Patent ID: 8478864

Claim:
A system comprising: data protection manager for performing data back up; an administration interface coupled to the data protection manager and for providing a user access to functionality of the data protection manager; a topology tool for: displaying, using the administration interface, a plurality of graphical user interface (GUI) elements, wherein at least one of the plurality of GUI elements represents at least one of a plurality of data protection system devices including a first protection device that stores backup data; and responding to the user actuation of the at least one of the plurality of GUI elements by at least one of performing a command, displaying an additional GUI element, or displaying information about the at least one of the plurality of data protection system devices; a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein at least one of the data protection manager, the administration interface, or the topology tool are encoded as instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor; wherein the topology tool is further for receiving information about each of the plurality of data protection system devices, wherein the plurality of data protection system devices comprises a first protection device that stores data copied from a first storage device during a backup operation, the information comprises job failure information and media loaded information, the job failure information indicates whether execution of a job has failed, the job is configured to be executed using one of the first protection device or the first storage device, and the media loaded information indicates whether the storage media is loaded by the first storage device.