Abstract:
A method for assessing the risk and cost for data loss and disaster recovery (DR) plans includes providing an application having a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising first and second windows arranged adjacent to each other. The first window comprises a catalog of components used to generate data disaster recovery (DR) configurations and the second window displays the generated DR configurations. A first DR configuration is generated in the second window and components are added to the first DR configuration by dragging and dropping components from the catalog into appropriate locations of the second window. Metrics for the first DR configuration are calculated and reported in the second window. A second configuration is also similarly generated in the second window and the metrics results are graphically compared to each other.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/057,638 filed on May 30, 2008 and entitled METHOD FOR DATA DISASTER RECOVERY ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING which is commonly assigned and the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a computer implemented method for assessing the risk and cost for data loss, assessing the cost for data disaster recovery plans and selecting a data disaster recovery plan based on selected risk level and recovery cost. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]    Most businesses and organizations depend and rely upon various types of data for performing their operations. Typical business data include manufacturing operations data, manufacturing equipment data, manufacturing process data, research and development data, business financial data, financial transactions data, booking and reservations data, sales and marketing data, customer records, member or client specific records, legal, administrative and personnel related data and security data, among others. These data are usually stored in storage devices including servers, magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, or paper documents. 
         [0004]    Data loss or interruption in the availability of the data for a period of time pose a significant risk in the operation of any business or organization. The process, policies and procedures of restoring operations critical to the resumption of business is called business continuity. A subset of business continuity is disaster recovery (DR). Disaster recovery includes regaining access to data (records, hardware, software, among others), communications (incoming, outgoing, phone, fax, Internet, e-mail, among others), workspace and other business processes after a disaster. DR planning includes data back-up and recovery solutions. DR planning is a needed process for any business or organization. 
         [0005]    Furthermore, in many industries regulatory requirements exist for data back-up and recovery. In particular, in the banking and brokerage industries the SEC has introduced remote off-site data replication requirements and data recovery time limits. The US Department of Health and Human Services enacted the Health Insurance and Portability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) that mandates data availability requirements to ensure that information is available at all times. Associated with data loss are also security related threads and violations of personal financial or sensitive government or business data. 
         [0006]    Understanding the need for disaster recovery is only the first step in the process. Equally important is determining the right data back-up and recovery strategy for a business. Many of the disaster recovery solutions are expensive, require specific technical expertise and dedicated technical personnel and equipment, are technologically complicated to implement, and in some cases time consuming and disruptive to the business information technology (IT) infrastructure and services. 
         [0007]    Developing and selecting an appropriate and cost effective disaster recovery solution is a time consuming and complicated process. Accordingly, there is a need for a method that balances the risk and cost associated with data loss with the effectiveness and cost of the proposed disaster recovery solution. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]    In general, in one aspect, the invention features a computer implemented method for assessing and planning data disaster recovery (DR) including providing an application stored in memory and comprising instructions executable by a processor. Execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to perform operations including the following. Providing a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising first and second windows arranged adjacent to each other. The first window comprises a catalog of components used to generate data disaster recovery (DR) configurations and the second window displays the generated DR configurations. Next, generating a first DR configuration in the second window and then adding components to the first DR configuration by dragging and dropping components from the catalog into appropriate locations of the second window. Next, calculating metrics for the first DR configuration and reporting and displaying the first DR configuration metrics results in the second window. 
         [0009]    Implementations of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The computer implemented method may further include generating a second DR configuration in the second window and adding components to the second DR configuration by dragging and dropping components from the catalog into appropriate locations of the second window. Next, calculating metrics for the second DR configuration and reporting and displaying the second DR configuration metrics results in the second window. Finally, comparing the first and second DR configuration metrics results in the second window. The components include sites, arrays, workloads and processes. The metrics include capital expenses, annual operating expenses, time to recovery, expected annual cost of downtime, expected annual cost of data loss, data reliability and uptime. The metrics results are presented as graphics or text. Each of the sites comprises configurable parameters for name, address, description, purchase cost, operating cost, average unscheduled downtime per year, disaster frequency, mean time between major disasters, and network reliability. Each of the arrays comprises configurable parameters for name, purchase cost, operating cost, volumes, capacity, storage type, ratings and processes. Each of the workloads comprises configurable parameters including name, restart time, recovery time, update rate, data value, volumes, cost of downtime and processes. Each of the processes comprises configurable parameters for name, data backup type, data backup frequency, operating cost, purchase cost, buffer size, mirror type, space efficiency and data backup policies. The method may further include adding a new a component to the catalog by transferring a component configured in any of the DR configurations from the second window to the first window. 
         [0010]    In general, in another aspect, the invention features a system for assessing and planning data disaster recovery (DR) for an entity including a processor, memory coupled to the processor and an application stored in the memory and comprising instructions executed by the processor. The application includes a graphical user interface comprising first and second windows arranged adjacent to each other. The first window comprises a catalog of components used to generate data disaster recovery (DR) configurations and the second window displays the generated DR configurations. The application also includes means for generating a first DR configuration in the second window, means for adding components to the first DR configuration by dragging and dropping components from the catalog into appropriate locations of the second window, means for calculating metrics for the first DR configuration and means for reporting and displaying the first DR configuration metrics results in the second window. 
         [0011]    In general, in another aspect, the invention features a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations including providing a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising first and second windows arranged adjacent to each other. The first window comprises a catalog of components used to generate data disaster recovery (DR) configurations and the second window displays the generated DR configurations. The operations further include generating a first DR configuration in the second window, adding components to the first DR configuration by dragging and dropping components from the catalog into appropriate locations of the second window, calculating metrics for the first DR configuration and reporting and displaying the first DR configuration metrics results in the second window. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is an overview diagram of a disaster recovery system; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a method for disaster recovery assessment and planning according to the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a screenshot of the DR assessment and planning application depicting a comparison of an existing DR configuration with a proposed DR configuration; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a screenshot of the DR assessment and planning application depicting a detailed view of the proposed configuration of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a screen diagram of the starting window of the DR assessment and planning application; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting adding a new configuration; 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the new (existing) configuration; 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the central office site of the existing configuration of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the arrays of the central office site of  FIG. 8 ; 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the workloads of the configuration of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting adding a volume to the workload of  FIG. 10 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting cloning the volume of  FIG. 1  and adding eleven cloned volumes to the workload of  FIG. 10 ; 
           [0024]      FIG. 13  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the workload of  FIG. 10  with the added volumes of  FIG. 12 ; 
           [0025]      FIG. 14  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the existing configuration and its components; 
           [0026]      FIG. 15  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting copying the existing configuration and creating an existing+backup configuration; 
           [0027]      FIG. 16  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting adding processes to the existing+backup configuration; 
           [0028]      FIG. 17  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting the details of the added processes to the existing+backup configuration; 
           [0029]      FIG. 18  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting adding a new site and arrays to the existing+backup configuration; 
           [0030]      FIG. 19  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting adding a new policy to the existing+backup configuration; 
           [0031]      FIG. 20  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting a the existing+backup configuration and its components; 
           [0032]      FIG. 21  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting a graphical comparison of the existing configuration and the existing+backup configuration; 
           [0033]      FIG. 22  is a screen diagram of the DR assessment and planning application depicting creating and adding a customized component to the catalog window. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0034]    Disaster recovery (DR) solutions include local and remote data replication, data tape backup/archiving and restoration and Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) solutions. Data replication/mirroring involves copying company data normally stored in a primary storage device onto secondary (“mirror”) storage devices. Referring to  FIG. 1 , disaster recovery system  100  provides local and remote data replication and includes a primary storage device  120  and secondary (“mirror”) storage devices  130 ,  140 ,  150 . The secondary storage devices is located locally  150  within the company location A or is a remote storage device  130 ,  140  located at a remote company location B or at a third party&#39;s location C, respectively. Secondary remote storage devices  130 ,  140  are connected to the primary storage device  120  via a network  90 . Each storage device  120 ,  130 ,  140 ,  150  is also connected to one or more computing devices  110 ,  112 ,  114 . If the primary storage device  120  should fail, data on any of the secondary storage devices  130 ,  140 ,  150  is immediately promoted to primary status and brought online. Data replication/mirroring is a continuous process that begins by establishing a complete copy of data at risk at the disaster recovery site, i.e., the location of the secondary storage device. With that copy as a baseline, the replication process continues, recording any changes to data and forwarding those changes to update the secondary storage site. An important parameter in the recovery process is the time-to-recovery (TTR), defined as the time it takes to recover the data. Quick TTR is an important requirement in the disaster recovery solutions. 
         [0035]    In the data replication/mirroring the “mirror” storage device is updated in parallel with the primary storage device, providing a real-time or near real-time copy of the primary storage device. Local mirroring provides the first level of data protection with a mirror storage device  150  attached to the host machine  120  located at the primary company site A. In the event of data loss on the primary storage device  120 , the data are retrieved seamlessly from the mirror storage device  150 . There are two types of mirroring techniques that may be used over a network connection  90  to establish a copy of the primary site data, synchronous or asynchronous. In the synchronous mirroring, each write transaction to the primary storage device  120  is sent to the remote mirror storage device  130  and the application cannot continue until that transmission is acknowledged from the remote location. The synchronous mirroring process depends on the network  90  connection bandwidth (speed) and the distance between the primary  110  and secondary sites  112 ,  114 . Synchronous mirroring solutions provide maximum data protection at the expense of degraded primary site performance and reduced network throughput on the link to the DR center  110 . In the asynchronous mirroring multiple writes are transmitted without waiting for individual acknowledgments. Asynchronous mirroring has minimal impact on performance and offers the additional benefit of “near real-time” availability of data. The online standby of data is only a few writes behind the primary site. A special asynchronous mirroring process is the asynchronous batched mirroring whereby data are transmitted in batches at predetermined time intervals. In one example, network connection  90  is the Internet. In other examples, the network connection  90  may be a phone network, a cable network, or other wireless or a wired networks. The primary and secondary storage devices and computing platforms are not required to have the same characteristics. 
         [0036]    Data tape backup/archiving and restoration refers to copying data on physical tapes or other physical storage media and storing of the physical tapes/storage media in both local and remote vaults. Many companies follow the practice of sending their physical tapes to a remote storage facility (possibly operated by a third party) after a certain time period has elapsed. It is convenient for companies to have very recent tapes available locally, so as to quickly recover specific files in the case of user error. However, keeping all of their tapes locally represents a major risk. 
         [0037]    RAID refers to combining multiple small, inexpensive disk drives into an array of disk drives and spreading data across this array of disk drives, using techniques such as disk striping (RAID Level 0) and disk mirroring (RAID level 1) to achieve redundancy, lower latency and/or higher bandwidth for reading and/or writing, and recoverability from hard-disk crashes. 
         [0038]    Other DR solutions include online data replication and near-line archiving, whereby disks are used as backups or archives for disk-to-disk backup, virtual tape library (VTL) and data deduplication, among others. Online data replication and recovery solutions continue to gain significant market adoption. They provide a cost effective and efficient data protection for a given recovery time, i.e., minimally acceptable time to recover from a loss and a given recovery point i.e., minimally acceptable data loss, objectives while solving the problem of backup and recovery, offsite data protection and the significant IT management that goes with each of those tasks. 
         [0039]    In summary, there are too many options for DR available and the process of selecting an efficient and cost effective DR solution is confusing and time consuming. Accordingly, there is a need for a method for selecting an efficient and cost effective DR solution that fits the specific requirements of each business. 
         [0040]    The present invention describes a computer implemented method and an application for assessing DR risks and selecting an efficient and cost effective DR solution. Referring to  FIG. 2 , the method  200  of selecting an efficient and cost effective DR solution for a specific business or organization includes the following steps. First, an assessment of the company&#39;s data infrastructure, data availability and application availability takes place ( 210 ). Next, a company risk profile is constructed ( 220 ) and then a business summary is presented ( 230 ). 
         [0041]    The step of assessing the company&#39;s data infrastructure includes performing a “bottom-up” assessment of the existing information technology (IT) infrastructure by cataloging existing replicating sites, components, enclosures, applications and systems. Replicating sites are the locations/computing devices that are involved in the data replication process. In the replication cluster  100  of  FIG. 1 , the replication sites are company location A associated with computing device  110 , company location B associated with computing device  112 , and third party location C associated with computing device  114 . The data storage components of site  110  are primary storage device  120  and secondary storage device  150 . The data storage component of site  112  is the secondary storage device  130  and the data storage component of site  114  is the secondary storage device  140 . 
         [0042]    The assessment step  210  also includes assessing data availability, application availability, application workloads/tiers and their relative priority to the business. A workload is a single set of components which share the same availability, performance and service level requirements. For the purposes of this invention, a workload includes a set of volumes stored on one or more arrays located at a single site. The reliability of a workload is a function of the probability of failure of the disks that compose the volumes, the arrays that house the disks, and the site which houses the array. A workload may have one or more processes attached to it, e.g. remote mirrors or backup schedules. When a workload is extended via a process like remote mirroring, the availability of the data is increased. The assessment step  210  also includes assessing the company&#39;s business continuity policies and processes and the geographic risk. 
         [0043]    The risk profile construction step  220  includes evaluation of the impact of the selected risk profile to the business, evaluation of the capital and operating expenses for the selected DR configuration, evaluation of the recovery time and point objectives and evaluation of the expected annual cost of a possible downtime and data loss. 
         [0044]    The business summary step  230  includes running several failure scenarios and describing hypothetical configuration, site and policy changes. The results of the various scenarios are compared and graphically presented, as shown in  FIG. 3 , where configuration A  301  is graphically compared to configuration B  302 . The graphical comparison includes capital costs  308 , operating costs  309 , annual cost of data loss  311  and annual cost of downtime  312 . Data reliability  304  and uptime  306  meters indicate which configuration achieves better results. A detailed report for each configuration is also graphically presented, as shown in  FIG. 4 . The detailed configuration report  310  of a proposed configuration includes a graphical presentation of the data reliability  304  and uptime  306  meters, a detailed description of each included site  305  and workload  303  including the per site and per workload costs and performance parameters and a summary  307  of the cumulative numerical values for the various configuration parameters including capital and operating costs, data loss and downtime costs, data loss risk and downtime risk and uptime probability. 
         [0045]    The computer implemented application program for assessing DR risks and selecting an efficient and cost effective DR solution is described with reference to  FIG. 5  to  FIG. 22 . The computer application of this invention (i.e., Clarity AP) is installed in a computer and is started by clicking on the corresponding application icon. Referring to  FIG. 5 , starting the computer application results in displaying the graphical user interface (GUI)  400 , which includes the main application window  402  and the catalogs window  404 . The main application window  404  includes a header  415  with the fields of file  401 , window  403  and help  405 . The catalogs window  404  includes the component fields of sites  406 , arrays  407 , workloads  408  and processes  409 . One or more configurations are quickly and easily created by dragging and dropping components (i.e., sites  406 , arrays  407 , workloads  408  and processes  409 ) from the catalogs window  404  into the appropriate location of the main window. The component parameters are then set as needed. 
         [0046]    The operation of the application is illustrated using an example where two configurations (“existing” and “existing+backup”) are created, then reports are generated for each configuration and then the various results metrics of the two configurations are compared. First, we click the window field  403  and locate the configuration box  411 , shown in  FIG. 6 . Also, shown are the sites box  412  and the workloads box  413 . Each box  411 ,  412 ,  413  includes (+) and (−) buttons,  411   a,    411   b,    412   a,    412   b,    413   a,    413   b,  respectively. Next, we click on the configuration (+) button  411   a,  whereupon the configuration window  421  appears, as shown in  FIG. 7 . Configuration window  421  includes a name field  422 , workloads field  424  and buttons for report  425 , report all  426  and copy  427 . The workloads field  424  includes workload  416 , volumes  417 , capacity  418  and the site  419  where they are located. In one example, the workload is “Application 1”, in volume 1 which has a capacity of 64 GB and is located in the primary site. We click in the name field  422  to highlight the name and write “existing” as the name of the created configuration. The “existing” configuration describes a customer&#39;s existing data storage configuration that is to be assessed in this example. The new name now appears at the top  423  of the configuration window  421 . In the catalogs window  404 , we click on the round button  406   a  to the left of the sites category  406  in order to expand the sites category  406 , shown in  FIG. 5 . In the example of  FIG. 8 , the expanded sites category  406  includes a “Central office”  431 , a “Boston office”  432  and a “Natick office”  433 . We click and drag the “Central office” site  431  from the catalogs window  404  to the sites box  412  in the main window  402 . In this way we have created our first site  434 . The “Central office” site  434  includes a name field  438 , an address field  439 , a site description field  441  and adjustable parameters for “Average unscheduled downtime per year”  435  and “Mean time between disasters”  436 . In this example, we use the default values of 8.3 hours and 27 years for these parameters, respectively. Next, we click on the arrays tab  437   a  next to the site tab  434   a  near the top of the site window  434 , whereupon an empty array box  438  will appear. In the catalogs window  404 , we click on the round button  407   a  to the left of the arrays category  407  in order to expand the arrays category  407 . The expanded arrays category  407  includes a “Generic Low-end”  442 , a “Generic High-end”  443  and a “Generic Mid-range”  444  arrays, as shown in  FIG. 9 . We click and drag the “Generic Mid-range”  444  array from the catalogs window  404  to the arrays box  438 . In this way we have added a “Generic Mid-range” array  444  to the configuration in the “Central Office” site  412 . The arrays window  437  includes a number of parameters that can be adjusted for a given array via text entry, via sliders  446   a,    447   a  or by clicking the configure array parameters button  449 . These parameters include array name  445 , purchase cost  446 , operating cost  447 , array and disk details  448 . There are also buttons for configuring the array parameters  449  and for adding array types to the catalog  438 . In this example, we will keep the default array purchase cost of $50,000 and operating cost of $20,000 annually. The sliders  446   a,    447   a  can be operated by either clicking on the slider and dragging the slider or by clicking on the slider and moving the slider with the keyboard arrow keys. Next, we create a workload  413  and add it to the site we created, as shown in  FIG. 10 . As was mentioned above, a workload may be either an application or a set of applications with a common set of service level requirements In the catalogs window  404 , we click on the round button  408   a  to the left of the workloads category  408  in order to expand the workloads category. The expanded workloads category includes “Tier one”  452   a,  “Tier two”  452   b,  and “Tier three”  452   c.  Next, we click and drag the “Tier-one” workload  452   a  from the catalogs window  404  to the workloads box  413 , thereby adding a workload to the workload window  451 . Next we change the name of the workload to better reflect the application it describes. In this example, we change it to “SQL”. Other adjustable application variables, shown in workload window  451  include, data value  454 , scratch  455 , cost per gigabyte (GB)  456 , cost per hour  457 , application restart time  458 , application recovery time  459 , volume  476 , type of volume  477 , capacity  478  and array  479  where the application is located. There are a number of tabs next to the workload tab  451   a  which include volumes tab  461   a,  processes tab  462   a,  cost/performance tab  463   a.  Tabs  461   a,    462   a,    463   a  open corresponding windows for volumes  461  (shown in  FIG. 11 ), processes  462  (shown in  FIG. 16 ), and cost/performance  463  (shown in  FIG. 18 ) associated with workload  451 . Volumes  461  describe the storage used by the workload  451 . Processes  462  describe the processes associated with workload  451  and allow adding processes and policies for data protection and DR purposes to a workload. Cost/performance  463  allows setting key cost metrics to the workload including cost per hour of downtime and cost per Gigabyte (GB) of data. These data are typically determined through customer interview/discussion and are set as the default in this example 
         [0047]    Next, we click on the volumes tab  461  a and on the (+) button  464   a  in the volumes box  464  to create volumes associated with the workload, as shown in  FIG. 11 . In the name field  466  we use the name “oltp” to describe the volume. Next, we click on Mid-range  1   465   a  in the arrays box  465 , and use the pull-down menu  467   a  to set the volume type to RAID5  467  and then enter 150 GB in the size (GB) field  469 . Next, we click on the clone this volume button  472 , enter  11  as the number of requested clones  475  and then click the OK button  473 , as shown in  FIG. 12 . In this way we have created a total of 12 150 GB volumes associated with the SQL workload. Next, we go back to the workload tab  451   a,  to view the workload  451  with its associated storage, which now has a capacity  454  of 1800 GB or 1.8 TB of data, shown in  FIG. 13 . 
         [0048]    In order to view the results of this first configuration, we click on the “Existing” field  414  inside the configuration box  411  and then we click on the Report button  425 , shown in  FIG. 7 . A screen will pop up momentarily showing the results of this configuration, as shown in  FIG. 14 . The top left of the screen  491  shows the configurations, the top middle  492  shows meters which illustrate the overall data availability in terms of data reliability  493  and uptime  494 , the right middle  495  shows the aggregate results for the configuration and includes key metrics such as capital expense  496 , operating expense  497 , uptime  498 , data loss risk  499 , downtime risk  482 , expected annual cost of data loss  483 , and expected annual cost of downtime  484 . The bottom of the screen  485  shows the same parameters on a per site or per workload basis and also adds the mean time to recover (RTO)  486  and mean data loss (RPO)  487 . In this example, the values are N/A because there is no process for recovering data in this configuration. The “Detail” button  488  on top of the results screen  485  can be clicked to show further details that include amount of downtime in minutes and amount of data loss in MB or GB. This configuration is saved by clicking on the File→Save menu  401  on the main window  402 . We enter a name for this configuration, choose a directory and the configuration is saved in a file with .cyr extension. The saved configuration can be reloaded in the future using the File→Open menu  401  or by simply double-clicking on the file. 
         [0049]    The full value of the application lies in its ability to create multiple configurations and compare their cost and benefits. In the next steps, we will create a second configuration that incorporates changes of the first configuration. In one example, the new configuration adds a backup process to the original configuration. We go back to the main window  402  and click on “Existing”  414  in the configurations box  411 . Next, we click on the copy button  427  and add the name “Existing+backup” in the name box  422 , as the name of the new configuration, shown in  FIG. 15 . Next, we click on SQL  416  in the Workloads box  413  and click on the Processes tab  462   a,  shown in  FIG. 16 . In the catalogs window  404 , we click on the round button  409   a  to the left of the Processes category  409  in order to expand the processes category, shown in  FIG. 17 . The expanded processes category includes LTO-2 backup, LTO-3 backup and LTO-4 backup. We then click and drag the “LTO-3 backup” process  521  from the catalogs window  404  to the processes box  522  in the main window  402 , thereby adding a backup process to the new configuration. There are several parameters that can be adjusted via sliders, checkboxes or the configure drive button  526  for tape backups. These parameters include incremental backup frequency  523 , full backup frequency  524 , retention policy  525 , ability to vault tapes to remote sites  527  and cost parameters  528 , shown in  FIG. 17 . In this example, the retention policy is set to  10  full backups and there is no change in the default cost parameters. We also add a new site where tapes can be vaulted. In the catalogs window  404 , we click and drag the “Boston Mass.” site  432  from the catalogs window  404  to the sites box  412  in the main window  402 , thereby creating a second site  418 , shown in  FIG. 18 . Next, we go to the sites box  412  in the main window  402  and click once again on the “Central Office”  415  site, shown in  FIG. 19 . Then, we go to the workloads box  413  and click once again on the SQL workload  416 . In the processes window  462 , we click the checkbox for “Send to remote site”  527  and click on “Boston Mass.”  418 . In this way we have entered a policy to send all tapes to “Boston Mass.” site  418  and the frequency  529  is set to be every  1  day, as shown in  FIG. 19 . The results of the second configuration are viewed by clicking on “existing+backup”  417  inside the configuration box  411  and then clicking on the report  425  button. A screen will pop up momentarily showing the results of this configuration, shown in  FIG. 20 . The expected costs of data loss  483  and downtime  484  have been significantly reduced by the backup policies. When examining the workloads, the RTO  486  and RPO  487  are now available based on the speed of the data restore. 
         [0050]    The two configurations, “existing”  414  and “existing+backup”  417  are compared by clicking the comparison screen button  531  on the report window  550 , shown in  FIG. 20 . We click on “existing”  414  in the Configuration A box  561  and on “existing+backup”  417  in Configuration B box  562 , shown in  FIG. 21 . A full graphical cost comparison between the two configurations is presented that includes capital costs  563 , operating costs  564 , annual cost of data loss  565  and annual cost of downtime  566 . Data reliability  567  and uptime  568  meters indicate which configuration achieves better results. 
         [0051]    Referring to  FIG. 22 , components are easily added to the catalog  404  so that they may be used in future assessment/planning sessions, without the need to re-enter them manually. There are two methods of creating components. The first method entails taking a customized component from the main window  402  and dragging it back to the catalog  404 . The second method entails creating a new component using the (+) buttons  411   a,    412   a,    413   a  in the component boxes  411 ,  412 ,  413 , respectively, in the main window  402 . Components may also be removed via the (−) buttons  411   b,    412   b,    413   b.    
         [0052]    In the example of  FIG. 22 , a customized component is added by clicking on “Central office”  415  in the sites box  412  and then clicking on “Generic Mid-range  1 ”  481  in the Arrays box  438  under the Arrays tab  437   a,  shown in  FIG. 9 . Next, we rename the array to “My Array”  571 , shown in  FIG. 24 , and then we use the mouse to drag “My Array”  571  from the Arrays box  438  to the catalogs window  404 . Alternatively, we may click on the Add array type to catalog button  438 . Right clicking on the “My Array” component  571  allows us to save the new component in the catalog  404 . This added array may be used in future configurations using the drag and drop functionalities. At any time, the new component may also be deleted from the same menu. In the example of  FIG. 22 , a new component may be also created by clicking on the (+) button  438   a  in the Arrays box  438 . This creates an array called “New Array”  573 . Parameters may be set on the “New Array”  573  as desired by using the cost sliders  446 ,  447  and clicking the “Configure Array parameters” button  449 . Once again this “New Array” may be dragged back into the product catalog  404 . The same methodologies used to create new array components also applies to other components, such as sites, workloads and processes. 
         [0053]    Several embodiments of the present invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.