Patent ID: 8275749

Claim:
A system comprising: a memory, one or more processors coupled to the memory; one or more near-line servers including a first near-line server coupled to one or more live servers that include data that provides services to a plurality of clients; one or more standby servers coupled to the one or more near-line servers and the one or more live servers; and an engine coupled to the one or more near-line servers and configured to continuously shadow the one or more live servers by generating and maintaining a replica of the data in an application intelligent manner based in part on generating at least one data surrogate using information of the data and log files associated with the one or more live servers, wherein the engine is configured to replicate the replica of the data on a second near-line server coupled to the first near-line server and automatically transfer the replica of the data to the one or more standby servers in response to an event of the one or more standby servers, wherein the event comprises one or more of a migration event and a drill event, wherein the migration event includes migration from a first version of at least one application hosted by the one or more live servers to a second version of the application, wherein the drill event comprises activating the one or more standby servers hosting the replica of the data, evaluating operation of the activated standby servers and returning the activated standby servers to a standby state.