Patent ID: 7657718

Claim:
A method for performing automated data replication from a first site to a second site comprising: performing a consistent split data operation splitting a synchronized copy of data from a first device in said first site, said synchronized copy being a consistent point in time copy of data from said first device, wherein performing said consistent split data operation and obtaining said synchronized copy includes suspending write operations from a host computer to said first device; replicating said synchronized copy of data to a second device included in said second site; and performing incremental synchronization of said second device to a third device included in said second site, wherein commands are issued from said host computer to control said automated data replication, wherein said automated data replication is performed in accordance with criteria, said criteria including performing said automated data replication in response to an occurrence of a threshold level of data changes, wherein prior to performing said consistent split data operation, the method further includes validating devices at the first site and the second site said validating including validating said second device and said third device so that said second device and said third device are split.