US 12,346,218 B2
Coordinated data protection for multiple networking devices
Adam Brenner, Mission Viejo, CA (US); Mark Malamut, Aliso Viejo, CA (US); and Arun Murti, Mission Viejo, CA (US)
Assigned to EMC IP Holding Company LLC, Hopkinton, MA (US)
Filed by EMC IP Holding Company LLC, Hopkinton, MA (US)
Filed on Nov. 16, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/099,434.
Application 17/099,434 is a continuation in part of application No. 16/912,512, filed on Jun. 25, 2020, granted, now 11,709,967.
Prior Publication US 2021/0406131 A1, Dec. 30, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 11/14 (2006.01); G06F 21/62 (2013.01); H04L 41/0816 (2022.01); H04L 41/084 (2022.01)
CPC G06F 11/1464 (2013.01) [G06F 11/1461 (2013.01); G06F 21/6218 (2013.01); H04L 41/0816 (2013.01); H04L 41/084 (2013.01); G06F 2201/805 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method of providing coordinated data protection for a plurality of partitioned network devices, comprising:
creating a backup of each network device in a partition of a system having a plurality of partitions, wherein the backup is performed by backup software connected to a data protection network device (DPND) coordinator;
deploying the network devices as dual-homed devices having access to both an out-of-band network and a production software network through individual device port assignments, wherein the network devices each comprise at least one of: a managed switch, a router, a firewall, and a buffer;
configuring, upon a first deployment, the network devices with default day 0 settings dictating values for a plurality of parameters including the port assignments for each network device as set by a respective device vendor, wherein each network device is programmed according to respective vendor control commands, and further wherein the DPND coordinator supports the respective vendor control commands and a pluggable driver model that is configured to support a common set of backup and restore operations of the system;
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;
maintaining, in each partition managed by an individual DPND unit, a local copy of a backup policy for the backup;
authenticating, by each individual DPND unit, each network device within its respective partition;
registering changes to the default day 0 settings as configuration changes for each network device caused by normal operation of the system, and in accordance with the respective vendor control commands;
committing the changes for all of the DPND units at one time to maintain consistency among all network devices in the system through a synchronous commit operation;
backing up the configuration changes of the network devices to a protection storage device;
providing auditing and history tracking of the configuration changes;
facilitating deployment of test and development copies of the configuration changes using software defined networking;
determining, through a discovery operation, a vendor of the network equipment devices within the partition, based on a respective media access controller (MAC) address and IP address of each device, wherein the vendor is used as part of the backup policy; and
applying the backup policy to the configuration changes backed up to the protection storage device.