Method for controlling changes of replication directions in a multi-site disaster recovery environment for high available application

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of controlling the replication status and direction of a storage device in accordance to its availability state. This overall situation of the storage device is being related to the availability state of applications which have a viable dependency to the storage device

1 . A method for processing a disaster recovery setup using a policy-based automation engine controlling at least two sites of a computing environment, the method comprising:
 stopping a running of an application resource of a first site of the at least two sites from accessing a storage device of the first site, each of the at least two sites comprising a server with an application resource and a storage device for storing data of the application resource;   bringing to a stop a running of a replication resource, the replication resource configured to control a replication of data between the storage device on the first site on which data from the running application resource on the first site are stored to the storage device on the second site;   submitting a replication request to the automation engine for changing a replication direction to run from the second site to the first site; and   starting the application resource on the second site only after changing the replication direction to start from the storage device on the second site instead of from the storage device of the first site.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the automation engine is goal-driven by prioritizing requests on the application resources and the replication resource such that the resource replication request for changing the replication direction is given the highest priority. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the automation engine is event-driven by receiving events from controlled resources at a change of status to determine a final state of the application resources and the replication resource. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising the step of running the replication resource during the step of starting the application resource on the second site. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the application resource is defined with corresponding state of availability and relationship rules for constraints between the application resources of each site. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the replication resource is defined by an availability state and a replication direction state, the availability state and the replication direction state both being updated within the automation engine. 
     
     
         7 . A computer system for a disaster recovery setup comprising:
 at least two sites each including a server having an application resource and a storage device for storing data of the application resource, each of the application resources being defined with corresponding state of availability and relationship rules for constraints between the application resources, the computer system being controlled by a policy-based automation engine; and   a replication resource controlling a replication of data between the storage device of a first site on which data from a running application resource of the first site are stored to the storage device on a second site, the replication resource being defined by an availability state and a replication direction state, both the availability state and the replication direction state being updated within the automation engine and being defined by relationship rules between the replication resource and the application resources controlled by the automation engine to perform a change of replication direction after bringing to a stop the running application resource of the first site accessing the storage device of the first site, then bringing to a stop the running replication resource, and allowing a start of an application resource on the second site only after changing replication direction to start from the storage device of the second site towards a storage device on the first site while a submission to the automation engine of a replication request for changing the replication direction from one site to another site is executed by the automation engine taking into account the relationship rules.   
     
     
         8 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein the automation engine is goal-driven by prioritizing requests on the application resources and the replication resource such that the resource replication request for changing the replication direction is given the highest priority. 
     
     
         9 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein the automation engine is event-driven by receiving events from the resources at a change of status to determine final state of the application resources and the replication resource. 
     
     
         10 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , further comprising a processor in communication with each site and configured to run the automation engine. 
     
     
         11 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein the first site comprises a production site. 
     
     
         12 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein the second site comprises a backup site. 
     
     
         13 . The computer system according to  claim 7 , wherein each application resource further comprises a data processing server. 
     
     
         14 . The computer system according to  claim 13 , wherein each application resource further comprises a processor configured to run an application. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product for processing a disaster recovery setup using a policy-based automation engine controlling at least two sites of a computer system, the computer program product including a computer usable medium comprising:
 computer code for stopping a running application resource of a first site of the at least two sites from accessing a storage device of the first site, each of the at least two sites comprising a server with an application resource and a storage device for storing data of the application resource;   computer code for bringing to a stop a running of a replication resource, the replication resource configured to control a replication of data between the storage device on the first site on which data from the running application resource on the first site are stored to the storage device on the second site;   computer code for submitting a replication request to the automation engine for changing a replication direction to run from the second site to the first site; and   computer code starting the application resource on the second site only after changing replication direction to start from a storage device on the second site instead of from the storage device of the first site.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for prioritizing requests on the application resources and the replication resource such that the resource replication request for changing the replication direction is given the highest priority. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for receiving events from controlled resources at a change of status to determine final state of the application resources and the replication resource. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for running the replication resource while the application resource is running on the second site. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product according to  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for associating the application resource with corresponding state of availability and relationship rules for constraints between the application resources of each site. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product according to  claim 15 , further comprising computer code for associating the replication resource with an availability state and a replication direction state, the availability state and the replication direction state both being updated within the automation engine.