Emergency backup system, method and program product therefor

Details Emergency backup system, method and program product therefor Emergency backup system, method and program product therefor

1999-08-06

2002-12-17

Beausoleil, Robert (Department: 2184)

Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery

Data processing system error or fault handling

Reliability and availability

C714S013000, C714S004110, C340S003300

Reexamination Certificate

active

06496949

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to disaster recovery and, more particularly, to disaster recovery for computer systems and methods therefor.
2. Background Description
During an emergency information stored, maintained or in use on a computer may be lost. Such information may be the result of days or even weeks of work and, therefore, may be very valuable. So, surge protectors are used to protect computers from a power surge. An emergency universal power supply (UPS) may be used to avoid losing data during a power failure. An UPS provides sufficient power to keep the system running after a power failure long enough to store data in nonvolatile storage located in the computer system and, then, conduct an orderly shut down. After the power failure, the data may be recovered, reloaded onto the computer and the computer may resume operation, where it left off prior to the power failure.
However, if an emergency arises that is more severe than a power failure, such as a fire, even the data normally stored in the computer's nonvolatile storage may be lost, permanently. If the data is lost completely, it must be regenerated to recover from the emergency. Typically, regenerating the data may require redoing previously done work and so, regenerating the data may take as long as it took to generate it initially and at nearly the same cost.
Accordingly, there is a need for disaster recovery for computer systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a purpose of the invention to improve computer system disaster recovery.
The present invention is an emergency backup system, method and computer program product for backing up data on one or more computers located in a danger zone. When an emergency occurs, the computers in the danger zone are connected to a backup network The computers may be distributed at various remote locations. Protected locations are locations that include a sensor for sensing an emergency situation and signaling local computers of the pending emergency. The sensor also signals remote computers of the emergency. The computers may have been connected together over a network or, upon receiving an emergency signal, may connect together into a backup network. Local computers in the danger zone arc connected across the network to remote computers that have sufficient available storage to backup data from the connected local computers. The backup may be a full backup, a partial backup or a selective backup. The computers may include PCs, PDAs and servers. The network may be a LAN, a wireless network, a phone network or a WAN.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4514729 (1985-04-01), Szarka
patent: 5748084 (1998-05-01), Isikoff
patent: 5889935 (1999-03-01), Ofek et al.
patent: 6049578 (2000-04-01), Senechal et al.
patent: 6049874 (2000-04-01), McClain et al.
“Remote Environmental Monitor for Unattended Computer Operations”. IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin:vol. No. 32, Issue No. 9A, p. 264-266.

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