MTU), device latency, and device bandwidth.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the respective health status is provided as a percentage metric derived from factors including: software version, device age, and sensor health, and further wherein the respective health status is displayed in a text window associated with the respective device icon.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the GUI display shows a Point-in-Time (PIT) view of the current device configuration, backup status, topographic mapping, and connectivity, and wherein the GUI includes a mechanism allowing a user to change the PIT along a time continuum to a point in the past.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein each device icon represents a plurality of devices in a location, and wherein the GUI includes nested GUI layers to provide different points of view, such that selecting on a first device icon dynamically reloads the table to show a network map view a next level of devices.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the data protection comprises protection software executed in a production software system, and each device represented by an icon comprises an out-of-band device coupled to other network equipment devices through a network implementing out-of-band protocols, and wherein the network equipment device is an interface device comprising one of: a managed switch, a router, a firewall, and a buffer, the method further comprising:
creating a backup of each network device in a system, wherein the backup is performed by backup software connected to a data protection network device (DPND) coordinator; and
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Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Murti Arun
• Brenner Adam
• Malamut Mark
• Anand Vijay

Classifications

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06F11/3051

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs (verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247) · CPC title

• G06F11/3006

  where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50) · CPC title

• G06F11/1464 Primary

  for networked environments · CPC title