Patent ID: 7702667

Claim:
A process for validating replicated data residing on network devices in a network, comprising: defining a replicated-data policy for replicating data in the network wherein the replicated-data policy specifies at least a recovery point objective for a set of replicas in the network, wherein the recovery point objective specifies at least a maximum recovery point age of a replica; monitoring access paths and access path attributes between at least one of network devices and applications running on the network devices, said access paths defining end-to-end communication connectivity between the at least one of network devices and applications; monitoring data replication activities in the network wherein monitoring data replication activities includes monitoring at least one of a copy start, a copy complete, a synch, a split, a source data volume, a target data volume, and a time of replication; comparing currency and accessibility of a set of replicas with the requirements in the replicated-data policy to identify discrepancies with the replicated-data policy wherein comparing the currency includes comparing a computed recovery point age of a replica in a set of replicas with the recovery point objective specified in the replicated-data policy and comparing the accessibility of the set of replicas includes comparing a set of access paths associated with the set of replicas to an accessibility requirement specified in the replicated-data policy, thereby validating the replicated data residing in the network, wherein identifying discrepancies includes identifying at least one of currency violation, missing access path, unauthorized access path, and path attribute violation; and providing a violation notification if a discrepancy is identified.