Method and system for securely capturing workloads at a live network for replaying at a test network

Abstract

Methods and system for securely capturing workloads at a live network for replaying at a test network. The disclosed system captures file system states and workloads of a live server at the live network. In one embodiment the captured data is anonymized to protect confidentiality of the data. A file system of a test server at the test network is mirrored from a captured state of the live server. An anonymized version of the captured workloads is replayed as a request to the test server. A lost or incomplete command is recreated from the states of the live server. An order of the commands during replay can be based on an order in the captured workload, or based on a causal relationship. Performance characteristics of the live network are determined based on the response to the replayed command.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for capturing real-time data at a first network to use at a second network for determining a performance characteristic of the first network, the method comprising:
 capturing, at a processing system, a series of workload commands sent from a first server of the first network;   generating, at the processing system, an instruction to perform a replay process of the workload commands by a second server of the second network;   recording, at the processing system, a final state of the first server; and   determining a degree of accuracy of the replay process by comparing a final state of the second server with the final state of the first server.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 recording, at the processing system, an initial state of the first server comprising at least a portion of data and metadata of the first server.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the capturing comprises:
 capturing, at the processing system, the series of workload commands sent from the first server at a data rate that matches a data rate at which the first server sends the series of workload commands.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the capturing comprises:
 capturing, at the processing system, a series of workload commands sent from the first server by port mirroring.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the capturing comprises:
 capturing, at the processing system, the series of workload commands sent from the first server, the workload commands comprising commands of one or more protocols of Network Filing System (NFS), Fiber Channel (FC), Common Internet File System (CIFS) and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI).   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the capturing comprises:
 capturing, at the processing system, the series of workload commands and payloads associated with the workload commands sent from the first server.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 modifying the payloads such that original contents of the payloads cannot be identified from the modified payloads.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating comprises:
 generating the instruction to perform the replay process of the workload commands by the second server of the second network, wherein the second server sends the workload commands to a test client.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving the final state of the second server after the workload commands are performed.   
     
     
         10 . A method, comprising:
 capturing real-time data of a first processing system on a first network, wherein the real-time data includes a command having a payload, and wherein the capturing is performed independently of a storage protocol used to send the command via the first network;   modifying the payload such that an original content of the payload cannot be identified from the modified payload;   sending the command and the modified payload to a second network, thereby causing the second network to replay the command and the modified payload; and   evaluating a performance characteristic of the first processing system of the first network.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein to perform the capturing of the real-time data independently of the storage protocol is to capture the real-time data irrespective of a type of storage protocol used to send the command via the first network, and wherein a type of storage protocol is selected from a group of storage protocols consisting of Fiber Channel, CIFS and iSCSI. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the first network is a live network, the second network is a test network, and the capturing is performed in such a manner that the first processing system has no knowledge of the capturing of the real-time data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 determining an initial state of the first processing system, wherein the initial state includes a copy of an original dataset of the first processing system at a time before the capturing of the real-time data; and   determining a final state of the first processing system, wherein the final state includes a copy of a final dataset of the first processing system at a time after the capturing of the real-time data.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 determining a missing or corrupted data in the final state by comparing the final dataset of the final state with the original dataset of the initial state; and   recreating the missing or corrupted data based on a portion of the original dataset of the initial state.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising verifying a response of a second processing system to a replayed command captured from the real-time data by comparing the response of the second processing system to a response determined from the captured real-time data of the first processing system. 
     
     
         16 . A processing system configured to capture real-time data at a first network to use at a second network for determining a performance characteristic of the first network, the processing system comprising:
 a processor;   a capture module configured to collect the real-time data of a first processing system on the first network, wherein the real-time data includes a command having payload data, wherein the capture module determines an initial and final state of the first processing system, and wherein the capture module operates independently of a storage protocol used by the command;   a data security module configured to generate hashed values of the payload data, the initial state and the final state; and   a replay module configured to simulate the real-time data of the first processing system by sending the command for delivery to a second processing system at the second network, the command having a hashed value of the payload data.   
     
     
         17 . The processing system of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 an analysis module configured to determine a performance characteristic of the first processing system on the first network, based on a response of the second processing system of the second network to the command for delivery to the second processing system.   
     
     
         18 . The processing system of  claim 16 , further comprising determining the performance characteristic of the first network based on a response of the second processing system to the command. 
     
     
         19 . The processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the initial state includes a copy of a portion of the payload data and associated meta data stored by the first processing system at a time before the collection of the real-time data, and wherein the final state includes a copy of data and associated meta data stored by the first processing system at a time after the collection of the real-time data. 
     
     
         20 . The processing system of  claim 19 , wherein the second processing system has a file system created from the initial state of the first processing system. 
     
     
         21 . The processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the replay module verifies an accuracy of the simulated real-time data sent for delivery to the second processing system by comparing the final state of the first processing system to a final state of the second processing system. 
     
     
         22 . The processing system of  claim 21 , wherein verifying the accuracy of the simulated real-time data includes determining an incomplete or missing original command and creating a replacement command for the incomplete or missing original command, based on data of the initial state and the final state of the first networked processing system. 
     
     
         23 . The processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the performance characteristic of the first processing system on the first network indicates that a file being requested multiple times by a client of the first processing system causes a degradation of performance of the first processing system, and wherein the performance can be improved by a cache system within the first network having the file.