Patent ID: 7765187

Claim:
In a data processing network including a first server, a computer-implemented method comprising the steps of: receiving a request to determine whether or not the first server can replicate a first dataset from computer data storage of the first server without causing a consistency error, and responding to the request by determining whether or not the first server can replicate the first dataset from the computer data storage of the first server without causing a consistency error, and reporting whether or not the first server can replicate the first dataset from the computer data storage of the first server without causing a consistency error; wherein the first server determines whether or not the first server can replicate the first dataset from the computer data storage of the first server without causing a consistency error by suspending write access of applications to the first dataset, and then checking whether any applications fail to release any read-write locks upon the first dataset; wherein the data processing network includes a plurality of second servers providing access of applications to respective second datasets, and wherein a controller sends, to each of the second servers, a request to determine whether or not each of the second servers can replicate the respective second dataset without causing a consistency error, and wherein each of the second servers returns, to the controller, a report of whether or not said each of the second servers can replicate the respective second dataset without causing a consistency error; and which includes the controller receiving the reports from the second servers, and upon checking that all of the second servers can replicate their respective second datasets without causing consistency errors, the controller sending a replicate request to each of the second servers in order to replicate a consistency group of the second datasets from the second servers.