Patent ID: 7725428

Claim:
A method for database restoration in a distributed data system, the distributed data system having a first database on a first server which needs database restoration, the method comprising: restoring the first database according to a predetermined full backup file, the full backup file being made at a first predetermined time; restoring the first database with one or more incremental backup files, the incremental backup files being made since the first predetermined time and having a most recent incremental backup file of the one or more incremental backup files made at a second predetermined time; examining a transaction log documenting data transactions since the second predetermined time; executing, on the first database, one or more transactions listed in the transaction log after the second predetermined time; and verifying whether the first database has completed its restoration by comparing a first transitive vector maintained in association with the first database with a second transitive vector associated with the first database, wherein the first transitive vector is maintained by a first server hosting the first database and the second transitive vector is maintained by a second server hosting the second database, and wherein the first database and the second database are synchronized if the first and second transitive vectors are the same.