Patent Application
20220091742
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document and/or the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent file and/or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
Businesses recognize the commercial value of their data and seek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored on their computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity. A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases, file servers, web servers, virtual machines, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, or monthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protect computing systems used by its employees, such as those used by an accounting department, marketing department, engineering department, and so forth. Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companies also continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, for example by migrating data to lower-cost storage over time, reducing redundant data, pruning lower priority data, etc. Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuable asset and look for solutions that leverage their data. For instance, data analysis capabilities, information management, improved data presentation and access features, and the like, are in increasing demand.
To back up primary data, a company may decide whether to back up the primary data using a native appliance (e.g., the file server where the primary data resides) or to communicate the primary data to a secondary computing device, where the secondary computing device performs various operations on the transmitted primary data. A company may also employ an approach where the backup of the primary data is performed by a native appliance, and a secondary computing device performs additional secondary operations on the backed-up primary data (e.g., deduplication, compression, encryption, etc.). One benefit of allowing the native appliance to perform the backup is that the owner of the native appliance can decide how the backup is performed and the algorithms that are used in performing the backup. In addition, as the primary data is readily accessible to the native appliance, the backup may be performed faster. However, one challenge in this approach is that a data custodian or data recipient of the backed-up primary data may not have knowledge of the contents of the backed-up primary data. Thus, when the data custodian or data recipient stores the backed-up primary data in a secondary storage device, the data custodian or data recipient may be unable to catalog the contents of the backed-up primary data. Failing to catalog the backed-up primary data can be problematic because the data owner (e.g., the creator of the backed-up primary data) may not retain records of the backed-up primary data stored by the data custodian or the data recipient. Accordingly, the data owner may be unaware as to which primary data has been backed up. Furthermore, when a restoration request is made by the data owner, the data custodian or data recipient may not know how to retrieve the requested data from the backed-up primary data as the backed-up primary data may be in a proprietary format known only to the data owner.
To address these and other deficiencies, this disclosure describes an information management system that implements a media agent that communicates with a network area storage (NAS) device or other file server to receive secondary copy data that has been backed-up by the NAS or file server. The secondary copy data may include primary data managed or maintained by the NAS or other file server. The secondary copy data may be in a proprietary format or other data format specific to the NAS or file server. The NAS or file server may include metadata or other information about the secondary copy data that informs the media agent as to the contents of the secondary copy data. For example, the NAS or file server may include a listing of the files that are included within the secondary copy data. The listing may further include a logical offsets for each of the files of the file listing that identifies a logical location within the secondary copy data where the corresponding file may be found. The file listing may also include one or more attributes about the files included in the file listing such as the name of a file, the file size of a file, the security permissions of the files, the last modification date of the file, and other such attributes or various combinations thereof.
The media agent may then perform one or more secondary operations on the secondary copy data. Examples of secondary operations include, but are not limited to, compression, deduplication (e.g., block-level deduplication), encryption, and other such secondary operations. The media agent may then store the secondary copy data in a secondary storage device in communication with the media agent.
To store the secondary copy data, the media agent may segment the secondary copy data into one or more backup chunks for storing in the secondary storage device. Each of the backup chunks may be a predetermined size, such as 4 gigabytes (GB). Thus, secondary copy data received from the NAS may be associated with one or more backup chunks, where the number of backup chunks depend on the size of the secondary copy data. In addition, each of the backup chunks may be associated with backup chunk metadata, where the backup chunk metadata includes information that describes certain information stored by a corresponding backup chunk. The metadata information included in the backup chunk metadata may include the information from the file listing sent by the NAS or other file server. By storing the file listing information in the backup chunk metadata, the media agent is able to retrieve a specific file requested by the NAS or other file during a restore operation without knowledge of the format in which the secondary copy data was stored.
During a restore operation, the media agent may restore a requested file from one or more of the backup chunks using a logical offset and a file size associated with the requested file. As mentioned above, the logical offset identifies a relative location of the file within the secondary copy data. The backup chunks may include metadata or other file information that associates logical offsets with one or more physical offsets of the backup chunks (e.g., a physical offset may represent a location on the secondary storage device where secondary copy data is located). A client device may request that the NAS or file server restore a file from the secondary copy data stored in the secondary storage device. Since the NAS or file server may not have direct access to the secondary copy data or the secondary storage device, the NAS or file server may pass on the request to the The media agent may use the logical offset and file size to identify which the backup chunks includes the secondary copy data, and then restore the requested file from the identified backup chunk using the logical offset and file size.
In this manner, the secondary storage device may store secondary copy data in a format that is particular or unique to the NAS or file server. As the backup chunks may include metadata or other file information that associates physical offsets of the secondary storage device with logical offsets of the secondary copy data, the media agent is able to quickly restore a requested file from the secondary copy data without knowing the data structure or data format in which the secondary copy data was created.
Detailed descriptions and examples of systems and methods according to one or more illustrative embodiments may be found in the section titled “Storing and Retrieving Secondary Copy Data using Logical Offsets,” as well as in the section titled Example Embodiments, and also in
Various embodiments described herein are intimately tied to, enabled by, and would not exist except for, computer technology. For example, the transference of backup jobs from the storage manager to the recovery manager described herein, in reference to various embodiments, cannot reasonably be performed by humans alone, without the computer technology upon which they are implemented.
With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data, organizations simply cannot risk losing critical data. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities make protecting and managing data increasingly difficult. There is therefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutions for protecting and managing data and for smart and efficient management of data storage. Depending on the size of the organization, there may be many data production sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of individuals. In the past, individuals were sometimes responsible for managing and protecting their own data, and a patchwork of hardware and software point solutions may have been used in any given organization. These solutions were often provided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability. Certain embodiments described herein address these and other shortcomings of prior approaches by implementing scalable, unified, organization-wide information management, including data storage management.
Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may be compatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of the systems and corresponding components described in one or more of the following U.S. patents/publications and patent applications assigned to Commvault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety herein:
System 100 includes computing devices and computing technologies. For instance, system 100 can include one or more client computing devices 102 and secondary storage computing devices 106, as well as storage manager 140 or a host computing device for it. Computing devices can include, without limitation, one or more: workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or other types of generally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computers, servers, and minicomputers. Other computing devices can include mobile or portable computing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers, personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and other mobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set top boxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc. Servers can include mail servers, file servers, database servers, virtual machine servers, and web servers. Any given computing device comprises one or more processors (e.g., CPU and/or single-core or multi-core processors), as well as corresponding non-transitory computer memory (e.g., random-access memory (RAM)) for storing computer programs which are to be executed by the one or more processors. Other computer memory for mass storage of data may be packaged/configured with the computing device (e.g., an internal hard disk) and/or may be external and accessible by the computing device (e.g., network-attached storage, a storage array, etc.). In some cases, a computing device includes cloud computing resources, which may be implemented as virtual machines. For instance, one or more virtual machines may be provided to the organization by a third-party cloud service vendor.
In some embodiments, computing devices can include one or more virtual machine(s) running on a physical host computing device (or “host machine”) operated by the organization. As one example, the organization may use one virtual machine as a database server and another virtual machine as a mail server, both virtual machines operating on the same host machine. A Virtual machine (“VM”) is a software implementation of a computer that does not physically exist and is instead instantiated in an operating system of a physical computer (or host machine) to enable applications to execute within the VM's environment, i.e., a VM emulates a physical computer. A VM includes an operating system and associated virtual resources, such as computer memory and processor(s). A hypervisor operates between the VM and the hardware of the physical host machine and is generally responsible for creating and running the VMs. Hypervisors are also known in the art as virtual machine monitors or a virtual machine managers or “VMMs”, and may be implemented in software, firmware, and/or specialized hardware installed on the host machine. Examples of hypervisors include ESX Server, by VMware, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.; Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V, both by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; Sun xVM by Oracle America Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; and Xen by Citrix Systems, Santa Clara, Calif. The hypervisor provides resources to each virtual operating system such as a virtual processor, virtual memory, a virtual network device, and a virtual disk. Each virtual machine has one or more associated virtual disks. The hypervisor typically stores the data of virtual disks in files on the file system of the physical host machine, called virtual machine disk files (“VMDK” in VMware lingo) or virtual hard disk image files (in Microsoft lingo). For example, VMware's ESX Server provides the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) for the storage of virtual machine disk files. A virtual machine reads data from and writes data to its virtual disk much the way that a physical machine reads data from and writes data to a physical disk. Examples of techniques for implementing information management in a cloud computing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681. Examples of techniques for implementing information management in a virtualized computing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177.
Information management system 100 can also include electronic data storage devices, generally used for mass storage of data, including, e.g., primary storage devices 104 and secondary storage devices 108. Storage devices can generally be of any suitable type including, without limitation, disk drives, storage arrays (e.g., storage-area network (SAN) and/or network-attached storage (NAS) technology), semiconductor memory (e.g., solid state storage devices), network attached storage (NAS) devices, tape libraries, or other magnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical media storage devices, combinations of the same, etc. In some embodiments, storage devices form part of a distributed file system. In some cases, storage devices are provided in a cloud storage environment (e.g., a private cloud or one operated by a third-party vendor), whether for primary data or secondary copies or both.
Depending on context, the term “information management system” can refer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and software components in
One or more client computing devices 102 may be part of system 100, each client computing device 102 having an operating system and at least one application 110 and one or more accompanying data agents executing thereon; and associated with one or more primary storage devices 104 storing primary data 112. Client computing device(s) 102 and primary storage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as primary storage subsystem 117.
Typically, a variety of sources in an organization produce data to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in a corporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations and company servers such as a mail server, a web server, a database server, a transaction server, or the like. In system 100, data generation sources include one or more client computing devices 102. A computing device that has a data agent 142 installed and operating on it is generally referred to as a “client computing device” 102, and may include any type of computing device, without limitation. A client computing device 102 may be associated with one or more users and/or user accounts.
A “client” is a logical component of information management system 100, which may represent a logical grouping of one or more data agents installed on a client computing device 102. Storage manager 140 recognizes a client as a component of system 100, and in some embodiments, may automatically create a client component the first time a data agent 142 is installed on a client computing device 102. Because data generated by executable component(s) 110 is tracked by the associated data agent 142 so that it may be properly protected in system 100, a client may be said to generate data and to store the generated data to primary storage, such as primary storage device 104. However, the terms “client” and “client computing device” as used herein do not imply that a client computing device 102 is necessarily configured in the client/server sense relative to another computing device such as a mail server, or that a client computing device 102 cannot be a server in its own right. As just a few examples, a client computing device 102 can be and/or include mail servers, file servers, database servers, virtual machine servers, and/or web servers.
Each client computing device 102 may have application(s) 110 executing thereon which generate and manipulate the data that is to be protected from loss and managed in system 100. Applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of an organization, and can include, without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Server), file system applications, mail client applications (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications or database management systems (e.g., SQL, Oracle, SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g., Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications, presentation applications, graphics and/or video applications, browser applications, mobile applications, entertainment applications, and so on. Each application 110 may be accompanied by an application-specific data agent 142, though not all data agents 142 are application-specific or associated with only application. A file manager application, e.g., Microsoft Windows Explorer, may be considered an application 110 and may be accompanied by its own data agent 142. Client computing devices 102 can have at least one operating system (e.g., Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-based operating systems, etc.) installed thereon, which may support or host one or more file systems and other applications 110. In some embodiments, a virtual machine that executes on a host client computing device 102 may be considered an application 110 and may be accompanied by a specific data agent 142 (e.g., virtual server data agent).
Client computing devices 102 and other components in system 100 can be connected to one another via one or more electronic communication pathways 114. For example, a first communication pathway 114 may communicatively couple client computing device 102 and secondary storage computing device 106; a second communication pathway 114 may communicatively couple storage manager 140 and client computing device 102; and a third communication pathway 114 may communicatively couple storage manager 140 and secondary storage computing device 106, etc. (see, e.g.,
A “subclient” is a logical grouping of all or part of a client's primary data 112. In general, a subclient may be defined according to how the subclient data is to be protected as a unit in system 100. For example, a subclient may be associated with a certain storage policy. A given client may thus comprise several subclients, each subclient associated with a different storage policy. For example, some files may form a first subclient that requires compression and deduplication and is associated with a first storage policy. Other files of the client may form a second subclient that requires a different retention schedule as well as encryption, and may be associated with a different, second storage policy. As a result, though the primary data may be generated by the same application 110 and may belong to one given client, portions of the data may be assigned to different subclients for distinct treatment by system 100. More detail on subclients is given in regard to storage policies below.
Primary data 112 is generally production data or “live” data generated by the operating system and/or applications 110 executing on client computing device 102. Primary data 112 is generally stored on primary storage device(s) 104 and is organized via a file system operating on the client computing device 102. Thus, client computing device(s) 102 and corresponding applications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, and otherwise use primary data 112. Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the source application 110. Primary data 112 is an initial or first stored body of data generated by the source application 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantially directly from data generated by the corresponding source application 110. It can be useful in performing certain tasks to organize primary data 112 into units of different granularities. In general, primary data 112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks, extents, or any other hierarchies or organizations of data objects. As used herein, a “data object” can refer to (i) any file that is currently addressable by a file system or that was previously addressable by the file system (e.g., an archive file), and/or to (ii) a subset of such a file (e.g., a data block, an extent, etc.). Primary data 112 may include structured data (e.g., database files), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structured data. See, e.g.,
It can also be useful in performing certain functions of system 100 to access and modify metadata within primary data 112. Metadata generally includes information about data objects and/or characteristics associated with the data objects. For simplicity herein, it is to be understood that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any reference to primary data 112 generally also includes its associated metadata, but references to metadata generally do not include the primary data. Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following: the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), the last modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification of the data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data object size (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content (e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term), user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.), creation date, file type (e.g., format or application type), last accessed time, application type (e.g., type of application that generated the data object), location/network (e.g., a current, past or future location of the data object and network pathways to/from the data object), geographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates), frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object is modified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates, manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), aging information (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the data object is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors, partition layouts, file location within a file folder directory structure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists (ACLs), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations of the same or other similar information related to the data object. In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems and operating systems, some applications 110 and/or other components of system 100 maintain indices of metadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individual email messages. The use of metadata to perform classification and other functions is described in greater detail below.
Primary storage devices 104 storing primary data 112 may be relatively fast and/or expensive technology (e.g., flash storage, a disk drive, a hard-disk storage array, solid state memory, etc.), typically to support high-performance live production environments. Primary data 112 may be highly changeable and/or may be intended for relatively short term retention (e.g., hours, days, or weeks). According to some embodiments, client computing device 102 can access primary data 112 stored in primary storage device 104 by making conventional file system calls via the operating system. Each client computing device 102 is generally associated with and/or in communication with one or more primary storage devices 104 storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device 102 is said to be associated with or in communication with a particular primary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: routing and/or storing data (e.g., primary data 112) to the primary storage device 104, coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primary storage device 104, coordinating the retrieval of data from the primary storage device 104, and modifying and/or deleting data in the primary storage device 104. Thus, a client computing device 102 may be said to access data stored in an associated storage device 104.
Primary storage device 104 may be dedicated or shared. In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to an associated client computing device 102, e.g., a local disk drive. In other cases, one or more primary storage devices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102, e.g., via a local network, in a cloud storage implementation, etc. As one example, primary storage device 104 can be a storage array shared by a group of client computing devices 102, such as EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, Dell EqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.
System 100 may also include hosted services (not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other than the organization that employs the other components of system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be provided by online service providers. Such service providers can provide social networking services, hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or other hosted applications such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs), cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via a network. As it services users, each hosted service may generate additional data and metadata, which may be managed by system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In some cases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications 110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browser running on a client computing device 102.
Primary data 112 stored on primary storage devices 104 may be compromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately or accidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112. Or primary storage devices 104 can be damaged, lost, or otherwise corrupted. For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is therefore useful to generate and maintain copies of primary data 112. Accordingly, system 100 includes one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108 configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of primary data 112 including its associated metadata. The secondary storage computing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 may be referred to as secondary storage subsystem 118.
Secondary copies 116 can help in search and analysis efforts and meet other information management goals as well, such as: restoring data and/or metadata if an original version is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, or disaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complying with regulatory data retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements; reducing utilized storage capacity in the production system and/or in secondary storage; facilitating organization and search of data; improving user access to data files across multiple computing devices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retention and pruning policies.
A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of data that is derived from one or more earlier-created stored copies (e.g., derived from primary data 112 or from another secondary copy 116). Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intended for relatively long-term retention before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or discarded. In some cases, a secondary copy 116 may be in a different storage device than other previously stored copies; and/or may be remote from other previously stored copies. Secondary copies 116 can be stored in the same storage device as primary data 112. For example, a disk array capable of performing hardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates and stores hardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies 116. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lower cost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be stored in a backup or archive format, or in some other format different from the native source application format or other format of primary data 112.
Secondary storage computing devices 106 may index secondary copies 116 (e.g., using a media agent 144), enabling users to browse and restore at a later time and further enabling the lifecycle management of the indexed data. After creation of a secondary copy 116 that represents certain primary data 112, a pointer or other location indicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or be otherwise associated with primary data 112, to indicate the current location of a particular secondary copy 116. Since an instance of a data object or metadata in primary data 112 may change over time as it is modified by application 110 (or hosted service or the operating system), system 100 may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular data object or metadata, each copy representing the state of the data object in primary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since an instance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deleted from primary storage device 104 and the file system, system 100 may continue to manage point-in-time representations of that data object, even though the instance in primary data 112 no longer exists. For virtual machines, the operating system and other applications 110 of client computing device(s) 102 may execute within or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM), and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual disk created on a physical storage device. System 100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objects in a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtual disk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).
Secondary copies 116 are distinguishable from corresponding primary data 112. First, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a different format from primary data 112 (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format). For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not be directly usable by applications 110 or client computing device 102 (e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise) without modification, processing, or other intervention by system 100 which may be referred to as “restore” operations. Secondary copies 116 may have been processed by data agent 142 and/or media agent 144 in the course of being created (e.g., compression, deduplication, encryption, integrity markers, indexing, formatting, application-aware metadata, etc.), and thus secondary copy 116 may represent source primary data 112 without necessarily being exactly identical to the source.
Second, secondary copies 116 may be stored on a secondary storage device 108 that is inaccessible to application 110 running on client computing device 102 and/or hosted service. Some secondary copies 116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available (e.g., not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies of data that system 100 can access without human intervention (e.g., tapes within an automated tape library, but not yet mounted in a drive), and copies that the system 100 can access only with some human intervention (e.g., tapes located at an offsite storage site).
Creating secondary copies can be challenging when hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 continually generate large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also, there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondary copies 116. Moreover, specialized programmed intelligence and/or hardware capability is generally needed for accessing and interacting with secondary storage devices 108. Client computing devices 102 may interact directly with a secondary storage device 108 to create secondary copies 116, but in view of the factors described above, this approach can negatively impact the ability of client computing device 102 to serve/service application 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, any given client computing device 102 may not be optimized for interaction with certain secondary storage devices 108.
Thus, system 100 may include one or more software and/or hardware components which generally act as intermediaries between client computing devices 102 (that generate primary data 112) and secondary storage devices 108 (that store secondary copies 116). In addition to off-loading certain responsibilities from client computing devices 102, these intermediate components provide other benefits. For instance, as discussed further below with respect to
Secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise any of the computing devices described above, without limitation. In some cases, secondary storage computing device(s) 106 also include specialized hardware componentry and/or software intelligence (e.g., specialized interfaces) for interacting with certain secondary storage device(s) 108 with which they may be specially associated.
To create a secondary copy 116 involving the copying of data from primary storage subsystem 117 to secondary storage subsystem 118, client computing device 102 may communicate the primary data 112 to be copied (or a processed version thereof generated by a data agent 142) to the designated secondary storage computing device 106, via a communication pathway 114. Secondary storage computing device 106 in turn may further process and convey the data or a processed version thereof to secondary storage device 108. One or more secondary copies 116 may be created from existing secondary copies 116, such as in the case of an auxiliary copy operation, described further below.
Secondary copy data objects 134A-C can individually represent more than one primary data object. For example, secondary copy data object 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122, and 129C (represented as 133C′, 122′, and 129C′, respectively, and accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta11, Meta3, and Meta8, respectively). Moreover, as indicated by the prime mark (′), secondary storage computing devices 106 or other components in secondary storage subsystem 118 may process the data received from primary storage subsystem 117 and store a secondary copy including a transformed and/or supplemented representation of a primary data object and/or metadata that is different from the original format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, or other modified format. For instance, secondary storage computing devices 106 can generate new metadata or other information based on said processing, and store the newly generated information along with the secondary copies. Secondary copy data object 1346 represents primary data objects 120, 133B, and 119A as 120′, 133B′, and 119A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta2, Meta10, and Meta1, respectively. Also, secondary copy data object 134C represents primary data objects 133A, 1196, and 129A as 133A′, 1196′, and 129A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta9, Meta5, and Meta6, respectively.
System 100 can incorporate a variety of different hardware and software components, which can in turn be organized with respect to one another in many different configurations, depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involved in specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and the role of each component in system 100. Such design choices can impact how system 100 performs and adapts to data growth and other changing circumstances.
Storage manager 140 is a centralized storage and/or information manager that is configured to perform certain control functions and also to store certain critical information about system 100—hence storage manager 140 is said to manage system 100. As noted, the number of components in system 100 and the amount of data under management can be large. Managing the components and data is therefore a significant task, which can grow unpredictably as the number of components and data scale to meet the needs of the organization. For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments, responsibility for controlling system 100, or at least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated to storage manager 140. Storage manager 140 can be adapted independently according to changing circumstances, without having to replace or re-design the remainder of the system. Moreover, a computing device for hosting and/or operating as storage manager 140 can be selected to best suit the functions and networking needs of storage manager 140. These and other advantages are described in further detail below and with respect to
Storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application hosted by a suitable computing device. In some embodiments, storage manager 140 is itself a computing device that performs the functions described herein. Storage manager 140 comprises or operates in conjunction with one or more associated data structures such as a dedicated database (e.g., management database 146), depending on the configuration. The storage manager 140 generally initiates, performs, coordinates, and/or controls storage and other information management operations performed by system 100, e.g., to protect and control primary data 112 and secondary copies 116. In general, storage manager 140 is said to manage system 100, which includes communicating with, instructing, and controlling in some circumstances components such as data agents 142 and media agents 144, etc.
As shown by the dashed arrowed lines 114 in
According to certain embodiments, storage manager 140 provides one or more of the following functions:
Storage manager 140 may maintain an associated database 146 (or “storage manager database 146” or “management database 146”) of management-related data and information management policies 148. Database 146 is stored in computer memory accessible by storage manager 140. Database 146 may include a management index 150 (or “index 150”) or other data structure(s) that may store: logical associations between components of the system; user preferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption, compression, or deduplication of primary data or secondary copies; preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of secondary copy or other operations; mappings of particular information management users or user accounts to certain computing devices or other components, etc.; management tasks; media containerization; other useful data; and/or any combination thereof. For example, storage manager 140 may use index 150 to track logical associations between media agents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of data to/from secondary storage devices 108. For instance, index 150 may store data associating a client computing device 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storage device 108, as specified in an information management policy 148.
Administrators and others may configure and initiate certain information management operations on an individual basis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations or other infrequent tasks, it is often not workable for implementing on-going organization-wide data protection and management. Thus, system 100 may utilize information management policies 148 for specifying and executing information management operations on an automated basis. Generally, an information management policy 148 can include a stored data structure or other information source that specifies parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storage management or other information management operations. Storage manager 140 can process an information management policy 148 and/or index 150 and, based on the results, identify an information management operation to perform, identify the appropriate components in system 100 to be involved in the operation (e.g., client computing devices 102 and corresponding data agents 142, secondary storage computing devices 106 and corresponding media agents 144, etc.), establish connections to those components and/or between those components, and/or instruct and control those components to carry out the operation. In this manner, system 100 can translate stored information into coordinated activity among the various computing devices in system 100.
Management database 146 may maintain information management policies 148 and associated data, although information management policies 148 can be stored in computer memory at any appropriate location outside management database 146. For instance, an information management policy 148 such as a storage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152 or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for use in restore or other information management operations, depending on the embodiment. Information management policies 148 are described further below. According to certain embodiments, management database 146 comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for tracking metadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations (e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding subclient data were protected and where the secondary copies are stored and which media agent 144 performed the storage operation(s)). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in other locations, such as at secondary storage computing device 106 or on the secondary storage device 108, allowing data recovery without the use of storage manager 140 in some cases. Thus, management database 146 may comprise data needed to kick off secondary copy operations (e.g., storage policies, schedule policies, etc.), status and reporting information about completed jobs (e.g., status and error reports on yesterday's backup jobs), and additional information sufficient to enable restore and disaster recovery operations (e.g., media agent associations, location indexing, content indexing, etc.).
Storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a user interface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may be implemented as interconnected software modules or application programs. These are described further below.
Jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/or monitors the status of some or all information management operations previously performed, currently being performed, or scheduled to be performed by system 100. A job is a logical grouping of information management operations such as daily storage operations scheduled for a certain set of subclients (e.g., generating incremental block-level backup copies 116 at a certain time every day for database files in a certain geographical location). Thus, jobs agent 156 may access information management policies 148 (e.g., in management database 146) to determine when, where, and how to initiate/control jobs in system 100.
Storage Manager User Interfaces
User interface 158 may include information processing and display software, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), an application program interface (API), and/or other interactive interface(s) through which users and system processes can retrieve information about the status of information management operations or issue instructions to storage manager 140 and other components. Via user interface 158, users may issue instructions to the components in system 100 regarding performance of secondary copy and recovery operations. For example, a user may modify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copy operations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view the status of pending secondary copy jobs or to monitor the status of certain components in system 100 (e.g., the amount of capacity left in a storage device). Storage manager 140 may track information that permits it to select, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplication databases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within its information management cell (or another cell) to be searched in response to certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user by interacting with user interface 158.
Various embodiments of information management system 100 may be configured and/or designed to generate user interface data usable for rendering the various interactive user interfaces described. The user interface data may be used by system 100 and/or by another system, device, and/or software program (for example, a browser program), to render the interactive user interfaces. The interactive user interfaces may be displayed on, for example, electronic displays (including, for example, touch-enabled displays), consoles, etc., whether direct-connected to storage manager 140 or communicatively coupled remotely, e.g., via an internet connection. The present disclosure describes various embodiments of interactive and dynamic user interfaces, some of which may be generated by user interface agent 158, and which are the result of significant technological development. The user interfaces described herein may provide improved human-computer interactions, allowing for significant cognitive and ergonomic efficiencies and advantages over previous systems, including reduced mental workloads, improved decision-making, and the like. User interface 158 may operate in a single integrated view or console (not shown). The console may support a reporting capability for generating a variety of reports, which may be tailored to a particular aspect of information management.
User interfaces are not exclusive to storage manager 140 and in some embodiments a user may access information locally from a computing device component of system 100. For example, some information pertaining to installed data agents 142 and associated data streams may be available from client computing device 102. Likewise, some information pertaining to media agents 144 and associated data streams may be available from secondary storage computing device 106.
Storage Manager Management Agent
Management agent 154 can provide storage manager 140 with the ability to communicate with other components within system 100 and/or with other information management cells via network protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST, virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hosted service provider APIs, without limitation. Management agent 154 also allows multiple information management cells to communicate with one another. For example, system 100 in some cases may be one information management cell in a network of multiple cells adjacent to one another or otherwise logically related, e.g., in a WAN or LAN. With this arrangement, the cells may communicate with one another through respective management agents 154. Inter-cell communications and hierarchy is described in greater detail in e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
Information Management Cell
An “information management cell” (or “storage operation cell” or “cell”) may generally include a logical and/or physical grouping of a combination of hardware and software components associated with performing information management operations on electronic data, typically one storage manager 140 and at least one data agent 142 (executing on a client computing device 102) and at least one media agent 144 (executing on a secondary storage computing device 106). For instance, the components shown in
Multiple cells may be organized hierarchically, so that cells may inherit properties from hierarchically superior cells or be controlled by other cells in the hierarchy (automatically or otherwise). Alternatively, in some embodiments, cells may inherit or otherwise be associated with information management policies, preferences, information management operational parameters, or other properties or characteristics according to their relative position in a hierarchy of cells. Cells may also be organized hierarchically according to function, geography, architectural considerations, or other factors useful or desirable in performing information management operations. For example, a first cell may represent a geographic segment of an enterprise, such as a Chicago office, and a second cell may represent a different geographic segment, such as a New York City office. Other cells may represent departments within a particular office, e.g., human resources, finance, engineering, etc. Where delineated by function, a first cell may perform one or more first types of information management operations (e.g., one or more first types of secondary copies at a certain frequency), and a second cell may perform one or more second types of information management operations (e.g., one or more second types of secondary copies at a different frequency and under different retention rules). In general, the hierarchical information is maintained by one or more storage managers 140 that manage the respective cells (e.g., in corresponding management database(s) 146).
Data Agents
A variety of different applications 110 can operate on a given client computing device 102, including operating systems, file systems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtual machines, just to name a few. And, as part of the process of creating and restoring secondary copies 116, the client computing device 102 may be tasked with processing and preparing the primary data 112 generated by these various applications 110. Moreover, the nature of the processing/preparation can differ across application types, e.g., due to inherent structural, state, and formatting differences among applications 110 and/or the operating system of client computing device 102. Each data agent 142 is therefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in the performance of information management operations based on the type of data that is being protected at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.
Data agent 142 is a component of information system 100 and is generally directed by storage manager 140 to participate in creating or restoring secondary copies 116. Data agent 142 may be a software program (e.g., in the form of a set of executable binary files) that executes on the same client computing device 102 as the associated application 110 that data agent 142 is configured to protect. Data agent 142 is generally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assisting in the performance of information management operations in reference to its associated application(s) 110 and corresponding primary data 112 which is generated/accessed by the particular application(s) 110. For instance, data agent 142 may take part in copying, archiving, migrating, and/or replicating of certain primary data 112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. Data agent 142 may receive control information from storage manager 140, such as commands to transfer copies of data objects and/or metadata to one or more media agents 144. Data agent 142 also may compress, deduplicate, and encrypt certain primary data 112, as well as capture application-related metadata before transmitting the processed data to media agent 144. Data agent 142 also may receive instructions from storage manager 140 to restore (or assist in restoring) a secondary copy 116 from secondary storage device 108 to primary storage 104, such that the restored data may be properly accessed by application 110 in a suitable format as though it were primary data 112.
Each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particular application 110. For instance, different individual data agents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchange data, Lotus Notes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, Microsoft Active Directory Objects data, SQL Server data, Share Point data, Oracle database data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associated data, and other types of data. A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/or other file system information. If a client computing device 102 has two or more types of data 112, a specialized data agent 142 may be used for each data type. For example, to backup, migrate, and/or restore all of the data on a Microsoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use: (1) a Microsoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to back up the Exchange mailboxes; (2) a Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to back up the Exchange databases; (3) a Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142 to back up the Exchange Public Folders; and (4) a Microsoft Windows File System data agent 142 to back up the file system of client computing device 102. In this example, these specialized data agents 142 are treated as four separate data agents 142 even though they operate on the same client computing device 102. Other examples may include archive management data agents such as a migration archiver or a compliance archiver, Quick Recovery® agents, and continuous data replication agents. Application-specific data agents 142 can provide improved performance as compared to generic agents. For instance, because application-specific data agents 142 may only handle data for a single software application, the design, operation, and performance of the data agent 142 can be streamlined. The data agent 142 may therefore execute faster and consume less persistent storage and/or operating memory than data agents designed to generically accommodate multiple different software applications 110.
Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadata stored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with data agent 142 and its host client computing device 102, and process the data appropriately. For example, during a secondary copy operation, data agent 142 may arrange or assemble the data and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g., a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s) to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a list of files or other metadata. In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between client computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any other intermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location or its functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or all of the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 may perform some functions provided by media agent 144. Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 that can handle and process data from two or more different applications 110, or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or in addition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one generic data agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore Microsoft Exchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data, while another generic data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data and Microsoft Windows File System data.
Media Agents
As noted, off-loading certain responsibilities from client computing devices 102 to intermediate components such as secondary storage computing device(s) 106 and corresponding media agent(s) 144 can provide a number of benefits including improved performance of client computing device 102, faster and more reliable information management operations, and enhanced scalability. In one example which will be discussed further below, media agent 144 can act as a local cache of recently-copied data and/or metadata stored to secondary storage device(s) 108, thus improving restore capabilities and performance for the cached data.
Media agent 144 is a component of system 100 and is generally directed by storage manager 140 in creating and restoring secondary copies 116. Whereas storage manager 140 generally manages system 100 as a whole, media agent 144 provides a portal to certain secondary storage devices 108, such as by having specialized features for communicating with and accessing certain associated secondary storage device 108. Media agent 144 may be a software program (e.g., in the form of a set of executable binary files) that executes on a secondary storage computing device 106. Media agent 144 generally manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission of data between a data agent 142 (executing on client computing device 102) and secondary storage device(s) 108 associated with media agent 144. For instance, other components in the system may interact with media agent 144 to gain access to data stored on associated secondary storage device(s) 108, (e.g., to browse, read, write, modify, delete, or restore data). Moreover, media agents 144 can generate and store information relating to characteristics of the stored data and/or metadata, or can generate and store other types of information that generally provides insight into the contents of the secondary storage devices 108—generally referred to as indexing of the stored secondary copies 116. Each media agent 144 may operate on a dedicated secondary storage computing device 106, while in other embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 may operate on the same secondary storage computing device 106.
A media agent 144 may be associated with a particular secondary storage device 108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/or storing data to the particular secondary storage device 108; coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particular secondary storage device 108; retrieving data from the particular secondary storage device 108; coordinating the retrieval of data from the particular secondary storage device 108; and modifying and/or deleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device 108. Media agent 144 in certain embodiments is physically separate from the associated secondary storage device 108. For instance, a media agent 144 may operate on a secondary storage computing device 106 in a distinct housing, package, and/or location from the associated secondary storage device 108. In one example, a media agent 144 operates on a first server computer and is in communication with a secondary storage device(s) 108 operating in a separate rack-mounted RAID-based system.
A media agent 144 associated with a particular secondary storage device 108 may instruct secondary storage device 108 to perform an information management task. For instance, a media agent 144 may instruct a tape library to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load or eject a certain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, or retrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoring data to a client computing device 102. As another example, a secondary storage device 108 may include an array of hard disk drives or solid state drives organized in a RAID configuration, and media agent 144 may forward a logical unit number (LUN) and other appropriate information to the array, which uses the received information to execute the desired secondary copy operation. Media agent 144 may communicate with a secondary storage device 108 via a suitable communications link, such as a SCSI or Fibre Channel link.
Each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agent database 152. Media agent database 152 may be stored to a disk or other storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storage computing device 106 on which media agent 144 executes. In other cases, media agent database 152 is stored separately from the host secondary storage computing device 106. Media agent database 152 can include, among other things, a media agent index 153 (see, e.g.,
Media agent index 153 (or “index 153”) may be a data structure associated with the particular media agent 144 that includes information about the stored data associated with the particular media agent and which may be generated in the course of performing a secondary copy operation or a restore. Index 153 provides a fast and efficient mechanism for locating/browsing secondary copies 116 or other data stored in secondary storage devices 108 without having to access secondary storage device 108 to retrieve the information from there. For instance, for each secondary copy 116, index 153 may include metadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories, database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a logical path to the secondary copy 116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, location information (e.g., offsets) indicating where the data objects are stored in the secondary storage device 108, when the data objects were created or modified, etc. Thus, index 153 includes metadata associated with the secondary copies 116 that is readily available for use from media agent 144. In some embodiments, some or all of the information in index 153 may instead or additionally be stored along with secondary copies 116 in secondary storage device 108. In some embodiments, a secondary storage device 108 can include sufficient information to enable a “bare metal restore,” where the operating system and/or software applications of a failed client computing device 102 or another target may be automatically restored without manually reinstalling individual software packages (including operating systems).
Because index 153 may operate as a cache, it can also be referred to as an “index cache.” In such cases, information stored in index cache 153 typically comprises data that reflects certain particulars about relatively recent secondary copy operations. After some triggering event, such as after some time elapses or index cache 153 reaches a particular size, certain portions of index cache 153 may be copied or migrated to secondary storage device 108, e.g., on a least-recently-used basis. This information may be retrieved and uploaded back into index cache 153 or otherwise restored to media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of data from the secondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, the cached information may include format or containerization information related to archives or other files stored on storage device(s) 108.
In some alternative embodiments media agent 144 generally acts as a coordinator or facilitator of secondary copy operations between client computing devices 102 and secondary storage devices 108, but does not actually write the data to secondary storage device 108. For instance, storage manager 140 (or media agent 144) may instruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108 to communicate with one another directly. In such a case, client computing device 102 transmits data directly or via one or more intermediary components to secondary storage device 108 according to the received instructions, and vice versa. Media agent 144 may still receive, process, and/or maintain metadata related to the secondary copy operations, i.e., may continue to build and maintain index 153. In these embodiments, payload data can flow through media agent 144 for the purposes of populating index 153, but not for writing to secondary storage device 108. Media agent 144 and/or other components such as storage manager 140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as data classification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption, compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and other functions are described below.
As described, certain functions of system 100 can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components. For instance, one or more of storage manager 140, data agents 142, and media agents 144 may operate on computing devices that are physically separate from one another. This architecture can provide a number of benefits. For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributed component can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondary computing devices 106 on which media agents 144 operate can be tailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108 and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks. Similarly, client computing device(s) 102 can be selected to effectively service applications 110 in order to efficiently produce and store primary data 112.
Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components of information management system 100 can be distributed to multiple separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems where the amount of data stored in management database 146 is relatively large, database 146 may be migrated to or may otherwise reside on a specialized database server (e.g., an SQL server) separate from a server that implements the other functions of storage manager 140. This distributed configuration can provide added protection because database 146 can be protected with standard database utilities (e.g., SQL log shipping or database replication) independent from other functions of storage manager 140. Database 146 can be efficiently replicated to a remote site for use in the event of a disaster or other data loss at the primary site. Or database 146 can be replicated to another computing device within the same site, such as to a higher performance machine in the event that a storage manager host computing device can no longer service the needs of a growing system 100.
The distributed architecture also provides scalability and efficient component utilization.
Where system 100 includes multiple media agents 144 (see, e.g.,
While distributing functionality amongst multiple computing devices can have certain advantages, in other contexts it can be beneficial to consolidate functionality on the same computing device. In alternative configurations, certain components may reside and execute on the same computing device. As such, in other embodiments, one or more of the components shown in
In order to protect and leverage stored data, system 100 can be configured to perform a variety of information management operations, which may also be referred to in some cases as storage management operations or storage operations. These operations can generally include (i) data movement operations, (ii) processing and data manipulation operations, and (iii) analysis, reporting, and management operations.
Data Movement Operations, Including Secondary Copy Operations
Data movement operations are generally storage operations that involve the copying or migration of data between different locations in system 100. For example, data movement operations can include operations in which stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred from one or more first storage devices to one or more second storage devices, such as from primary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108, from secondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storage device(s) 108, from secondary storage devices 108 to primary storage devices 104, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primary storage device(s) 104, or in some cases within the same primary storage device 104 such as within a storage array.
Data movement operations can include by way of example, backup operations, archive operations, information lifecycle management operations such as hierarchical storage management operations, replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication), snapshot operations, deduplication or single-instancing operations, auxiliary copy operations, disaster-recovery copy operations, and the like. As will be discussed, some of these operations do not necessarily create distinct copies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations are generally referred to as “secondary copy operations” for simplicity, because they involve secondary copies. Data movement also comprises restoring secondary copies.
Backup Operations
A backup operation creates a copy of a version of primary data 112 at a particular point in time (e.g., one or more files or other data units). Each subsequent backup copy 116 (which is a form of secondary copy 116) may be maintained independently of the first. A backup generally involves maintaining a version of the copied primary data 112 as well as backup copies 116. Further, a backup copy in some embodiments is generally stored in a form that is different from the native format, e.g., a backup format. This contrasts to the version in primary data 112 which may instead be stored in a format native to the source application(s) 110. In various cases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from the original native application format. For example, a backup copy may be stored in a compressed backup format that facilitates efficient long-term storage. Backup copies 116 can have relatively long retention periods as compared to primary data 112, which is generally highly changeable. Backup copies 116 may be stored on media with slower retrieval times than primary storage device 104. Some backup copies may have shorter retention periods than some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies (described below). Backups may be stored at an offsite location.
Backup operations can include full backups, differential backups, incremental backups, “synthetic full” backups, and/or creating a “reference copy.” A full backup (or “standard full backup”) in some embodiments is generally a complete image of the data to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume a relatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a full backup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copy afterwards.
A differential backup operation (or cumulative incremental backup operation) tracks and stores changes that occurred since the last full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but can restore relatively efficiently because a restore can be completed in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latest differential copy.
An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changes since the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reduce storage utilization. In some cases, however, restoring can be lengthy compared to full or differential backups because completing a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup in addition to multiple incremental backups.
Synthetic full backups generally consolidate data without directly backing up data from the client computing device. A synthetic full backup is created from the most recent full backup (i.e., standard or synthetic) and subsequent incremental and/or differential backups. The resulting synthetic full backup is identical to what would have been created had the last backup for the subclient been a standard full backup. Unlike standard full, incremental, and differential backups, however, a synthetic full backup does not actually transfer data from primary storage to the backup media, because it operates as a backup consolidator. A synthetic full backup extracts the index data of each participating subclient. Using this index data and the previously backed up user data images, it builds new full backup images (e.g., bitmaps), one for each subclient. The new backup images consolidate the index and user data stored in the related incremental, differential, and previous full backups into a synthetic backup file that fully represents the subclient (e.g., via pointers) but does not comprise all its constituent data.
Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the volume level, file level, or block level. Volume level backup operations generally involve copying of a data volume (e.g., a logical disk or partition) as a whole. In a file-level backup, information management system 100 generally tracks changes to individual files and includes copies of files in the backup copy. For block-level backups, files are broken into constituent blocks, and changes are tracked at the block level. Upon restore, system 100 reassembles the blocks into files in a transparent fashion. Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to secondary storage devices 108 during a file-level copy than a volume-level copy. Likewise, a block-level copy may transfer less data than a file-level copy, resulting in faster execution. However, restoring a relatively higher-granularity copy can result in longer restore times. For instance, when restoring a block-level copy, the process of locating and retrieving constituent blocks can sometimes take longer than restoring file-level backups.
A reference copy may comprise copy(ies) of selected objects from backed up data, typically to help organize data by keeping contextual information from multiple sources together, and/or help retain specific data for a longer period of time, such as for legal hold needs. A reference copy generally maintains data integrity, and when the data is restored, it may be viewed in the same format as the source data. In some embodiments, a reference copy is based on a specialized client, individual subclient and associated information management policies (e.g., storage policy, retention policy, etc.) that are administered within system 100.
Archive Operations
Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of the copied primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies in secondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storage capacity. To reduce storage consumption, an archive operation according to certain embodiments creates an archive copy 116 by both copying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archive operations can involve moving some or all of the source data to the archive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g., data of a threshold age or size) may be removed from source storage. The source data may be primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. As with backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in which the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from the format of the original application or source copy. In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periods of time (e.g., years) and, in some cases are never deleted. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be made and kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.
Archiving can also serve the purpose of freeing up space in primary storage device(s) 104 and easing the demand on computational resources on client computing device 102. Similarly, when a secondary copy 116 is archived, the archive copy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in the source secondary storage device(s) 108. Examples of data archiving operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298.
Snapshot Operations
Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficient mechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshot may be thought of as an “instant” image of primary data 112 at a given point in time, and may include state and/or status information relative to an application 110 that creates/manages primary data 112. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capture the directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a file or volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may also preserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases is created relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using a minimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventional file system backup.
A “hardware snapshot” (or “hardware-based snapshot”) operation occurs where a target storage device (e.g., a primary storage device 104 or a secondary storage device 108) performs the snapshot operation in a self-contained fashion, substantially independently, using hardware, firmware and/or software operating on the storage device itself. For instance, the storage device may perform snapshot operations generally without intervention or oversight from any of the other components of the system 100, e.g., a storage array may generate an “array-created” hardware snapshot and may also manage its storage, integrity, versioning, etc. In this manner, hardware snapshots can off-load other components of system 100 from snapshot processing. An array may receive a request from another component to take a snapshot and then proceed to execute the “hardware snapshot” operations autonomously, preferably reporting success to the requesting component.
A “software snapshot” (or “software-based snapshot”) operation, on the other hand, occurs where a component in system 100 (e.g., client computing device 102, etc.) implements a software layer that manages the snapshot operation via interaction with the target storage device. For instance, the component executing the snapshot management software layer may derive a set of pointers and/or data that represents the snapshot. The snapshot management software layer may then transmit the same to the target storage device, along with appropriate instructions for writing the snapshot. One example of a software snapshot product is Microsoft Volume Snapshot Service (VSS), which is part of the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy of all the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but may simply create pointers that map files and directories to specific memory locations (e.g., to specific disk blocks) where the data resides as it existed at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copy may include a set of pointers derived from the file system or from an application. In some other cases, the snapshot may be created at the block-level, such that creation of the snapshot occurs without awareness of the file system. Each pointer points to a respective stored data block, so that collectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and state of the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) or data set(s)) at the point in time when the snapshot copy was created.
An initial snapshot may use only a small amount of disk space needed to record a mapping or other data structure representing or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspond to the current state of the file system. Additional disk space is usually required only when files and directories change later on. Furthermore, when files change, typically only the pointers which map to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. For example for “copy-on-write” snapshots, when a block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondary storage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten in primary storage, and the pointer to that block is changed to reflect the new location of that block. The snapshot mapping of file system data may also be updated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular point in time. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copy of all or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot. Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782. A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and without significantly impacting primary computing resources because large amounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, a snapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual file system. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of files and directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112 from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also return the current file system to the state of the file system that existed when the snapshot was taken.
Replication Operations
Replication is another type of secondary copy operation. Some types of secondary copies 116 periodically capture images of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups, archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recovery purposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, by replicating primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In some cases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, where changes made to primary data 112 are mirrored or substantially immediately copied to another location (e.g., to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation to the replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized or substantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical at approximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored, however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space and utilizes a large amount of processing resources.
According to some embodiments, secondary copy operations are performed on replicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known good state” of a particular application running on the source system. For instance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may be viewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system to directly access, copy, restore, back up, or otherwise manipulate the replication copies as if they were the “live” primary data 112. This can reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on source applications 110, among other benefits. Based on known good state information, system 100 can replicate sections of application data that represent a recoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examples of replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication) are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262.
Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations
Deduplication or single-instance storage is useful to reduce the amount of non-primary data. For instance, some or all of the above-described secondary copy operations can involve deduplication in some fashion. New data is read, broken down into data portions of a selected granularity (e.g., sub-file level blocks, files, etc.), compared with corresponding portions that are already in secondary storage, and only new/changed portions are stored. Portions that already exist are represented as pointers to the already-stored data. Thus, a deduplicated secondary copy 116 may comprise actual data portions copied from primary data 112 and may further comprise pointers to already-stored data, which is generally more storage-efficient than a full copy.
In order to streamline the comparison process, system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g., hashes or cryptographically unique IDs) corresponding to the individual source data portions and compare the signatures to already-stored data signatures, instead of comparing entire data portions. In some cases, only a single instance of each data portion is stored, and deduplication operations may therefore be referred to interchangeably as “single-instancing” operations. Depending on the implementation, however, deduplication operations can store more than one instance of certain data portions, yet still significantly reduce stored-data redundancy. Depending on the embodiment, deduplication portions such as data blocks can be of fixed or variable length. Using variable length blocks can enhance deduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but can involve more complex processing. In some cases, system 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplication blocks based on changing content in the data stream, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652.
System 100 can deduplicate in a variety of manners at a variety of locations. For instance, in some embodiments, system 100 implements “target-side” deduplication by deduplicating data at the media agent 144 after being received from data agent 142. In some such cases, media agents 144 are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. For instance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a corresponding deduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g., data block signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900. Instead of or in combination with “target-side” deduplication, “source-side” (or “client-side”) deduplication can also be performed, e.g., to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted by data agent 142 to media agent 144. Storage manager 140 may communicate with other components within system 100 via network protocols and cloud service provider APIs to facilitate cloud-based deduplication/single instancing, as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 8,954,446. Some other deduplication/single instancing techniques are described in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846 and in U.S. Pat. No. 9,098,495.
Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage Management
In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move from more expensive quick-access storage to less expensive slower-access storage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers of storage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management (ILM) operations.
One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM) operation, which generally automatically moves data between classes of storage devices, such as from high-cost to low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operation may involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storage devices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc. For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomes less important over time. In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to archiving in that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deleting some of the source data, e.g., according to one or more criteria related to the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that exceeds a given size threshold or a given age threshold. Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removed or aged from the source is replaced by a logical reference pointer or stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primary storage device 104 or other source storage device, such as a secondary storage device 108 to replace the deleted source data and to point to or otherwise indicate the new location in (another) secondary storage device 108.
For example, files are generally moved between higher and lower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When a user requests access to HSM data that has been removed or migrated, system 100 uses the stub to locate the data and can make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though the HSM data may be stored at a location different from other source data. In this manner, the data appears to the user (e.g., in file system browsing windows and the like) as if it still resides in the source location (e.g., in a primary storage device 104). The stub may include metadata associated with the corresponding data, so that a file system and/or application can provide some information about the data object and/or a limited-functionality version (e.g., a preview) of the data object.
An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native application format (e.g., compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified). In some cases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage and the maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on source storage may be referred to generally as “online archive copies.” On the other hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage without the maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies.” Examples of HSM and ILM techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
Auxiliary Copy Operations
An auxiliary copy is generally a copy of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initial secondary copy 116 may be derived from primary data 112 or from data residing in secondary storage subsystem 118, whereas an auxiliary copy is generated from the initial secondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies provide additional standby copies of data and may reside on different secondary storage devices 108 than the initial secondary copies 116. Thus, auxiliary copies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondary copies 116 become unavailable. Exemplary auxiliary copy techniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195.
Disaster-Recovery Copy Operations
System 100 may also make and retain disaster recovery copies, often as secondary, high-availability disk copies. System 100 may create secondary copies and store them at disaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replication operations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Depending on the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations can be remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storage devices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices 108, or both.
Data Manipulation, Including Encryption and Compression
Data manipulation and processing may include encryption and compression as well as integrity marking and checking, formatting for transmission, formatting for storage, etc. Data may be manipulated “client-side” by data agent 142 as well as “target-side” by media agent 144 in the course of creating secondary copy 116, or conversely in the course of restoring data from secondary to primary.
Encryption Operations
System 100 in some cases is configured to process data (e.g., files or other data objects, primary data 112, secondary copies 116, etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data Encryption Standard (3-DES), etc.) to limit access and provide data security. System 100 in some cases encrypts the data at the client level, such that client computing devices 102 (e.g., data agents 142) encrypt the data prior to transferring it to other components, e.g., before sending the data to media agents 144 during a secondary copy operation. In such cases, client computing device 102 may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase for decrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur when media agent 144 creates auxiliary copies or archive copies. Encryption may be applied in creating a secondary copy 116 of a previously unencrypted secondary copy 116, without limitation. In further embodiments, secondary storage devices 108 can implement built-in, high performance hardware-based encryption.
Compression Operations
Similar to encryption, system 100 may also or alternatively compress data in the course of generating a secondary copy 116. Compression encodes information such that fewer bits are needed to represent the information as compared to the original representation. Compression techniques are well known in the art. Compression operations may apply one or more data compression algorithms. Compression may be applied in creating a secondary copy 116 of a previously uncompressed secondary copy, e.g., when making archive copies or disaster recovery copies. The use of compression may result in metadata that specifies the nature of the compression, so that data may be uncompressed on restore if appropriate.
Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management Operations
Data analysis, reporting, and management operations can differ from data movement operations in that they do not necessarily involve copying, migration or other transfer of data between different locations in the system. For instance, data analysis operations may involve processing (e.g., offline processing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data analysis operations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations. Some data analysis operations include content indexing operations and classification operations which can be useful in leveraging data under management to enhance search and other features.
Classification Operations/Content Indexing
In some embodiments, information management system 100 analyzes and indexes characteristics, content, and metadata associated with primary data 112 (“online content indexing”) and/or secondary copies 116 (“off-line content indexing”). Content indexing can identify files or other data objects based on content (e.g., user-defined keywords or phrases, other keywords/phrases that are not defined by a user, etc.), and/or metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to,” “from,” “cc,” “bcc,” attachment name, received time, etc.). Content indexes may be searched and search results may be restored.
System 100 generally organizes and catalogues the results into a content index, which may be stored within media agent database 152, for example. The content index can also include the storage locations of or pointer references to indexed data in primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. Results may also be stored elsewhere in system 100 (e.g., in primary storage device 104 or in secondary storage device 108). Such content index data provides storage manager 140 or other components with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particular criteria, thus greatly increasing the search speed capability of system 100. For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through user interface 158 of storage manager 140. Moreover, when system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies 116 to create an “off-line content index,” this operation has no significant impact on the performance of client computing devices 102 and thus does not take a toll on the production environment. Examples of content indexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995.
One or more components, such as a content index engine, can be configured to scan data and/or associated metadata for classification purposes to populate a database (or other data structure) of information, which can be referred to as a “data classification database” or a “metabase.” Depending on the embodiment, the data classification database(s) can be organized in a variety of different ways, including centralization, logical sub-divisions, and/or physical sub-divisions. For instance, one or more data classification databases may be associated with different subsystems or tiers within system 100. As an example, there may be a first metabase associated with primary storage subsystem 117 and a second metabase associated with secondary storage subsystem 118. In other cases, metabase(s) may be associated with individual components, e.g., client computing devices 102 and/or media agents 144. In some embodiments, a data classification database may reside as one or more data structures within management database 146, may be otherwise associated with storage manager 140, and/or may reside as a separate component. In some cases, metabase(s) may be included in separate database(s) and/or on separate storage device(s) from primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116, such that operations related to the metabase(s) do not significantly impact performance on other components of system 100. In other cases, metabase(s) may be stored along with primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files or other data objects can be associated with identifiers (e.g., tag entries, etc.) to facilitate searches of stored data objects. Among a number of other benefits, the metabase can also allow efficient, automatic identification of files or other data objects to associate with secondary copy or other information management operations. For instance, a metabase can dramatically improve the speed with which system 100 can search through and identify data as compared to other approaches that involve scanning an entire file system. Examples of metabases and data classification operations are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,734,669 and 7,747,579.
Management and Reporting Operations
Certain embodiments leverage the integrated ubiquitous nature of system 100 to provide useful system-wide management and reporting. Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing the health and performance of system 100 by, without limitation, performing error tracking, generating granular storage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information, deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costing information, and the like. As an example, storage manager 140 or another component in system 100 may analyze traffic patterns and suggest and/or automatically route data to minimize congestion. In some embodiments, the system can generate predictions relating to storage operations or storage operation information. Such predictions, which may be based on a trending analysis, may predict various network operations or resource usage, such as network traffic levels, storage media use, use of bandwidth of communication links, use of media agent components, etc. Further examples of traffic analysis, trend analysis, prediction generation, and the like are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
In some configurations having a hierarchy of storage operation cells, a master storage manager 140 may track the status of subordinate cells, such as the status of jobs, system components, system resources, and other items, by communicating with storage managers 140 (or other components) in the respective storage operation cells. Moreover, the master storage manager 140 may also track status by receiving periodic status updates from the storage managers 140 (or other components) in the respective cells regarding jobs, system components, system resources, and other items. In some embodiments, a master storage manager 140 may store status information and other information regarding its associated storage operation cells and other system information in its management database 146 and/or index 150 (or in another location). The master storage manager 140 or other component may also determine whether certain storage-related or other criteria are satisfied, and may perform an action or trigger event (e.g., data migration) in response to the criteria being satisfied, such as where a storage threshold is met for a particular volume, or where inadequate protection exists for certain data. For instance, data from one or more storage operation cells is used to dynamically and automatically mitigate recognized risks, and/or to advise users of risks or suggest actions to mitigate these risks. For example, an information management policy may specify certain requirements (e.g., that a storage device should maintain a certain amount of free space, that secondary copies should occur at a particular interval, that data should be aged and migrated to other storage after a particular period, that data on a secondary volume should always have a certain level of availability and be restorable within a given time period, that data on a secondary volume may be mirrored or otherwise migrated to a specified number of other volumes, etc.). If a risk condition or other criterion is triggered, the system may notify the user of these conditions and may suggest (or automatically implement) a mitigation action to address the risk. For example, the system may indicate that data from a primary copy 112 should be migrated to a secondary storage device 108 to free up space on primary storage device 104. Examples of the use of risk factors and other triggering criteria are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
In some embodiments, system 100 may also determine whether a metric or other indication satisfies particular storage criteria sufficient to perform an action. For example, a storage policy or other definition might indicate that a storage manager 140 should initiate a particular action if a storage metric or other indication drops below or otherwise fails to satisfy specified criteria such as a threshold of data protection. In some embodiments, risk factors may be quantified into certain measurable service or risk levels. For example, certain applications and associated data may be considered to be more important relative to other data and services. Financial compliance data, for example, may be of greater importance than marketing materials, etc. Network administrators may assign priority values or “weights” to certain data and/or applications corresponding to the relative importance. The level of compliance of secondary copy operations specified for these applications may also be assigned a certain value. Thus, the health, impact, and overall importance of a service may be determined, such as by measuring the compliance value and calculating the product of the priority value and the compliance value to determine the “service level” and comparing it to certain operational thresholds to determine whether it is acceptable. Further examples of the service level determination are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
System 100 may additionally calculate data costing and data availability associated with information management operation cells. For instance, data received from a cell may be used in conjunction with hardware-related information and other information about system elements to determine the cost of storage and/or the availability of particular data. Exemplary information generated could include how fast a particular department is using up available storage space, how long data would take to recover over a particular pathway from a particular secondary storage device, costs over time, etc. Moreover, in some embodiments, such information may be used to determine or predict the overall cost associated with the storage of certain information. The cost associated with hosting a certain application may be based, at least in part, on the type of media on which the data resides, for example. Storage devices may be assigned to a particular cost categories, for example. Further examples of costing techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
Any of the above types of information (e.g., information related to trending, predictions, job, cell or component status, risk, service level, costing, etc.) can generally be provided to users via user interface 158 in a single integrated view or console (not shown). Report types may include: scheduling, event management, media management and data aging. Available reports may also include backup history, data aging history, auxiliary copy history, job history, library and drive, media in library, restore history, and storage policy, etc., without limitation. Such reports may be specified and created at a certain point in time as a system analysis, forecasting, or provisioning tool. Integrated reports may also be generated that illustrate storage and performance metrics, risks and storage costing information. Moreover, users may create their own reports based on specific needs. User interface 158 can include an option to graphically depict the various components in the system using appropriate icons. As one example, user interface 158 may provide a graphical depiction of primary storage devices 104, secondary storage devices 108, data agents 142 and/or media agents 144, and their relationship to one another in system 100.
In general, the operations management functionality of system 100 can facilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in some embodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well as the status of each component of information management system 100. Users may then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance, a user may view high-level information regarding secondary copy operations for system 100, such as job status, component status, resource status (e.g., communication pathways, etc.), and other information. The user may also drill down or use other means to obtain more detailed information regarding a particular component, job, or the like. Further examples are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.
System 100 can also be configured to perform system-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general, e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and search capability for data in the system, such as data stored in secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies 116). For example, system 100 may construct and maintain a virtual repository for data stored in system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110, different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments, e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as data classification and/or content indexing.
An information management policy 148 can include a data structure or other information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondary copy and/or other information management operations.
One type of information management policy 148 is a “storage policy.” According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises a data structure or other information source that defines (or includes information sufficient to determine) a set of preferences or other criteria for performing information management operations. Storage policies can include one or more of the following: (1) what data will be associated with the storage policy, e.g., subclient; (2) a destination to which the data will be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how the data will be communicated to the destination; (4) the type of secondary copy operation to be performed; and (5) retention information specifying how long the data will be retained at the destination (see, e.g.,
A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a target or destination storage device (or group of storage devices). For instance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group of disk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk library for storing the subclients associated with the policy. As another example, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or more tape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape library for storing the subclients associated with the storage policy, and may also specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tape drives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing the subclient data. While information in the storage policy can be statically assigned in some cases, some or all of the information in the storage policy can also be dynamically determined based on criteria set forth in the storage policy. For instance, based on such criteria, a particular destination storage device(s) or other parameter of the storage policy may be determined based on characteristics associated with the data involved in a particular secondary copy operation, device availability (e.g., availability of a secondary storage device 108 or a media agent 144), network status and conditions (e.g., identified bottlenecks), user credentials, and the like.
Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. For instance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and components to utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). In some embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents 144 for conveying data associated with the storage policy between the source and destination. A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of associated operations, such as backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliary copy, or the like. Furthermore, retention parameters can specify how long the resulting secondary copies 116 will be kept (e.g., a number of days, months, years, etc.), perhaps depending on organizational needs and/or compliance criteria.
When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators can manually configure information management policies 148 and/or other settings, e.g., via user interface 158. However, this can be an involved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begin data protection operations quickly, without awaiting human intervention. Thus, in some embodiments, system 100 automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device 102. As one example, when one or more data agent(s) 142 are installed on a client computing device 102, the installation script may register the client computing device 102 with storage manager 140, which in turn applies the default configuration to the new client computing device 102. In this manner, data protection operations can begin substantially immediately. The default configuration can include a default storage policy, for example, and can specify any appropriate information sufficient to begin data protection operations. This can include a type of data protection operation, scheduling information, a target secondary storage device 108, data path information (e.g., a particular media agent 144), and the like.
Another type of information management policy 148 is a “scheduling policy,” which specifies when and how often to perform operations. Scheduling parameters may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly, weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditions secondary copy or other information management operations are to take place. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particular components, such as a subclient, client computing device 102, and the like.
Another type of information management policy 148 is an “audit policy” (or “security policy”), which comprises preferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in system 100. For example, an audit policy may define “sensitive objects” which are files or data objects that contain particular keywords (e.g., “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associated with particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g., in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential, etc.). An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitive objects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewer approve the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site, and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, the sensitive object should be transferred to a local primary storage device 104 instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may further specify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other system component should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated for transfer.
Another type of information management policy 148 is a “provisioning policy,” which can include preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria that specify how client computing devices 102 (or groups thereof) may utilize system resources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/or network bandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, data quotas for particular client computing devices 102 (e.g., a number of gigabytes that can be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). Storage manager 140 or other components may enforce the provisioning policy. For instance, media agents 144 may enforce the policy when transferring data to secondary storage devices 108. If a client computing device 102 exceeds a quota, a budget for the client computing device 102 (or associated department) may be adjusted accordingly or an alert may trigger.
While the above types of information management policies 148 are described as separate policies, one or more of these can be generally combined into a single information management policy 148. For instance, a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one or more scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies or operational parameters thereof. Moreover, while storage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data, other policies may be associated with other types of information management operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of items that information management policies 148 may specify:
Information management policies 148 can additionally specify or depend on historical or current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to apply to a particular data object, system component, or information management operation, such as:
Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Copy Operations
As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and tape library 1088 are “off-site,” and may be remotely located from the other components in system 100 (e.g., in a different city, office building, etc.). Indeed, “off-site” may refer to a magnetic tape located in remote storage, which must be manually retrieved and loaded into a tape drive to be read. In this manner, information stored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of a disaster or other failure at the main site(s) where data is stored.
The file system subclient 112A in certain embodiments generally comprises information generated by the file system and/or operating system of client computing device 102, and can include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, file tables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries, event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail subclient 112B can include data generated by an e-mail application operating on client computing device 102, e.g., mailbox information, folder information, emails, attachments, associated database information, and the like. As described above, the subclients can be logical containers, and the data included in the corresponding primary data 112A and 112B may or may not be stored contiguously.
The exemplary storage policy 148A includes backup copy preferences or rule set 160, disaster recovery copy preferences or rule set 162, and compliance copy preferences or rule set 164. Backup copy rule set 160 specifies that it is associated with file system subclient 166 and email subclient 168. Each of subclients 166 and 168 are associated with the particular client computing device 102. Backup copy rule set 160 further specifies that the backup operation will be written to disk library 108A and designates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to disk library 108A. Finally, backup copy rule set 160 specifies that backup copies created according to rule set 160 are scheduled to be generated hourly and are to be retained for 30 days. In some other embodiments, scheduling information is not included in storage policy 148A and is instead specified by a separate scheduling policy.
Disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same two subclients 166 and 168. However, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with tape library 108B, unlike backup copy rule set 160. Moreover, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifies that a different media agent, namely 144B, will convey data to tape library 108B. Disaster recovery copies created according to rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days and will be generated daily. Disaster recovery copies generated according to disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in the event of a disaster or other catastrophic data loss that would affect the backup copy 116A maintained on disk library 108A.
Compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the email subclient 168, and not the file system subclient 166. Compliance copies generated according to compliance copy rule set 164 will therefore not include primary data 112A from the file system subclient 166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to store and maintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10 years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similar regulations do not apply to file system data. Compliance copy rule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and media agent 144B as disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although a different storage device or media agent could be used in other embodiments. Finally, compliance copy rule set 164 specifies that the copies it governs will be generated quarterly and retained for 10 years.
Secondary Copy Jobs
A logical grouping of secondary copy operations governed by a rule set and being initiated at a point in time may be referred to as a “secondary copy job” (and sometimes may be called a “backup job,” even though it is not necessarily limited to creating only backup copies). Secondary copy jobs may be initiated on demand as well. Steps 1-9 below illustrate three secondary copy jobs based on storage policy 148A.
Referring to
At step 2, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B on client computing device 102 respond to instructions from storage manager 140 by accessing and processing the respective subclient primary data 112A and 112B involved in the backup copy operation, which can be found in primary storage device 104. Because the secondary copy operation is a backup copy operation, the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format or otherwise process the data suitable for a backup copy.
At step 3, client computing device 102 communicates the processed file system data (e.g., using file system data agent 142A) and the processed email data (e.g., using email data agent 142B) to the first media agent 144A according to backup copy rule set 160, as directed by storage manager 140. Storage manager 140 may further keep a record in management database 146 of the association between media agent 144A and one or more of: client computing device 102, file system subclient 112A, file system data agent 142A, email subclient 1128, email data agent 142B, and/or backup copy 116A.
The target media agent 144A receives the data-agent-processed data from client computing device 102, and at step 4 generates and conveys backup copy 116A to disk library 108A to be stored as backup copy 116A, again at the direction of storage manager 140 and according to backup copy rule set 160. Media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include data and/or metadata related to backup copy 116A, such as information indicating where the backup copy 116A resides on disk library 108A, where the email copy resides, where the file system copy resides, data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. Storage manager 140 may similarly update its index 150 to include information relating to the secondary copy operation, such as information relating to the type of operation, a physical location associated with one or more copies created by the operation, the time the operation was performed, status information relating to the operation, the components involved in the operation, and the like. In some cases, storage manager 140 may update its index 150 to include some or all of the information stored in index 153 of media agent 144A. At this point, the backup job may be considered complete. After the 30-day retention period expires, storage manager 140 instructs media agent 144A to delete backup copy 116A from disk library 108A and indexes 150 and/or 153 are updated accordingly.
At step 5, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job for a disaster recovery copy according to the disaster recovery rule set 162. Illustratively this includes steps 5-7 occurring daily for creating disaster recovery copy 1168. Illustratively, and by way of illustrating the scalable aspects and off-loading principles embedded in system 100, disaster recovery copy 1168 is based on backup copy 116A and not on primary data 112A and 1128.
At step 6, illustratively based on instructions received from storage manager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 1448 retrieves the most recent backup copy 116A from disk library 108A.
At step 7, again at the direction of storage manager 140 and as specified in disaster recovery copy rule set 162, media agent 144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 1168 and store it to tape library 1088. In some cases, disaster recovery copy 1168 is a direct, mirror copy of backup copy 116A, and remains in the backup format. In other embodiments, disaster recovery copy 1168 may be further compressed or encrypted, or may be generated in some other manner, such as by using primary data 112A and 1128 from primary storage device 104 as sources. The disaster recovery copy operation is initiated once a day and disaster recovery copies 1168 are deleted after 60 days; indexes 153 and/or 150 are updated accordingly when/after each information management operation is executed and/or completed. The present backup job may be considered completed.
At step 8, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job according to compliance rule set 164, which performs steps 8-9 quarterly to create compliance copy 116C. For instance, storage manager 140 instructs media agent 144B to create compliance copy 116C on tape library 1088, as specified in the compliance copy rule set 164.
At step 9 in the example, compliance copy 116C is generated using disaster recovery copy 1168 as the source. This is efficient, because disaster recovery copy resides on the same secondary storage device and thus no network resources are required to move the data. In other embodiments, compliance copy 116C is instead generated using primary data 1128 corresponding to the email subclient or using backup copy 116A from disk library 108A as source data. As specified in the illustrated example, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and are deleted after ten years, and indexes 153 and/or 150 are kept up-to-date accordingly.
Exemplary Applications of Storage Policies—Information Governance Policies and Classification
Again referring to
Information governance policies allow administrators to obtain different perspectives on an organization's online and offline data, without the need for a dedicated data silo created solely for each different viewpoint. As described previously, the data storage systems herein build an index that reflects the contents of a distributed data set that spans numerous clients and storage devices, including both primary data and secondary copies, and online and offline copies. An organization may apply multiple information governance policies in a top-down manner over that unified data set and indexing schema in order to view and manipulate the data set through different lenses, each of which is adapted to a particular compliance or business goal. Thus, for example, by applying an e-discovery policy and a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, two different groups of users in an organization can conduct two very different analyses of the same underlying physical set of data/copies, which may be distributed throughout the information management system.
An information governance policy may comprise a classification policy, which defines a taxonomy of classification terms or tags relevant to a compliance task and/or business objective. A classification policy may also associate a defined tag with a classification rule. A classification rule defines a particular combination of criteria, such as users who have created, accessed or modified a document or data object; file or application types; content or metadata keywords; clients or storage locations; dates of data creation and/or access; review status or other status within a workflow (e.g., reviewed or un-reviewed); modification times or types of modifications; and/or any other data attributes in any combination, without limitation. A classification rule may also be defined using other classification tags in the taxonomy. The various criteria used to define a classification rule may be combined in any suitable fashion, for example, via Boolean operators, to define a complex classification rule. As an example, an e-discovery classification policy might define a classification tag “privileged” that is associated with documents or data objects that (1) were created or modified by legal department staff, or (2) were sent to or received from outside counsel via email, or (3) contain one of the following keywords: “privileged” or “attorney” or “counsel,” or other like terms. Accordingly, all these documents or data objects will be classified as “privileged.”
One specific type of classification tag, which may be added to an index at the time of indexing, is an “entity tag.” An entity tag may be, for example, any content that matches a defined data mask format. Examples of entity tags might include, e.g., social security numbers (e.g., any numerical content matching the formatting mask XXX-XX-XXXX), credit card numbers (e.g., content having a 13-16 digit string of numbers), SKU numbers, product numbers, etc. A user may define a classification policy by indicating criteria, parameters or descriptors of the policy via a graphical user interface, such as a form or page with fields to be filled in, pull-down menus or entries allowing one or more of several options to be selected, buttons, sliders, hypertext links or other known user interface tools for receiving user input, etc. For example, a user may define certain entity tags, such as a particular product number or project ID. In some implementations, the classification policy can be implemented using cloud-based techniques. For example, the storage devices may be cloud storage devices, and the storage manager 140 may execute cloud service provider API over a network to classify data stored on cloud storage devices.
Restore Operations from Secondary Copies
While not shown in
As one example, a user may manually initiate a restore of backup copy 116A, e.g., by interacting with user interface 158 of storage manager 140 or with a web-based console with access to system 100. Storage manager 140 may accesses data in its index 150 and/or management database 146 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associated with the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate media agent 144A and/or secondary storage device 108A where the secondary copy resides. The user may be presented with a representation (e.g., stub, thumbnail, listing, etc.) and metadata about the selected secondary copy, in order to determine whether this is the appropriate copy to be restored, e.g., date that the original primary data was created. Storage manager 140 will then instruct media agent 144A and an appropriate data agent 142 on the target client computing device 102 to restore secondary copy 116A to primary storage device 104. A media agent may be selected for use in the restore operation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability based algorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent, e.g., 144A, retrieves secondary copy 116A from disk library 108A. For instance, media agent 144A may access its index 153 to identify a location of backup copy 116A on disk library 108A, or may access location information residing on disk library 108A itself.
In some cases a backup copy 116A that was recently created or accessed, may be cached to speed up the restore operation. In such a case, media agent 144A accesses a cached version of backup copy 116A residing in index 153, without having to access disk library 108A for some or all of the data. Once it has retrieved backup copy 116A, the media agent 144A communicates the data to the requesting client computing device 102. Upon receipt, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B may unpack (e.g., restore from a backup format to the native application format) the data in backup copy 116A and restore the unpackaged data to primary storage device 104. In general, secondary copies 116 may be restored to the same volume or folder in primary storage device 104 from which the secondary copy was derived; to another storage location or client computing device 102; to shared storage, etc. In some cases, the data may be restored so that it may be used by an application 110 of a different version/vintage from the application that created the original primary data 112.
The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary depending on the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted as a series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication and writing to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resource availability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written on a chunk-by-chunk basis to one or more secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users can select different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tape storage devices. Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payload can include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included in the chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relating to the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. For example, during a secondary copy operation, media agent 144, storage manager 140, or other component may divide files into chunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the files. Headers can include a variety of information such as file and/or volume identifier(s), offset(s), and/or other information associated with the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly, in addition to being stored with secondary copy 116 on secondary storage device 108, chunk headers can also be stored to index 153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or to index 150 associated with storage manager 140. This can be useful for providing faster processing of secondary copies 116 during browsing, restores, or other operations. In some cases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to a secondary storage device 108, the secondary storage device 108 returns an indication of receipt, e.g., to media agent 144 and/or storage manager 140, which may update their respective indexes 153, 150 accordingly. During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by media agent 144) according to the information in the chunk header to reassemble the files.
Data can also be communicated within system 100 in data channels that connect client computing devices 102 to secondary storage devices 108. These data channels can be referred to as “data streams,” and multiple data streams can be employed to parallelize an information management operation, improving data transfer rate, among other advantages. Example data formatting techniques including techniques involving data streaming, chunking, and the use of other data structures in creating secondary copies are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,315,923, 8,156,086, and 8,578,120.
Referring to
As an example, data structures 180 illustrated in
If the operating system of the secondary storage computing device 106 on which media agent 144 operates supports sparse files, then when media agent 144 creates container files 190/191/193, it can create them as sparse files. A sparse file is a type of file that may include empty space (e.g., a sparse file may have real data within it, such as at the beginning of the file and/or at the end of the file, but may also have empty space in it that is not storing actual data, such as a contiguous range of bytes all having a value of zero). Having container files 190/191/193 be sparse files allows media agent 144 to free up space in container files 190/191/193 when blocks of data in container files 190/191/193 no longer need to be stored on the storage devices. In some examples, media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 when a container file 190/191/193 either includes 100 blocks of data or when the size of the container file 190 exceeds 50 MB. In other examples, media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 when a container file 190/191/193 satisfies other criteria (e.g., it contains from approx. 100 to approx. 1000 blocks or when its size exceeds approximately 50 MB to 1 GB). In some cases, a file on which a secondary copy operation is performed may comprise a large number of data blocks. For example, a 100 MB file may comprise 400 data blocks of size 256 KB. If such a file is to be stored, its data blocks may span more than one container file, or even more than one chunk folder. As another example, a database file of 20 GB may comprise over 40,000 data blocks of size 512 KB. If such a database file is to be stored, its data blocks will likely span multiple container files, multiple chunk folders, and potentially multiple volume folders. Restoring such files may require accessing multiple container files, chunk folders, and/or volume folders to obtain the requisite data blocks.
There is an increased demand to off-load resource intensive information management tasks (e.g., data replication tasks) away from production devices (e.g., physical or virtual client computing devices) in order to maximize production efficiency. At the same time, enterprises expect access to readily-available up-to-date recovery copies in the event of failure, with little or no production downtime.
The synchronization can be achieved by generally applying an ongoing stream of incremental backups from the source subsystem 201 to the destination subsystem 203, such as according to what can be referred to as an “incremental forever” approach.
As shown, the data can be copied from source to destination in an incremental fashion, such that only changed blocks are transmitted, and in some cases multiple incremental backups are consolidated at the source so that only the most current changed blocks are transmitted to and applied at the destination. An example of live synchronization of virtual machines using the “incremental forever” approach is found in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/265,339 entitled “Live Synchronization and Management of Virtual Machines across Computing and Virtualization Platforms and Using Live Synchronization to Support Disaster Recovery.” Moreover, a deduplicated copy can be employed to further reduce network traffic from source to destination. For instance, the system can utilize the deduplicated copy techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,687, entitled “Systems and Methods for Retaining and Using Data Block Signatures in Data Protection Operations.”
At step 4, destination media agent(s) 244b write the received backup/secondary copy data to the destination secondary storage device(s) 208b. At step 5, the synchronization is completed when the destination media agent(s) and destination data agent(s) 242b restore the backup/secondary copy data to the destination client computing device(s) 202b. The destination client computing device(s) 202b may be kept “warm” awaiting activation in case failure is detected at the source. This synchronization/replication process can incorporate the techniques described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/721,971, entitled “Replication Using Deduplicated Secondary Copy Data.”
Where the incremental backups are applied on a frequent, on-going basis, the synchronized copies can be viewed as mirror or replication copies. Moreover, by applying the incremental backups to the destination site 203 using backup or other secondary copy data, the production site 201 is not burdened with the synchronization operations. Because the destination site 203 can be maintained in a synchronized “warm” state, the downtime for switching over from the production site 201 to the destination site 203 is substantially less than with a typical restore from secondary storage. Thus, the production site 201 may flexibly and efficiently fail over, with minimal downtime and with relatively up-to-date data, to a destination site 203, such as a cloud-based failover site. The destination site 203 can later be reverse synchronized back to the production site 201, such as after repairs have been implemented or after the failure has passed.
Integrating with the Cloud Using File System Protocols
Given the ubiquity of cloud computing, it can be increasingly useful to provide data protection and other information management services in a scalable, transparent, and highly plug-able fashion.
Where NFS is used, for example, secondary storage subsystem 218 allocates an NFS network path to the client computing device 202 or to one or more target applications 210 running on client computing device 202. During a backup or other secondary copy operation, the client computing device 202 mounts the designated NFS path and writes data to that NFS path. The NFS path may be obtained from NFS path data 215 stored locally at the client computing device 202, and which may be a copy of or otherwise derived from NFS path data 219 stored in the secondary storage subsystem 218.
Write requests issued by client computing device(s) 202 are received by data agent 242 in secondary storage subsystem 218, which translates the requests and works in conjunction with media agent 244 to process and write data to a secondary storage device(s) 208, thereby creating a backup or other secondary copy. Storage manager 240 can include a pseudo-client manager 217, which coordinates the process by, among other things, communicating information relating to client computing device 202 and application 210 (e.g., application type, client computing device identifier, etc.) to data agent 242, obtaining appropriate NFS path data from the data agent 242 (e.g., NFS path information), and delivering such data to client computing device 202.
Conversely, during a restore or recovery operation client computing device 202 reads from the designated NFS network path, and the read request is translated by data agent 242. The data agent 242 then works with media agent 244 to retrieve, re-process (e.g., re-hydrate, decompress, decrypt), and forward the requested data to client computing device 202 using NFS.
By moving specialized software associated with system 200 such as data agent 242 off the client computing devices 202, the illustrative architecture effectively decouples the client computing devices 202 from the installed components of system 200, improving both scalability and plug-ability of system 200. Indeed, the secondary storage subsystem 218 in such environments can be treated simply as a read/write NFS target for primary storage subsystem 217, without the need for information management software to be installed on client computing devices 202. As one example, an enterprise implementing a cloud production computing environment can add VM client computing devices 202 without installing and configuring specialized information management software on these VMs. Rather, backups and restores are achieved transparently, where the new VMs simply write to and read from the designated NFS path. An example of integrating with the cloud using file system protocols or so-called “infinite backup” using NFS share is found in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/294,920, entitled “Data Protection Operations Based on Network Path Information.” Examples of improved data restoration scenarios based on network-path information, including using stored backups effectively as primary data sources, may be found in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/297,057, entitled “Data Restoration Operations Based on Network Path Information.”
Enterprises are seeing explosive data growth in recent years, often from various applications running in geographically distributed locations.
The illustrated system 200 includes a grid 245 of media agents 244 logically organized into a control tier 231 and a secondary or storage tier 233. Media agents assigned to the storage tier 233 can be configured to manage a secondary storage pool 208 as a deduplication store, and be configured to receive client write and read requests from the primary storage subsystem 217, and direct those requests to the secondary tier 233 for servicing. For instance, media agents CMA1-CMA3 in the control tier 231 maintain and consult one or more deduplication databases 247, which can include deduplication information (e.g., data block hashes, data block links, file containers for deduplicated files, etc.) sufficient to read deduplicated files from secondary storage pool 208 and write deduplicated files to secondary storage pool 208. For instance, system 200 can incorporate any of the deduplication systems and methods shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900, entitled “Distributed Deduplicated Storage System,” and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2014/0201170, entitled “High Availability Distributed Deduplicated Storage System.”
Media agents SMA1-SMA6 assigned to the secondary tier 233 receive write and read requests from media agents CMA1-CMA3 in control tier 231, and access secondary storage pool 208 to service those requests. Media agents CMA1-CMA3 in control tier 231 can also communicate with secondary storage pool 208, and may execute read and write requests themselves (e.g., in response to requests from other control media agents CMA1-CMA3) in addition to issuing requests to media agents in secondary tier 233. Moreover, while shown as separate from the secondary storage pool 208, deduplication database(s) 247 can in some cases reside in storage devices in secondary storage pool 208.
As shown, each of the media agents 244 (e.g., CMA1-CMA3, SMA1-SMA6, etc.) in grid 245 can be allocated a corresponding dedicated partition 251A-2511, respectively, in secondary storage pool 208. Each partition 251 can include a first portion 253 containing data associated with (e.g., stored by) media agent 244 corresponding to the respective partition 251. System 200 can also implement a desired level of replication, thereby providing redundancy in the event of a failure of a media agent 244 in grid 245. Along these lines, each partition 251 can further include a second portion 255 storing one or more replication copies of the data associated with one or more other media agents 244 in the grid.
System 200 can also be configured to allow for seamless addition of media agents 244 to grid 245 via automatic configuration. As one illustrative example, a storage manager (not shown) or other appropriate component may determine that it is appropriate to add an additional node to control tier 231, and perform some or all of the following: (i) assess the capabilities of a newly added or otherwise available computing device as satisfying a minimum criteria to be configured as or hosting a media agent in control tier 231; (ii) confirm that a sufficient amount of the appropriate type of storage exists to support an additional node in control tier 231 (e.g., enough disk drive capacity exists in storage pool 208 to support an additional deduplication database 247); (iii) install appropriate media agent software on the computing device and configure the computing device according to a pre-determined template; (iv) establish a partition 251 in the storage pool 208 dedicated to the newly established media agent 244; and (v) build any appropriate data structures (e.g., an instance of deduplication database 247). An example of highly scalable managed data pool architecture or so-called web-scale architecture for storage and data management is found in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/273,286 entitled “Redundant and Robust Distributed Deduplication Data Storage System.”
The embodiments and components thereof disclosed in
As shown in
The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 and the storage manager 140 shown in
The data agent 310 may be similar to and/or implemented similarly as one or more of the data agents previously discussed, such as data agent(s) 142. In one embodiment, the data agent 310 is associated with the network attached storage device 304, and is configured to send instructions and/or commands to the network attached storage device 304. Furthermore, the data agent 310 may receive one or more instructions from the storage manager 140 to initiate a backup operation by the network attached storage device 304. Accordingly, the data agent 310 works in conjunction with the storage manager 140 to coordinate and initiate backup operations by the network attached storage device 304.
In one embodiment, the data agent 310 is implemented on the secondary storage computing device(s) 106. The data agent 310 may be implemented on the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 as the owner or operator of the network attached storage device 304 may prefer to limit modifications to the network attached storage device 304. Thus, implementing the data agent 310 on the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 because it allows the owner or operator of the network attached storage device 304 to keep the network attached storage device 304 unmodified while obtaining the backup and control benefits if the data agent 310 was implemented on the network attached storage device 304. In some embodiments, the network attached storage device 304 may provide an API that includes backup operation and communication commands, and the data agent 310 instructs the network attached storage device 304 to perform certain operations by using the commands provided in the API.
As with the data agent 310, the media agent(s) 312 may be similar to and/or implemented similarly as one or more of the media agents previously discussed, such as media agent(s) 144. However, the media agent(s) 312 may be further configured to accommodate the backup and restore operations with the network attached storage device 304, which may be in communication with the secondary storage computing device(s) 106.
The network attached storage device 304 is configured to store primary data 308. The network attached storage device 304 is configured to provide and/or receive primary data 308 to and/or from one or more client computing devices (not shown). A client computing device may include, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a smartphone, a wearable computing device (e.g., a smartwatch), or any other client computing device now known or later developed.
The primary data 308 may include one or more files (or other data) stored on a computing storage device (e.g., a hard drive), computer-readable media (e.g., optical media, magnetic media), or any combination thereof. The network attached storage device 304 is configured to receive instructions from one or more other computing devices in the information management system 300, such as the secondary storage computing device(s) 106, the storage manager 140, or any number of client computing devices.
The network attached storage device 304 may communicate with the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 via one or more connections 316-318. The network attached storage device 304 and/or the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 may establish the connections 316-318 using one or more transmission mediums including wired and/or wireless transmission mediums.
The connections 316-318 facilitate the transfer of secondary copy data 320 to and/or from the network attached storage device 304. In one embodiment, a first connection 316 is a data connection and a second connection 318 is a control connection. The network attached storage device 304 may use the first connection 316 to send secondary copy data 320 to the media agent(s) 312 during a backup operation. Similarly, the media agent(s) 312 may use the first connection 316 to send secondary copy data 320 to the network attached storage device 304 from the secondary storage device(s) 108 in response to a restoration request from the network attached storage device 304. In this way, the data connection 316 may be a bi-directional connection between the network attached storage device 304 and the secondary storage computing device(s) 106.
The second connection 318 (e.g., the control connection 318) is configured to communicate commands from the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 to the network attached storage device 304 and/or to communicate commands from the network attached storage device 304 to the secondary storage computing device(s) 106. The network attached storage device 304 may communicate one or more commands to one or more modules of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106, such as a restoration command, to restore one or more files from the secondary copy data 320 stored in the secondary storage device(s) 108. In addition, one or more modules of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 may communicate one or more commands to the network attached storage device 304 for performing a backup operation. For example, and as discussed further below, a data agent 310 may send a backup command via the control connection 318 to the network attached storage device 304 to perform a backup operation of the primary data 308. In response, the network attached storage device 304 may perform the backup of the primary data 308 (e.g., create the secondary copy data 320 and/or the backed-up file list 306), and communicate the secondary copy data to the media agent(s) 312 via the data connection 316. The network attached storage device 304 may also communicate the backed-up file list 306 to the media agent(s) 312 via the control connection 318.
The storage manager 140 may process one or more information management policies to determine whether the network attached storage device 304 is to perform a backup operation. For example, an information management policy may define that storage manager 140 is to instruct the network attached storage device 304 to perform a backup operation according to a predetermined schedule (e.g., daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc.). As another example, another information management policy may define that the storage manager 140 is to instruct the network attached storage device 304 to perform a backup operation based on an amount of free space for storing primary data 308 in the network attached storage device 304. In this example, the network attached storage device 304 may provide a method or function call via an API that allows the storage manager 140 to query the network attached storage device 304 for the amount of free space available for storing the primary data 308. Where the network attached storage device 304 reports that the amount of free space is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold as defined by the information management policy, the storage manager 140 may instruct the network attached storage device 304, via the data agent 310, to perform a backup operation.
The storage manager 140 may communicate instructions to the network attached storage device 304 via one or more modules of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106. For example, in one embodiment, the storage manager 140 communicates an instruction to the data agent 310 of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 that the network attached storage device 304 is to perform a backup operation. In this embodiment, the data agent 310 facilitates the communication of instructions and/or reporting information between the storage manager 140 and the network attached storage device 304. For example, the network attached storage device 304 may communicate hardware status messages (e.g., operating temperatures, uptime, power-on hours, read error rate, etc.), storage messages (e.g., available storage, used storage, etc.), operation status messages (e.g., amount of time remaining, remaining amount of data to back up, etc.), and other such status messages or other reporting information.
Where the data agent 310 receives an instruction that the network attached storage device 304 is to perform a backup operation, the data agent may then communicate the backup operation instruction to the network attached storage device 304 via the control connection 318. In one embodiment, the data agent 310 instructs the network attached storage device 304 by invoking a backup operation command listed in an API provided by the network attached storage device 304. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the data agent 310 may be configured or programmed to invoke one or more commands listed in the API provided by the network attached storage device 304. Thus, the data agent 310 may be specifically configured to interact with the network attached storage device 304.
In response to the backup operation instruction from the data agent 310, the network attached storage device 304 then performs the requested backup operation. In one embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 creates secondary copy data (e.g., to be stored as secondary copy data 320) from the primary data 308. The secondary copy data may be a backup of the primary data 308. In addition, the secondary copy data may be in a format or data structure that is proprietary to the network attached storage device 304. As discussed previously, it may be advantageous for the network attached storage device 304 to perform a backup operation using its own data format or proprietary data structure as the network attached storage device 304 may include dedicated hardware and/or circuits for performing the requested backup operation. The dedicated hardware and/or circuits may reduce the computing resources and/or time needed by the network attached storage device 304 to perform the requested backup operation than if the network attached storage device 304 were to implement a backup operation using a third-party or outside-party backup solution.
As the secondary copy data 320 may be in a data format or data structure proprietary or unique to the network attached storage device 304, other device(s), module(s), and or components of the information management system 300 may be unable to inspect or identify the specific files that make up the secondary copy data 320. Knowing the files, the contents of the files, or being able to inspect the secondary copy data 320 is helpful to the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 as it allows certain modules of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106, such as the media agent(s) 312, to index the secondary copy data 320 (e.g., by storing metadata information about the secondary copy data 320 in the media agent index 153).
Accordingly, to accommodate the powerful indexing and restoration capabilities provided by the media agent(s) 312, the network attached storage device 304 may provide additional information or metadata with the secondary copy data 320 during a backup operation. In one embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 includes a backed-up file list 306 (“file list 306”) with the secondary copy data 320. The file list 306 may include information about one or more files included in the secondary copy data 320. For example, the file list 306 may list each of the files included in the secondary copy data 320. The file list 306 may also include a logical location or logical offset within the secondary copy data 320 for each file in the file list 306. The logical location or logical offset may identify a location or offset within the secondary copy data 320 where a particular file may be found. In one embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 defines the logical offset relative to the beginning of the data structure for the secondary copy data 320. In another embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 defines the logical offset for a file relative to the size of the previous file. In summary, the logical offset defines a logical location within the secondary copy data 320 where a particular file may be located.
The file list 306 may also include other metadata information about one or more of the files included in the secondary copy data 320 including, but not limited to, a creation date, a last modification date, a file size, an owner, and other such metadata information. In some embodiments, the file list 306 may omit one or more of the foregoing metadata information, such as the logical offset, the logical location, the creation date, the last modification date, and so forth.
To transfer the file list 306 and the secondary copy data 320, the network attached storage device 304 may use the data connection 316. The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 may then store the secondary copy data 320 in temporary storage (e.g., a buffer) until the transfer of the secondary copy data 320 is complete. Upon completion of the transfer of the secondary copy data 320, the media agent(s) 312 may then perform one or more secondary operations (or post-backup operations) on the transferred secondary copy data 320. The one or more secondary operations may include compressing the secondary copy data 320, encrypting the secondary copy data 320, deduplicating the secondary copy data 320 (e.g., via block-level deduplication), any combinations of the foregoing, or any other such secondary operations.
In addition, the media agent(s) 312 updates and/or populates the media agent database 152 with metadata information of the secondary copy data 320. In particular, the media agent(s) 312 may update the media agent index 153 with the file list 306 and the logical offset(s) for the files listed in the file list 306. The media agent(s) 312 may also update and/or populate with media agent index 153 with metadata that may be included with the backed-up file list 306, such as the creation dates of the files, dates when the files were last modified, the file sizes, ownership information for each of the files in the backed-up file list 306, and any other metadata information transferred with the backed-up file list 306.
To restore one or more file(s) from the secondary copy data 320, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may include, or be modified with, an NDMP restore module 314. The NDMP restore module 314 is configured to restore one or more file(s) to a client computing device from the secondary copy data 320. The NDMP restore module 314 may be implemented using one or more computer programming and/or scripting languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, Java, ASP.NET, C#, Python, Perl, PHP, or any other computer programming or scripting language no known or later developed.
In performing a restoration of one or more files from the secondary storage device(s) 108, the client computing device may request a backed-up file list 306 from the secondary storage computing device(s) 106. The backed-up file list 306 may be presented to the user via the client computing device, and the user may select which of the files from the backed-up file list 306 to restore. For example, the user or other operator may select the files from the backed-up file list 306 using a graphical user interface (or any other kind of user interface). The client computing device may then communicate a restoration request for the selected files to the network attached storage device 304.
In response to the restoration request from the client computing device, the network attached storage device 304 may then communicate a request to the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 to restore one or more of the selected file(s) via the control connection 318 and using the NDMP protocol. Each of the files selected by the user or other operator may be associated with a logical offset and/or file size. As mentioned above, the logical offset of a file may be the location of the file relative to the secondary copy data 320. In addition, the file size may indicate the size of the selected file. The NDMP restore module 314 may leverage the logical offset of a given file and the file size to obtain a data block corresponding to the selected file as the secondary copy data 320 may be a proprietary format specific to the network attached storage device 304.
The network attached storage device 304 may communicate the restoration request of the selected files using one or more of the connections 316-318. For example, the instruction to perform the restoration may be communicated via the control connection 318. In addition, the control connection 318 may be used to communicate other parameters, such as file selections, logical offsets of the files, and the corresponding length to read from the secondary copy data. The data read from the secondary storage device(s) 108 may be communicated via the data connection 316. The commands and parameters communicated via the control connection 318 may be received by the data agent 310, which may then pass the received commands to the one or more media agent(s) 312.
The one or more media agent(s) 312 may invoke the NDMP restore module 314 to restore the selected one or more file(s) from the secondary copy data 320. As discussed with reference to
In reading through and/or traversing the second copy data 320, the NDMP restore module 314 may perform one or more reversal and/or restoration operations based on the secondary operations used to store the secondary copy data 320. For example, where the secondary copy data 320 has been deduplicated (e.g., via block deduplication), the NDMP restore module 314 may perform data rehydration on a particular data block or set of data blocks as it reads through the secondary copy data 320. Similarly, where the secondary copy data 320 has been encrypted, the NDMP restore module 314 may perform decryption on a particular data chunk of the secondary copy data 320. In this manner, the NDMP restore module 314 performs a one or more corresponding restoration operations on the secondary copy data 320 depending on which secondary operations were performed on the secondary copy data 320 in storing the secondary copy data 320 in the secondary storage device(s) 108.
The NDMP restore module 314 may read through the secondary copy data 320 for each file selected by the user and/or operator of the client computing device. In one embodiment, the logical offsets are sorted, such that the NDMP restore module 314 need only perform a single pass on the secondary copy data 320 to restore the selected files. In this embodiment, the NDMP restore module 314 sequentially reads through the secondary copy data 320 based on the provided logical offsets and, for each logical offset, reads the corresponding file size to restore a particular data block from the secondary copy data 320. In another embodiment, the logical offsets may not be sorted, such that the NDMP restore module 314 performs multiple read and/or restoration operations on the secondary copy data 320 to restore the selected one or more files.
As the network attached storage device 304 may backup the primary data 308 multiple times, the secondary storage device(s) 108 may include multiple sets of the secondary copy data 320. Accordingly, when the network attached storage device 304 communicates a restoration request to the secondary computing device(s) 106, the restoration request may also include a secondary copy data set identifier that identifies a particular set where a file selected for restoration may be found. As one example, the network attached storage device 304 may request that a first file be restored from a first secondary copy data set for a first client computing device, and that the first file be restored from a second secondary copy data set for a second client computing device, where the first file was backed-up at first time in the first secondary copy data set and the first file was backed-up at a second (or later) time in the second secondary copy data set. In this manner, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 (via the one or more media agent(s) 312) may manage multiple secondary copy data sets for the same network attached storage device 304.
For each chunk or block of data read by the NDMP restore module 314 (e.g., where a chunk corresponds to a particular logical offset and particular file size), the NDMP restore module 314 may store the data chunk or block in a buffer or other temporary storage location in the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 and/or secondary storage device(s) 108. When one or more conditions are met (e.g., a predetermined number of data blocks have been restored, a predetermined collective file size has been reached, etc.), the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 then communicates the restored files to the network attached storage device 304 via the one or more connections 316-318. In one embodiment, the data blocks are communicated via the data agent 310 and/or one or more media agent(s) 312 to the network attached storage device 304. The network attached storage device 304 may then restore the files to the primary data 308 and send a message to the client computing device that the requested files have been restored. In this manner, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 do not need to know the particular format in which the secondary copy data 320 is stored on the secondary storage device(s) 108.
In storing the secondary copy data 306 and the backed-up file list 306, one or more of the media agent(s) 312 may store information from the backed-up file list 306 in the media agent index 153. By storing the information from the backed-up file list 306 into the index 153, the one or more media agent(s) 312 can readily retrieve information about the secondary copy data 306 and provide the retrieved information to the network attached storage device 304.
Where the secondary copy data 306 is greater than or equal to a predetermined size, the secondary copy data 306 may be divided into one or more backup data chunks 406-412. A backup data chunk may be a predetermined size (e.g., four Gigabytes (GBs)). As one example, where the secondary copy data 306 is three terabytes (TBs), the one or more media agent(s) 312 may divide the three TBs of secondary copy data 306 into one or more four GB backup data chunks. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may create the backup data chunks in real-time or near real-time such that the one or more backup data chunks are created as the secondary copy data 306 is being received and/or processed by the one or more secondary storage computing device(s) 106. Thus, in one embodiment, the one or more secondary storage computing device(s) 106 need not receive the entirety of the secondary copy data 306 before populating the secondary storage device(s) 108 with the one or more backup data chunks. In another embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 provides the size of the secondary copy data 306 or the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 computes the size of the secondary copy data 306 from the backed-up file list 306, and the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 allocates space in the one or more secondary storage device(s) 108 for the number of backup data chunks that the one or more media agent(s) 312 will need to back-up the secondary copy data 306. In some instances, the number of backup data chunks are determined after one or more secondary operations are performed on the secondary copy data 306 (e.g., after encryption, compression, deduplication, etc.). In some instances, where one or more secondary operations have been performed on the secondary copy data 306, the total size of the plurality of backup data chunks 406-412 may smaller than the total size of the secondary copy data 306.
Each of the backup data chunks 406-412 may include data corresponding to one or more files. For simplicity, and by way of illustration, each of the backup data chunks 406-412 include three files. Backup data chunk 406 stores files 406A-406C, backup data chunk 408 stores files 408A-408C, backup data chunk 410 stores files 410A-410C, and backup data chunk 412 stores files 412A-412C. The files 406A-406C, 408A-408C, and 410A-410C may each be stored in one or more data segments of the backup data chunks 406-412. In other embodiments, the backup data chunks 406-412 may include fewer or more files. Furthermore, a file may span multiple backup data chunks 406-412, such as one file that begins in backup data chunk 406, continues into backup data chunk 408, and ends in backup data chunk 410. A file may also span multiple data segments of a backup data chunk 406-412.
In some instances, the data structures illustrated in
In addition to storing the files from the backed-up file list 406, the secondary storage device(s) 108 also store backup chunk metadata 414-420. In one embodiment, each of the backup chunks 406-412 are associated with corresponding backup chunk metadata 414-420. Thus, backup chunk metadata 414 corresponds to backup data chunk 406, backup chunk metadata 416 corresponds to backup data chunk 408, and so forth. In some instances, the backup chunk metadata 414-420 may be implemented similarly to the metadata files 186-187 illustrated in
The backup chunk metadata 414-420 stores metadata information for each of the backup data chunks 414-420 and may be referenced by one or more modules of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106, such as the one or more media agent(s) 312 and their corresponding NDMP restore modules 314. In one embodiment, the metadata of the backup chunk metadata 414-420 includes a chunk size 422-428, one or more logical offset(s) 430-436, and the physical offset(s) 438-446 that correspond to the logical offset(s) 430-436 for a given backup data chunk 406-412.
The chunk size 422-428 specifies the size of the corresponding backup data chunk 406-412. In one embodiment, the one or more media agent(s) 312 write an amount of data that has been stored in the backup data chunk 406-412 as the chunk size 422-428 during a secondary copy operation. In one embodiment, the value of the chunk size 422-428 is continuously updated as the one or more media agent(s) 312 write the secondary copy data 306 to the one or more secondary storage device(s) 108. Accordingly, as the one or more media agent(s) 312 are writing the secondary copy data 306 to the one or more secondary storage device(s) 108, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may check the value of the chunk size 422 to determine whether a predetermined amount of secondary copy data 306 has been written to a particular backup data chunk 406-412 (e.g., four GB). Where the predetermined amount of secondary copy data 306 has been written to a particular backup data chunk 406-412, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may then proceed to writing the secondary copy data 306 to the next backup data chunk 406-412.
In some instances, the entire capacity of a backup data chunk 406-412 may not be completely utilized (e.g., the backup data chunk 406-412 is less than the predetermined amount). Accordingly, when additional secondary copy data 306 is to be written to the one or more secondary storage device(s) 108, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may reference the chunk size 422-428 to determine whether a backup data chunk 406-412 has additional capacity for writing the secondary copy data 306. Where the one or more media agent(s) 312 determine that a particular backup data chunk 406-412 has remaining capacity, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may write the secondary copy data 306 to the determined particular backup data chunk 406-412. In this manner, the one or more media agent(s) 312 ensure that the entire capacity of a backup data chunk 406-412 is used before starting a new backup data chunk 406-412.
In some instances, a backup data chunk 406-412 may be purposefully underutilized or contain less than the predetermined amount (e.g., less than four GBs). For example, the data structures of
The logical offset(s) 430-436 of the backup chunk metadata 414-420 may indicate which logical offset(s) of the secondary copy data 306 are covered by a particular backup data chunk 406-412. In one embodiment, each logical offset 430-436 is a listing of the logical offset(s) covered by a particular backup data chunk 406-436. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may populate the logical offset(s) 430-436 based on the backed-up file list 306. For example, when a block of data from the secondary copy data 306 is written to a backup data chunk, the one or more media agent(s) 316 may reference the backed-up file list 306 to record the logical offset of the block of data. As the one or more media agent(s) 316 work through the backed-up file list 306, the one or more media agent(s) 316 record the logical offset(s) in the backup chunk metadata so that the one or more media agent(s) 316 can reference the logical offset(s) 430-436 during a restore operation. In this manner, each of the backup data chunks 406-412 may be associated with corresponding logical offset(s) 430-436 via the backup chunk metadata 414-420.
The physical offset(s) 438-446 indicate locations within the backup data chunks 406-412 where one or more of the file(s) 406A-412C may be located. In one embodiment, the one or more media agent(s) 316 create associations between the logical offset(s) 430-436 and the physical offset(s) 438-446, such as when the secondary copy data 306 is being written to the one or more secondary storage device(s) 108. By referencing the physical offset(s) 438, the one or more media agent(s) 316 can determine where to start reading data blocks from the backup data chunks 406-412 given a particular logical offset.
During a restore operation, the one or more media agent(s) 316 may reference the backup chunk metadata 414-420 to facilitate the restoration of one or more files from the secondary copy data 306 by a client computing device. As mentioned above, a restoration request may include a list of files to restore from the secondary copy data 306, the logical offset(s) corresponding to the list of files to restore, and the file sizes of each of the files to restore. The request may also include other identifiers, such as a backup data chunk set identifier, where there are multiple sets of backup data chunks for the secondary copy data 306.
To restore a particular file from the secondary copy data 306, the one or more media agent(s) 316 uses the logical offset and file size that accompanies the request to restore the file, and may first reference the backup chunk metadata to determine which of the backup chunks should be read first to restore the particular file. In one embodiment, the one or more media agent(s) 316 compares the logical offset of the file to be restored with the logical offset(s) 430-436 of each of the backup data chunks 406-412. The one or more media agent(s) 316 may perform the comparison in a number of ways. For example, the one or more media agent(s) 316 may compare the provided logical offset with each logical offset of each backup chunk metadata until the one or media agent(s) 316 finds a match for the logical offset. As another example, the one or more media agent(s) 316 may determine the range of logical offsets covered by a particular backup data chunk (e.g., by referencing the first and/or last logical offset listed in the backup chunk metadata), and determine whether the provided logical offset falls within the determined range of logical offsets.
Once the one or more media agent(s) 316 determine which backup data chunk includes the provided logical offset, the one or more media agent(s) 316 then cross-references the physical offset associated with the logical offset in the backup chunk metadata. The physical offset associated with the logical offset informs the one or more media agent(s) 316 where the one or more media agent(s) 316 can find the logical offset within the identified backup data chunk. Where the one or more media agent(s) 316 has determined the backup data chunk from which to restore, and has obtained the physical offset within the backup data chunk that corresponds to the provided logical offset, the one or more media agent(s) 316 then begin reading from the determined backup data chunk to restore the particular file. The one or more media agent(s) 316 then read from the determined backup data chunk a data amount equal to the file size associated with the particular file to be restored.
In some instances, the amount of data to be read from a particular backup data chunk is greater than the backup data chunk, or the particular backup data chunk only includes a portion of the file to be restored. In these instances, the one or more media agent(s) 316 may read from the next backup data chunk that includes the next portion of the file to be restored. In one embodiment, the backup data chunks 406-412 are structured as a linked-list, such that when the one or more media agent(s) 316 reach the end of a first backup data chunk (e.g., backup data chunk 406), the one or more media agent(s) 316 read a pointer that points to the next backup data chunk to be read (e.g., backup data chunk 408). In another embodiment, the backup data chunks 406-412 are associated via the backup chunk metadata 414-420 such that, when the one or more media agent(s) 316 reaches the end of a particular backup data chunk, the one or more media agent(s) 316 references the corresponding backup chunk metadata to determine the next backup data chunk from which to read. The backup data chunks 406-412 may also be associated via other data structures that the one or more media agent(s) 316 reference, such as the metadata index files 188/189, the container index files 192/194, and other such data structures or combinations thereof.
As the one or more media agent(s) 316 read from the backup data chunks 406-412, the one or media agents) 316 may perform one or more restoration operations on the read data including, but not limited to, decompression, decryption, data rehydration, or any other restoration operation or combinations thereof. In addition, the one or more media agent(s) 316 may store the read data in a temporary buffer or location, such as in a temporary buffer located at the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 and/or the secondary storage device(s) 108. Accordingly, a particular data block to be communicated to the network attached storage device 304 may be stored in the temporary buffer or location prior to being communicated to the network attached storage device 304. In one embodiment, each data block is transmitted to the network attached storage device 304 after being read from the secondary copy data 320. In another embodiment, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 transmits a batch of data blocks that have been read from the secondary copy data 320. To transmit the data blocks to the network attached storage device 304, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 may use one or more of the connections 316-318 and the NDMP protocol.
After being transmitted to the network attached storage device 304, the network attached storage device 304 may then perform one or more secondary operations on the data blocks to restore the requested files to the primary data 308. The one or more secondary operations may include, but is not limited to, decoding, decompressing, decrypting, rehydrating, or performing other operations or combinations thereof. When one or more files are restored to the network attached storage device 304, the network attached storage device 304 may communicate one or more messages to the one or more media agent(s) 312 that the restoration of the files have been completed. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then communicate a message to the client computing device that the restored files are available on the network attached storage device 304.
To help understand the interactions among the devices illustrated in
Initially, a client computing device 536 may communicate a request 504 to the one or more media agent(s) 312 to restore one or more files to the network attached storage device 304. The request may further include a listing of the files that have been backed-up as secondary copy data 320 to the secondary storage device(s) 108. Accordingly, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may reference one or more media agent indices 153 to determine which files have been backed-up, and may communicate a message 506 to the client computing device 536 that includes a listing of the files. In one embodiment, the listing of the files may be presented to a user or operator of the client computing device 536, such as by a graphical user interface, a web page, a command line interface, any other such input interface, or combinations thereof. In another embodiment, the client computing device 536 is an automated device (e.g., a file server) and does not require a user or other operator to provide a selection of the files to be restored to the network attached storage device 304.
The client computing device 536 may then communicate a message 508 to the one or more media agent(s) 312 that include a selection of the files to be restored to the network attached storage device 304. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then reference the one or more media agent indices 153 to obtain logical offset information for each of the selected files. More particularly, the logical offset information may indicate a location (e.g., a byte) in the secondary copy data 320 where the beginning of a file starts. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may also retrieve an initial logical offset from the one or more media agent indices 153 that indicates the location of a header for the secondary copy data 320, where the header includes metadata information about the secondary copy data 320 including, but not limited to, the file names of the files in the secondary copy data 320, the sizes of each file in the secondary copy data 320, the logical offset for each file in the secondary copy data 320, access control lists, security descriptors, and other such metadata information or combinations thereof.
The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then communicate one or messages 510 that include the restoration request and the metadata information retrieved from the one or more media agent indices 153. The network attached storage device 304 may then communicate a first message 512 to the one or more media agent(s) 312 to retrieve the header from the secondary copy data 320. More particularly, the first message 512 may include the initial logical offset and a size to read from the secondary copy data 320. In this regard, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may be tasked with reading a data block from the secondary copy data 320 according to the initial logical offset and size to read, where the data block is in a predetermined format interpretable by the network attached storage device 304. Accordingly, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may perform a read operation 514 on the secondary storage device 108 and read the initial data block from the secondary copy data 320, where the read operation starts at the initial logical offset communicated by the network attached storage device 304 and continues through the size to read previously specified. In turn, the one or more media agent(s) 312 obtain (shown as Operation 516) a data block corresponding to the header information requested by the network attached storage device 304. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then send one or more messages 518 to the network attached storage device 304 that form the requested data block.
The network attached storage device 304 then processes the requested data block to obtain the requested header information, where processing the requested data block may include decoding, decrypting, decompressing, rehydrating, or performing additional or alternative data operations on the requested data block. From the header information, the network attached storage device 304 may obtain the logical offsets and sizes for each of the files stored in the secondary copy data 320. The network attached storage device 304 may then prepare one or more requests for reading data blocks from the secondary storage device 108 that correspond to files selected for restoration by the client computing device 536. Line 534 indicates that the following operations and messages (e.g., Operations and/or Messages 520-528) may be performed iteratively. Starting with a first file to be restored, the network attached storage device 304 may communicate a read request 520 to the one or more media agent(s) 312 to read a data block from the secondary copy data 320 starting at a particular logical offset and of a particular data length (e.g., a number of bytes to read). The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then perform the read operation 522 on the secondary storage device 108. As discussed below with references to
When all of the files have been restored, the network attached storage device 304 may send one or more messages 530 to the one or more media agent(s) 312 informing the one or more media agent(s) 312 that the restoration operation was completed. In some instances, the restoration operation for a particular file may fail (e.g., the data may become corrupted in the transfer from the one or more media agent(s) 312 to the network attached storage device 304). Where the restoration for a particular file fails, the network attached storage device 304 may re-attempt the restoration of the particular file (e.g., re-send the read request message 520). Where the restoration is complete, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may send a restoration completion message 532 to the client computing device 536, and the client computing device 536 may then have access to one or more of the restored files on the network attached storage device 304.
Referring initially to
Upon receiving the backup operation command, the network attached storage device 304 generates the secondary copy data 320 from the primary data 308 (Operation 606). In one embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 packages and/or formats the secondary copy data 320 into a proprietary format that is specific to the network attached storage device 304. In addition to packaging the primary data 308, the network attached storage device 304 generates the backed-up file list 306 of the files included in the secondary copy data 320 (Operation 608). As discussed above, the backed-up file list 306 may include a listing of the files included in the secondary copy data 320 and the logical offsets for each of the files in the backed-up file list 306. The backed-up file list 306 may also include additional metadata information about the files in the backed-up file list 306 including, but not limited to, the creation dates of the files, dates when the files were last modified, the file sizes, ownership information for each of the files in the backed-up file list 306. The network attached storage device 304 then communicates the secondary copy data 320 and the backed-up file list 306 to the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 using one or more of the connections 316-318 (Operation 610).
Referring next to
The one or more media agent(s) 312 then write the secondary copy data 320 to one or more backup data chunks in the secondary storage device(s) 108 (Operation 614). In one embodiment, the one or more media agent(s) 312 write the secondary copy data 320 into a plurality of backup data chunks of a predetermined size (e.g., four GBs). Where a backup data chunk is partially filled (e.g., having secondary copy data less than or equal to four GBs), the one or more media agent(s) 312 may fill the backup data chunk with NULL values. Alternatively, a backup data chunk may have a size less than the predetermined size. In other embodiments, the backup data chunks may be of variable sizes.
The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then update the media agent index 153 with the information from the backed-up file list 306 (Operation 616). For example, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may populate the media agent index 153 with the names of the files listed in the backed-up file list 306. The one or more media agent(s) 312 may also populate the media agent index 153 with other metadata from the backed-up file list 306, including the logical offsets of the files listed in the backed-up file list 306, file sizes for the files listed in the backed-up file list 306, ownership information for the files listed in the backed-up file list 306, versioning information for the secondary copy data 320, date information for the secondary copy data 320 (e.g., the date on which the secondary copy data 320 was stored in the secondary storage device(s) 108), and other such metadata information or combinations thereof.
The one or more media agent(s) 312 may then store backup chunk metadata 414-420 one or more of the backup data chunks 406-412 (Operation 618). As discussed with reference to
After the secondary copy data 320 has been written and segmented into one or more of the backup data chunks 406-412, and the one or more media agent(s) 312 have populated the backup chunk metadata 414-420, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may communicate that the backup operation of the primary data was completed successfully (Operation 620). In one embodiment, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may use one or more of the connections 316-318 to communicate the completion of the backup operation.
Referring initially to
Although the one or more media agent(s) 312 may receive the restoration request, other modules or components of the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 may also receive the request. For example, the request may be received via the data agent 310 and passed to the media agent(s) 312 via one or more known message passing techniques. In addition, the request may be further processed and/or handled by the NDMP restore module 314 of the one or more media agent(s) 312, which is configured to communicate with the network attached storage device 304 via NDMP.
Once the one or more files for restoration are selected, the client computing device communicates the selection of the files to the one or more media agent(s) 312 (Operation 710). Referring next to
In response to the restoration instruction from the media agent(s) 312, the network attached storage device 304 may send a read instruction to the one or more media agent(s) 312 via the NDMP restore module 314 to read data blocks from the secondary copy data 320. In one embodiment, the network attached storage 304 sends an instruction to the NDMP restore module 314 to read an initial logical offset from the secondary copy data 320 along with an initial size to read (Operation 716). The initial logical offset and/or the initial size to read may be programmed and/or configured within the network attached storage device 304. For example, in some implementations, a header (or other set of information) may be stored by the network attached storage device 304 at a predetermined or specified logical offset of the secondary copy data 320. The header may include information about the files that have been backed up into the secondary copy data 320, such as the names of the files, access control lists (ACLs), security descriptors, ownership information, file size, and other such information. In another embodiment, this header information may be stored in the media agent index 153 and retrieved by the NDMP restore module 314 in response to the read request from the network attached storage device 304. The network attached storage device 304 may use the header information in preparing additional read requests to the NDMP restore module 314 for reading data blocks from the secondary copy data 320.
When the NDMP restore module 314 receives the read request from the network attached storage device 304 (e.g., via the control connection 318), the NDMP restore module 314 may extract the initial logical offset and/or initial size to read from the read request. The NDMP restore module 314 may then determine which of the backup chunks 406-412 includes the data block corresponding to the initial logical offset. In one embodiment, the NDMP restore module 314 references the backup chunk metadata 414-420 to determine which of the backup chunks 406-412 include the initial logical offset provided by the network attached storage device 304 (Operation 718). For example, the NDMP restore module 314 may compare the initial logical offset provided by the network attached storage device 304 with the logical offset(s) 430-436 to determine which of the backup chunk metadata 414-420 corresponds to the initial data block requested by the network attached storage device 304.
Referring to
The network attached storage device 304 then interprets the received initial data block to obtain the header of the secondary copy data 320. As explained above, the header may include metadata about the secondary copy data 320, such as the file names stored in the secondary copy data 320, the sizes of the files, the logical offsets within the secondary copy data 320 where particular files may be found, ACLs for one or more of the files, security descriptors for the files, and any other such metadata or combinations thereof. In one embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 then determines the logical offsets and file sizes within the secondary copy data 320 of the files to be restored (Operation 724). For each file to be restored, the network attached storage device 304 may submit a read request to the one or more media agent(s) 312, where the read requests include the logical offset within the secondary copy data 320 from where the NDMP restore module 314 should read the requested data block and an amount to read from the secondary copy data 320 (Operation 726). In another embodiment, the network attached storage device 304 obtains the logical offsets and the sizes to read for each file to be restored from the one or more media agent(s) 312.
Referring to
In one embodiment, the NDMP restore module 314 reads through the backup chunk metadata 414-420 to determine and/or identify the backup chunks 406-412 that correspond to the extracted logical offsets of the read requests sent by the network attached storage device 304 (Operation 730). The NDMP restore module 314 may compare the logical offset(s) 430-436 stored within the chunk metadata 414-420 with the extracted logical offset to determine which backup chunk includes the extracted logical offset. For example, where there is a match between the logical offset 430 and the extracted logical offset (or where the extracted logical offset falls within a range defined by the logical offset 430), the NDMP restore module 314 may determine that the backup chunk 406 includes the data block corresponding to the extracted logical offset. The NDMP restore module 314 may then determine the physical offset within the identified backup chunk 406 from which to start reading the requested data block (Operation 732). In one embodiment, the backup chunk metadata 414-420 includes associations between the logical offset(s) 430-436 of the secondary copy data 320 and physical offset(s) 438-446 of the backup chunks 406-412, such that referencing the logical offset in the backup chunk metadata yields the corresponding physical offset within the backup chunk. These associations may inform the NDMP restore module 314 from which byte (e.g., the physical offset) within the backup chunk the NDMP restore module 314 should start reading the requested data block.
Having determined the physical offset within the backup chunk, the NDMP restore module 314 may then read an amount of data corresponding to the requested length to read of the read request (Operation 734). Should the NDMP restore module 314 reach the end of a backup chunk in reading the requested data block, the NDMP restore module 314 may reference the backup chunk metadata to determine the next backup chunk from which it should read. For example, the backup chunk metadata may include a link or association to the next backup chunk from which the NDMP restore module 314 should read. However, in some embodiments, the secondary copy data 320 may be stored non-linearly or non-sequentially, such that the NDMP restore module 314 references the backup chunk metadata to determine which backup chunk includes the next logical offset from which to read. For example, a requested data block may be partially stored in backup chunk 406 and backup chunk 410, and when the NDMP restore module 314 reaches the end of backup chunk 406, the NDMP restore module 314 references the chunk metadata 414-420 to determine that chunk metadata 418 includes the next logical offset from which to read, and that the backup chunk 410 is the next backup chunk from which the NDMP restore module 314 should read. In this manner, secondary copy data 320 may be distributed across the backup chunks 406-412 in a non-sequential or non-linear fashion, and the NDMP restore module 314 can leverage the backup chunk metadata 414-420 to identify a next backup chunk from which to read during a restoration operation.
Turning to
The network attached storage device 304 may then restore a file based on the data block or one or more data blocks received from the one or more media agent(s) 312 (Operation 738). In some instances, the network attached storage device 304 may receive multiple data blocks from the one or more media agent(s) 312 where the multiple data blocks correspond to a single file being restored. In this case, the method 702 may be performed iteratively over one or more operations described herein (e.g., multiple iterations of Operations 726-736). Furthermore, depending on the number of files being restored to the network attached storage device 304, the method 702 may also be performed iteratively over one or more of the operations described herein.
When the files from the secondary copy data 320 have been restored to the network attached storage device 304, the network attached storage device 304 may send a communication or message to the one or more media agent(s) 312 informing the one or more media agent(s) 312 that the restoration is complete. In turn, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may communicate one or more messages to the client computing device, which requested the restoration, that the restoration is complete (Operation 740). Furthermore, the one or more media agent(s) 312 may send other communications and/or messages to other devices (e.g., a mobile device, desktop, laptop, etc.), informing a user, administrator, and/or operator, that the network attached storage device 304 has completed its restoration of the selected files to be restored.
In this manner, the foregoing description provides a backup and restoration architecture whereby the devices and components performing the storage and restoration of secondary copy data need not know the manner in which the secondary copy data was created. As the secondary copy data may be created by a network attached storage device or other primary storage device, the secondary copy data may be in a format specific to the network attached storage device or other primary storage device. Furthermore, the network attached storage device or other primary device may use hardware-based techniques for creating the secondary copy data. As the network attached storage device or other primary storage device provides the logical offsets where the files within the secondary copy data may be found, the secondary storage computing devices do not have to read through all of the secondary copy data to locate files to be restored. By associating the logical offsets of the files within the secondary copy data with the physical offsets of the secondary storage device, the secondary storage computing devices can quickly locate the files to be restored from the secondary copy data without having to read the entirety of the secondary copy data. These improvements represent advances over prior techniques used to backup and restore data, and provide technological benefits not previously realized.
Some example enumerated embodiments of the present invention are recited in this section in the form of methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable media, without limitation.
In one embodiment, this disclosure provides for a method that includes receiving, by a media agent being executed on a first computing device, a first request from a network attached storage device to read a first data block from secondary copy data from a secondary storage device, wherein the first request comprises a first logical offset that indicates a first location for locating the first data block within the secondary copy data, wherein the first logical offset is determined relative to the secondary copy data, and the secondary copy data was generated by the network attached storage device and transmitted to the media agent for storage at the secondary storage device, and a first size indicating an amount of data to read starting from the logical offset. In addition, the secondary copy data has been segmented into a plurality of backup chunks stored within the secondary storage device, wherein each backup chunk has a predetermined size. The method also includes determining, based on the first logical offset of the first request, a backup chunk selected from the plurality of backup chunks corresponding to the first data block, determining a first physical offset at the secondary storage device to start reading the first data block from the determined backup chunk, wherein the determined first physical offset is associated with the first logical offset and is measured relative to the secondary storage device, reading from the first physical offset a second size of data from the determined backup chunk to obtain the first data block, wherein the second size of the data is determined based on the first size, and sending the obtained first data block to the network attached storage device, wherein the network attached storage device restores a first file based on the first data block.
In another embodiment of the method, a control connection for receiving the first logical offset and first size is established by the media agent with the network attached storage device using Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP).
In a further embodiment of the method, a data connection is established by the media agent with the network attached storage device using NDMP for receiving the secondary copy data for storing in the secondary storage device.
In yet another embodiment of the method, each backup chunk of the plurality of backup chunks is associated with corresponding backup chunk metadata generated by the media agent, wherein the backup chunk metadata comprises a plurality of logical offsets corresponding to the files represented by the secondary copy data, and determining the backup chunk selected from the plurality of backup chunks comprises reading the backup chunk metadata to determine the backup chunk that includes the first data block.
In yet a further embodiment of the method, the method includes receiving, from the network attached storage device, a file list comprising a file name corresponding to the first data block and the first logical offset, and segmenting the plurality of backup chunks comprises updating backup chunk metadata with the first logical offset.
In another embodiment of the method, the total size of the plurality of backup chunks is smaller than the total size of the secondary copy data being stored in the secondary storage device.
In a further embodiment of the method, each backup chunk of the plurality of backup chunks comprises one or more data segments, wherein at least one data segment of the one or more data segments is associated with a predetermined amount of the secondary copy data received from the network attached storage device, each backup chunk is associated with corresponding backup chunk metadata, and each backup chunk metadata includes at least: a logical offset, received from the network attached storage device, that corresponds to a file stored in the secondary copy data, a physical offset, corresponding to the logical offset, that indicates a location within a backup chunk for locating the at least one data segment. The method may also include reading the physical offset stored in backup chunk metadata of the determined backup chunk.
This disclosure also provides for a system that includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, and one or more processors that, having executed the computer-executable instructions, cause a system to perform a plurality of operations. The plurality of operations may include receiving, by a media agent being executed on a first computing device, a first request from a network attached storage device to restore a first data block from secondary copy data from a secondary storage device, wherein the first request comprises a first logical offset that indicates a first location for locating the first data block within the secondary copy data. The first logical offset the first logical offset is determined relative to the secondary copy data, and the secondary copy data was generated by the network attached storage device and transmitted to the media agent for storage at the secondary storage device. In addition, the first request may include a first size indicating an amount of data to read starting from the logical offset. Furthermore, the secondary copy data may be segmented into a plurality of backup chunks stored within the secondary storage device, wherein each backup chunk has a predetermined size. The plurality of operations may further include determining, based on the first logical offset of the first request, a backup chunk selected from the plurality of backup chunks corresponding to the first data block, determining a first physical offset at the secondary storage device to start reading the first data block from the determined backup chunk, wherein the determined first physical offset is associated with the first logical offset and is measured relative to the secondary storage device, reading from the first physical offset a second size of data from the determined backup chunk to obtain the first data block, wherein the second size of the data is determined based on the first size, and sending the obtained first data block to the network attached storage device, wherein the network attached storage device restores a first file based on the first data block.
In another embodiment of the system, a control connection for receiving the first logical offset and first size is established by the media agent with the network attached storage device using Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP).
In a further embodiment of the system, a data connection is established by the media agent with the network attached storage device using NDMP for receiving the secondary copy data for storing in the secondary storage device.
In yet another embodiment of the system, each backup chunk of the plurality of backup chunks is associated with corresponding backup chunk metadata generated by the media agent, wherein the backup chunk metadata comprises a plurality of logical offsets corresponding to the files represented by the secondary copy data, and determining the backup chunk selected from the plurality of backup chunks comprises reading the backup chunk metadata to determine the backup chunk that includes the first data block.
In yet a further embodiment of the system, the plurality of operations further comprises receiving, from the network attached storage device, a file list comprising a file name corresponding to the first data block and the first logical offset, and segmenting the plurality of backup chunks comprises updating backup chunk metadata with the first logical offset.
In another embodiment of the system, the total size of the plurality of backup chunks is smaller than the total size of the secondary copy data being stored in the secondary storage device.
In yet a further embodiment of the system, each backup chunk of the plurality of backup chunks comprises one or more data segments, wherein at least one data segment of the one or more data segments is associated with a predetermined amount of the secondary copy data received from the network attached storage device. In addition, each backup chunk is associated with corresponding backup chunk metadata, and each backup chunk metadata includes at least a logical offset, received from the network attached storage device, that corresponds to a file stored in the secondary copy data, a physical offset, corresponding to the logical offset, that indicates a location within a backup chunk for locating the at least one data segment, and reading from the first physical offset comprises reading the physical offset stored in backup chunk metadata of the determined backup chunk.
In other embodiments according to the present invention, a system or systems operates according to one or more of the methods and/or computer-readable media recited in the preceding paragraphs. In yet other embodiments, a method or methods operates according to one or more of the systems and/or computer-readable media recited in the preceding paragraphs. In yet more embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium or media causes one or more computing devices having one or more processors and computer-readable memory to operate according to one or more of the systems and/or methods recited in the preceding paragraphs.
Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense, i.e., in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling or connection between the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list. Likewise the term “and/or” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.
In some embodiments, certain operations, acts, events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not all are necessary for the practice of the algorithms). In certain embodiments, operations, acts, functions, or events can be performed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.
Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware, hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardware suitable for the purposes described. Software and other modules may reside and execute on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerized tablets, PDAs, and other computing devices suitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local computer memory, via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprise computer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. User interface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphical user interfaces, interactive voice response, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.
Further, processing of the various components of the illustrated systems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and other computing resources. Two or more components of a system can be combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustrated systems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather than in dedicated computer hardware systems and/or computing devices. Likewise, the data repositories shown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, e.g., storage area networks or other distributed storage systems. Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the components shown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actual connections between hardware. While some examples of possible connections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown can communicate with any other subset of components in various implementations.
Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chart illustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computer program instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, specially-equipped computer (e.g., comprising a high-performance database server, a graphics subsystem, etc.) or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor(s) of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to operate in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded to a computing device or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause operations to be performed on the computing device or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computing device or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
Any patents and applications and other references noted above, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further implementations of the invention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above Detailed Description. While the above description describes certain examples of the invention, and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may vary considerably in its specific implementation, while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific examples disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims.
To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, but the applicant contemplates other aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. For example, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as a means-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C sec. 112(f) (AIA), other aspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or in other forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. Any claims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) will begin with the words “means for,” but use of the term “for” in any other context is not intended to invoke treatment under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). Accordingly, the applicant reserves the right to pursue additional claims after filing this application, in either this application or in a continuing application.
This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Pat. App. No. 63/082,660, titled “NETWORK DATA MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL RESTORE USING LOGICAL SEEK” and filed Sep. 24, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Any and all applications, if any, for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet of the present application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties under 37 CFR 1.57.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63082660 | Sep 2020 | US |
