Patent Document ID: 9569315
Application ID: 14313707
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of creating a model that represents connection topology of virtual machine (VM) management servers and recovery management servers in a distributed system, comprising: selecting a first VM management server; initializing the model to represent the first VM management server; determining a logical connection from the first VM management server to a first recovery management server that provides recovery services to VMs at a first location; expanding the model to represent the first recovery management server and the logical connection from the first VM management server to the first recovery management server; determining a logical connection from the first recovery management server to a second VM management server based on a pairing relationship, wherein the second VM management server supports VMs at a second location; expanding the model to represent the second VM management server and the logical connection from the first recovery management server to the second VM management server; and receiving lookup or traversal operations on the model and, in response thereto, delaying lookup or traversal operations that target the first VM management server until a tracing process related to the first VM management server finishes executing.