Patent ID: 8224786

Claim:
A method to passively acquire and perform write validation of data generated by a networked host node to perform secondary storage in a SAN-based data storage and recovery network, comprising: generating metadata describing the data generated by the networked host node to store in primary storage; transmitting the data generated by networked host node and metadata describing the data generated to a primary SAN storage device; acquiring, through installing a data splitter in a data path between the generating networked host node and the primary SAN storage device by coupling an input Receive(Rx)/Transmit(Tx) port of the data splitter to the generating networked host node and an output Rx/Tx port thereof to the primary SAN storage device, access the data path the data splitter being a hardware splitter; enabling mirroring, of the accessed data over an access line to a secondary storage server through assigning an output Rx/Rx port of the data splitter to the secondary storage server, with the output Rx/Rx port of the data splitter being coupled to both a Tx line of the input Rx/Tx port and a Tx line of the output Rx/Tx port, and enabling functionality associated with each data frame received at the input Tx/Rx port and destined to the primary SAN storage device to be split onto the Rx/Rx port through a firmware associated with the data splitter; receiving, at the secondary storage server, an exact copy of a data stream that passes the data splitter; and comparing the metadata associated with the data against previous metadata generated by the networked host node to validate or invalidate a write data, wherein the previous metadata is stored in at least one of a local location and an external location.