Recovery node testing

1. A recovery node testing system comprising a high availability appliance including a test node operating in a high availability appliance processor, the test node for:

copying a protected server image associated with a protected server into the test node on the high availability appliance;

activating the protected server image on the test node within a test environment operating on the high availability appliance, the test environment including at least one network characteristic of a network associated with the protected server; and

communicating with the protected server image operating on the test node in the test environment to thereby perform a test to confirm that the protected server image on the test node responds within the test environment in the same manner as the protected server, and thereafter, communicating with a disaster recovery appliance to transmit the protected server image to the disaster recovery appliance without interrupting operation of the high availability appliance.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the high availability appliance further includes recovery software for:

creating the protected server image from the protected server; and

transmitting the protected server image to a disaster recovery appliance.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a high availability node suitable for acting as a replacement for the protected server, using the protected server image on the test node, in the event of a failure of the protected server.

4. The system of claim 1 further including a web interface for:

scheduling the creation of the protected server image; and

scheduling the test on the test node to confirm that the protected server image operating on the test node responds in the same manner as the protected server.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the test includes confirmation that the test node interaction with another resource available in the test environment conforms to an expected interaction of the protected server.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the test environment includes emulation of at least one network resource available to the protected server.

7. A recovery node testing method comprising:

storing a protected server image associated with a protected server on a test node;

activating the protected server image on the test node within a test environment including at least one network characteristic of a network associated with the protected server; and

communicating, using the protected server image, with the test environment to thereby perform a test to confirm that the protected server image responds within the test environment in the same manner as the protected server and, thereafter, communicating with a selected one of a disaster recovery appliance or a high availability appliance to transmit the protected server image on the test node to the selected one without interrupting operation of the unselected appliance.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the test node is dynamically created as-needed for testing on the high availability appliance.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the high availability appliance incorporates a high availability node suitable for acting as a replacement for the protected server in the event of a failure of the protected server.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the test node is dynamically created as-needed for testing on the disaster recovery appliance.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

creating the protected server image from the protected server using recovery software operating on the protected server; and

transmitting the protected server image, stored on the test node, to the high availability appliance and to the disaster recovery appliance.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

scheduling the creation of the protected server image; and

scheduling the test on the test node to confirm that the protected server image operating on the test node responds in the same manner as the protected server.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the test includes a confirmation that the test node interaction with another resource available in the test environment conforms to the expected interaction of the protected server.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the test environment includes emulation of at least one network resource available to the protected server.

15. Apparatus comprising a storage medium storing a program having instructions which when executed by a processor will cause the processor to:

store a protected server image associated with a protected server to a test node in a disaster recovery appliance;

create a test environment for the test node, the test environment including at least one of the network characteristics of a network associated with the protected server;

activate the test node using the protected server image stored on the test node within the test environment;

perform a test to confirm that the protected server image responds within the test environment in the same manner as the protected server; and

communicate with a high availability appliance to thereby receive the protected server image without interrupting operation of the disaster recovery appliance.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

store a result of the test of the protected server image on the test node; and

communicate the result of the test to a web interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein a high availability node operating on the high availability appliance may use the protected server image on the test node to operate in place of the protected server in the event of a failure of the protected server.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the test is performed in accordance with a schedule created using a web interface.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the test includes the creation of a screen capture image of the protected server image operating on the test node.