Analyzing cloud backup service options using historical data protection activities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020410418-A1
Application number	US-201916456756-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2019
Priority date	Jun 28, 2019
Publication date	Dec 31, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Historical activity data about backups and restorations are retrieved. Description files corresponding to cloud storage providers are received. Each description file includes a name of a cloud storage provider, a catalog listing cloud service options offered by the cloud storage provider, and pricing and descriptive information for the options. The historical activity data is mapped to the cloud service options. A set of cost figures is generated based on the mapping. Each cost figure represents a cost that would have been charged to a user, based on the historical activity data, by the cloud storage provider for storing the backups and accessing the backups for the restorations. The cloud storage providers are rated using the cost figures and the rated cloud storage providers are displayed in a user interface to allow the user to select a particular cloud storage provider to which the backups are to be migrated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
retrieving historical activity data stored by a data protection advisor, the historical activity data comprising metadata about backups and restorations that were monitored by the data protection advisor for a user of the data protection advisor; receiving a plurality of description files corresponding to a plurality of cloud storage providers, each description file comprising a name of a respective cloud storage provider, a catalog listing a plurality of cloud service options offered by the respective cloud storage provider, and pricing and descriptive information for the plurality of cloud service options; mapping the historical activity data to the plurality of cloud service options offered by each of the plurality of cloud storage providers; generating a plurality of cost figures associated with the plurality of cloud storage providers based on the mapping, each cost figure representing a cost that would have been charged to the user, based on the historical activity data, by the respective cloud storage provider for storing the backups and accessing the backups for the restorations; generating a rating of the plurality of cloud storage providers using the associated cost figures; and displaying, in a user interface, the names of the plurality of cloud storage providers from the plurality of description files, and the rating to allow the user to select a particular cloud storage provider to which the backups are to be migrated.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving a first description file corresponding to a first cloud storage provider, the first description file comprising a first unit price charged by the first cloud storage provider for data storage;
receiving a second description file corresponding to a second cloud storage provider, different from the first cloud storage provider, the second description file comprising a second unit price charged by the second cloud storage provider for the data storage;
obtaining, from the historical activity data, a size of backup data stored during a period covered by the historical activity data;
multiplying, based on the mapping, the size by the first unit price to determine a first cost that would have been charged by the first cloud storage provider for storing the backup data;
multiplying, based on the mapping, the size by the second unit price to determine a second cost that would have been charged by the second cloud storage provider for storing the backup data;
comparing the first and second costs;
assigning a first score to the first cloud storage provider, and a second score to the second cloud storage provider based on the comparison; and
ranking the first and second cloud storage providers according to the first and second scores.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving a first description file corresponding to a first cloud storage provider, the first description file comprising a first unit price charged by the first cloud storage provider for data operations;
receiving a second description file corresponding to a second cloud storage provider, different from the first cloud storage provider, the second description file comprising a second unit price charged by the second cloud storage provider for the data operations;
obtaining, from the historical activity data, a count of the data operations that occurred during a period covered by the historical activity data;
multiplying, based on the mapping, the count of the data operations by the first unit price to determine a first cost that would have been charged by the first cloud storage provider for the data operations that occurred during the period;
multiplying, based on the mapping, the count of the data operations by the second unit price to determine a second cost that would have been charged by the second cloud storage provider for the data operations that occurred during the period;
comparing the first and second costs;
assigning a first score to the first cloud storage provider, and a second score to the second cloud storage provider based on the comparison; and
ranking the first and second cloud storage providers according to the first and second scores.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein a first description file corresponding to a first cloud storage provider comprises a first unit price charged by the first cloud storage provider for storing an amount of data falling within a first range, and a second unit price charged by the first cloud storage provider for storing an amount of data falling within a second range, different from the first range, and the mapping comprises:
obtaining, from the historical activity data, a size of backup data stored during a period covered by the historical activity data;
determining whether the size of the backup data falls within the first range or the second range;
when the size of the backup data falls within the first range, mapping the size of the backup data to the first unit price; and
when the size of the backup data falls within the second range, mapping the size of the backup data to the second unit price.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prompting the user to select a future time period;
reviewing the historical activity data and data retention durations for the backups to estimate a size of backup data to be stored during the future time period;
consulting a first description file comprising a first unit price charged by a first cloud storage provider for data storage; and
multiplying the estimated size of the backup data by the first unit price to forecast a cost to be charged by the first cloud storage provider.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prompting the user to assign weights to a plurality of characteristics associated with the plurality of cloud storage providers, each weight indicating a degree of importance of a characteristic to the user relative to other characteristics; and
performing weighted average calculations with the assigned weights to generate the rating.

7 . A system comprising: a processor; and memory configured to store one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
retrieving historical activity data stored by a data protection advisor, the historical activity data comprising metadata about backups and restorations that were monitored by the data protection advisor for a user of the data protection advisor; receiving a plurality of description files corresponding to a plurality of cloud storage providers, each description file comprising a name of a respective cloud storage provider, a catalog listing a plurality of cloud service options offered by the respective cloud storage provider, and pricing and descriptive information for the plurality of cloud service options; mapping the historical activity data to the plurality of cloud service options offered by each of the plurality of cloud storage providers; generating a plurality of cost figures associated with the plurality of cloud storage providers based on the mapping, each cost figure representing a cost that would have been charged to the user, based on the historical activity data, by the respective cloud storage provider for storing the backups and accessing the backups for the restorations; generating a rating of the plurality of cloud storage providers using the associated cost figures; and displaying, in a user interface, the names of the plurality of cloud storage providers from the plurality of description files, and the rating to allow the user to select a particular cloud storage provider to which the backups are to be migrated.

8 . The system of claim 7 where

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Martynov Ivan

Classifications

• G06F11/302

  where the computing system component is a software system · CPC title

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F11/1464

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F11/1451

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• G06Q10/06312 Primary

  Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling · CPC title