System and Method for Providing Arbitrary Protection Topologies in a Computing Cluster

A method comprising:

• exposing an application programming interface (API) at a manager application, the manager application running on a server in a computing cluster, wherein the API specifies input identifying nodes and connections between the nodes to implement storage protection policies in the computing cluster;
• receiving user input to the manager application according to the API, where the user input includes instructions to implement multiple destination nodes and respective connections between a source node and the destination nodes, the user input received at the manager application at a level of specificity that includes each of the destination nodes individually and each of the connections between the source node and the destination nodes individually;
• traversing a topology that includes the source node, the destination nodes, and the connections between the source node and the destination nodes;
• and
• based on traversing the topology, sending commands to a storage system of the cluster to implement a destination volume corresponding to the destination node and multiple protection configurations, each of the protection configurations corresponding a respective one of the connections.

A server in a computer system, the server comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory accessible by the processor and storing computer-readable instructions, the processor performing the following actions by executing the instructions:
• receiving user input specifying an arbitrary topology for a set of nodes and connections therebetween, where the arbitrary topology comprises multiple destination nodes, and where the user input includes a level of specificity of the individual nodes and individual connections;
• and
• implementing the topology in a storage cluster according to the received user input.