U.S. patent application number 16/709609 was filed with the patent office on 2020-12-24 for content indexing of files in virtual disk block-level backup copies.
The applicant listed for this patent is Commvault Systems, Inc.. Invention is credited to Vinit Dilip DHATRAK, Amit MITKAR.
Application Number | 20200401489 16/709609 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004526352 |
Filed Date | 2020-12-24 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200401489 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
MITKAR; Amit ; et
al. |
December 24, 2020 |
CONTENT INDEXING OF FILES IN VIRTUAL DISK BLOCK-LEVEL BACKUP
COPIES
Abstract
A streamlined approach analyzes block-level backups of VM
virtual disks and creates both coarse and fine indexes of backed up
VM data files in the block-level backups. The indexes (collectively
the "content index") enable granular searching by filename, by file
attributes (metadata), and/or by file contents, and further enable
granular live browsing of backed up VM files. Thus, by using the
illustrative data storage management system, ordinary block-level
backups of virtual disks are "opened to view" through indexing. Any
block-level copies can be indexed according to the illustrative
embodiments, including file system block-level copies. The indexing
occurs offline in an illustrative data storage management system,
after VM virtual disks are backed up into block-level backup
copies, and therefore the indexing does not cut into the source
VM's performance. The disclosed approach is widely applicable to
VMs executing in cloud computing environments and/or in non-cloud
data centers. The illustrative content indexing is accomplished
without restoring the VM data files being indexed to a staging
location.
Inventors: |
MITKAR; Amit; (Manalapan,
NJ) ; DHATRAK; Vinit Dilip; (Iselin, NJ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Commvault Systems, Inc. |
Tinton Falls |
NJ |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
1000004526352 |
Appl. No.: |
16/709609 |
Filed: |
December 10, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62865825 |
Jun 24, 2019 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/1469 20130101;
G06F 11/1435 20130101; G06F 11/1484 20130101; G06F 9/45558
20130101; G06F 11/1451 20130101; G06F 11/1461 20130101; G06F
2009/45591 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 11/14 20060101
G06F011/14; G06F 9/455 20060101 G06F009/455 |
Claims
1. A method for granular indexing of backup copies of virtual
machine data files using one or more pseudo-disk drivers, the
method comprising: by a storage manager, initiating indexing of a
first representation of a virtual machine disk at a first point in
time, wherein the first representation is based on a first
plurality of block-level backup copies of first virtual machine
data files in the virtual machine disk at or before the first point
in time, and wherein the backup copies were generated by a media
agent; by the storage manager, cause a first pseudo-disk driver to
be activated at a first computing device, wherein the first
pseudo-disk driver corresponds to the first representation and is
in communication with the media agent, wherein the first computing
device comprises one or more hardware processors, and wherein the
storage manager comprises one or more hardware processors; by the
first pseudo-disk driver, cause a first pseudo-disk to be mounted
at the first computing device as a data storage volume for the
first representation, wherein the first pseudo-disk is implemented
in cache memory at the first computing device; by a file manager
application executing at the first computing device, issuing read
requests for metadata in the first representation to the
pseudo-disk driver, wherein the pseudo-disk driver transmits a read
request to the media agent if the read request cannot be served
from the pseudo-disk; by the media agent, responding to each
received read request by recalling metadata from the first
plurality of block-level backup copies without restoring each of
the first virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first
computing device; and by the first computing device, generating a
first index that comprises metadata about the first virtual machine
data files in the virtual machine disk as of the first point in
time according to the first representation of the virtual machine
disk, and wherein the metadata comprises filenames and file
attributes.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first index enables searching
for individual files among the first virtual machine data files
based on the first plurality of block-level backup copies.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first representation is a
logical view of the first virtual machine data files in the virtual
machine disk at the first point in time.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first index is based on
metadata identified by the media agent as current as of the first
point in time and stored at the pseudo-disk.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein based on metadata identified by
the media agent as current as of the first point in time, the first
index tracks the first virtual machine data files in the virtual
machine disk as of the first point in time.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the media agent processes the
metadata recalled from the first plurality of block-level backup
copies to identify metadata about the first virtual machine data
files that is current as of the first point in time; wherein the
media agent's response to each received read request comprises
metadata identified as current as of the first point in time;
wherein the pseudo-disk driver stores responses from the media
agent to the pseudo-disk; and wherein the first index is based on
the metadata identified as current as of the first point in time
and stored at the pseudo-disk.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: by the storage
manager, cause a second pseudo-disk driver to be activated at the
first computing device, wherein the second pseudo-disk driver
corresponds to a second representation of the virtual machine disk
at a second point in time, wherein the second representation is
based on a second plurality of block-level backup copies of second
virtual machine data files in the virtual machine disk at or before
the second point in time, and wherein the second plurality of
block-level backup copies were generated by the media agent; by the
second pseudo-disk driver, cause a second pseudo-disk to be mounted
at the first computing device as a data storage volume for the
second representation, wherein the second pseudo-disk is
implemented in cache memory at the first computing device, and
wherein the second pseudo-disk driver is in communication with the
media agent; by the file manager application, issuing second read
requests for metadata in the second representation to the second
pseudo-disk driver, wherein the pseudo-disk driver transmits a
second read request to the media agent if the second read request
cannot be served from the pseudo-disk; by the media agent,
recalling metadata from the second plurality of block-level backup
copies without restoring each of the second virtual machine data
files in its entirety to the first computing device; and by the
first computing device, generating a second index that comprises
metadata about the second virtual machine data files as of the
second point in time according to the second representation of the
virtual machine disk.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first index and the second
index track file metadata for the virtual machine disk at the first
point in time and at the second point in time, respectively; and
wherein at least one data file among the first virtual machine data
files is also among the second virtual machine data files.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: by the storage
manager, cause a second pseudo-disk driver to be activated at the
first computing device, wherein the second pseudo-disk driver
corresponds to a second representation of the virtual machine disk
at a second point in time, wherein the second representation is
based on a second plurality of block-level backup copies of second
virtual machine data files in the virtual machine disk at or before
the second point in time, and wherein the second plurality of
block-level backup copies were generated by the media agent; by the
second pseudo-disk driver, cause a second pseudo-disk to be mounted
at the first computing device as a data storage volume for the
second representation, wherein the second pseudo-disk is
implemented in cache memory at the first computing device, and
wherein the second pseudo-disk driver is in communication with the
media agent; by the file manager application, issuing second read
requests for metadata in the second representation to the second
pseudo-disk driver, which transmits the second read requests to the
media agent; by the media agent, recalling metadata from the second
plurality of block-level backup copies without restoring each of
the second virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first
computing device; and by the first computing device, adding to the
first index metadata about the second virtual machine data files as
of the second point in time according to the second representation
of the virtual machine disk, wherein the first index comprises file
metadata for the virtual machine disk at the first point in time
and at the second point in time.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising: by the first
computing device, selecting one of the first virtual machine data
files tracked by the first index; by the media agent, restoring to
the pseudo-disk from the first plurality of block-level backup
copies, individual portions of the one first virtual machine data
file that the media agent determines to be current as of the first
point in time, wherein the individual portions are restored one by
one without restoring the one first virtual machine data file in
its entirety to the first computing device; by the first computing
device, applying content criteria to each individual portion in the
pseudo-disk to identify content that matches the content criteria
in the one first virtual machine data file at the first point in
time; and by the first computing device, generating a second index
that tracks the identified content that matches the content
criteria, wherein the second index enables searching for content
among the first virtual machine data files in the virtual machine
disk as of the first point in time, based on the first plurality of
block-level backup copies.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising: by the first
computing device, causing the first pseudo-disk to be discarded
after the first index is generated with respect to the first point
in time.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the pseudo-disk driver stores
data included in write commands issued by the file manager
application without making changes to the first plurality of
block-level backup copies; and by the first computing device, after
the first index is generated with respect to the first point in
time, causing the first pseudo-disk to be discarded, including the
data included in the write commands issued by the file manager
application.
13. A method for granular indexing backup copies of virtual machine
data files using one or more pseudo-disk drivers, the method
comprising: activating a first pseudo-disk driver at a first
computing device, wherein the first pseudo-disk driver corresponds
to a first logical view of first virtual machine data files in a
virtual machine disk at a first point in time, wherein the first
logical view is based on a first plurality of block-level backup
copies of the first virtual machine data files at or before the
first point in time, and wherein the backup copies were generated
by a media agent, and wherein the first computing device comprises
one or more hardware processors; by the first pseudo-disk driver,
cause a first pseudo-disk to be mounted at the first computing
device as a first data storage volume implemented in cache memory
at the first computing device; by the pseudo-disk driver, receiving
from a file manager application executing at the first computing
device read requests for metadata in the first data storage volume,
wherein the pseudo-disk driver transmits the read requests to the
media agent if the read requests cannot be served from the
pseudo-disk; by the media agent, responding to received read
requests by recalling metadata from the first plurality of
block-level backup copies without restoring each of the first
virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first computing
device; and by the first computing device, generating a first index
that comprises metadata about the first virtual machine data files
as of the first point in time, wherein the first index enables
searching for individual files among the first virtual machine data
files based on the first plurality of block-level backup
copies.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprising, by the first
computing device, selecting one of the first virtual machine data
files tracked by the first index; by the media agent, restoring to
the pseudo-disk from the first plurality of block-level backup
copies, individual portions of the one first virtual machine data
file that the media agent determines to be current as of the first
point in time, wherein the individual portions are restored one by
one without restoring the one first virtual machine data file in
its entirety to the first computing device; by the first computing
device, applying content criteria to each individual portion in the
pseudo-disk to identify content that matches the content criteria
in the one first virtual machine data file at the first point in
time; and by the first computing device, generating a second index
that tracks the identified content, wherein the second index
enables searching for content among the first virtual machine data
files in the virtual machine disk based on the first plurality of
block-level backup copies.
15. The method of claim 13 further comprising: by a storage
manager, initiating indexing of the virtual machine disk at the
first point in time, by causing the activating of the first
pseudo-disk driver at the first computing device, wherein the
storage manager comprises one or more hardware processors.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein upon receiving a read request
the pseudo-disk driver serves a response from the pseudo-disk if
responsive data is available therein, and otherwise transmits the
read request to the media agent for retrieval from a backup copy if
the responsive data is not available at the media agent.
17. A data storage management system comprising: a first computing
device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer
memory for executing program instructions; a second computing
device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer
memory for executing program instructions; wherein the first
computing device is configured to: activate a first pseudo-disk
driver that executes at the first computing device, wherein the
first pseudo-disk driver corresponds to a first logical view of
first virtual machine data files in a virtual machine disk at a
first point in time, wherein the first logical view is based on a
first plurality of block-level backup copies of the first virtual
machine data files at or before the first point in time, and
wherein the backup copies were generated by a media agent that
executes at the second computing device; by the first pseudo-disk
driver, cause a first pseudo-disk to be mounted at the first
computing device as a first data storage volume implemented in
cache memory at the first computing device; by the pseudo-disk
driver, receive from a file manager application executing at the
first computing device read requests for metadata in the first data
storage volume, wherein the pseudo-disk driver transmits the read
requests to the media agent if the read requests cannot be served
from the pseudo-disk; wherein the second computing device is
configured to: by the media agent, respond to received read
requests by recalling metadata from the first plurality of
block-level backup copies without restoring each of the first
virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first computing
device; and wherein the first computing device is further
configured to: generate a first index that comprises file metadata
for the first virtual machine data files in the virtual machine
disk at the first point in time, wherein the first index enables
searching for individual files among the first virtual machine data
files based on the first plurality of block-level backup copies,
and wherein the file metadata comprises file names and file
attributes.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first computing device is
further configured to: select one of the first virtual machine data
files tracked by the first index; wherein the second computing
device is further configured to: by the media agent, restore to the
pseudo-disk from the first plurality of block-level backup copies,
individual portions of the one first virtual machine data file that
the media agent determines to be current as of the first point in
time, wherein the individual portions are restored one by one
without restoring the one first virtual machine data file in its
entirety to the first computing device; and wherein the first
computing device is further configured to: apply content criteria
to each individual portion in the pseudo-disk to identify content
that matches the content criteria in the one first virtual machine
data file at the first point in time, and generate a second index
that tracks the identified content, wherein the second index
enables searching for content among the first virtual machine data
files in the virtual machine disk based on the first plurality of
block-level backup copies.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein the second computing device is
further configured to: by the media agent, process the metadata
recalled from the first plurality of block-level backup copies to
identify metadata about the first virtual machine data files that
is current as of the first point in time, wherein the media agent's
response to each received read request comprises metadata
identified as current as of the first point in time, wherein the
pseudo-disk driver stores responses from the media agent to the
pseudo-disk, and wherein the first index is based on the metadata
identified as current as of the first point in time and stored at
the pseudo-disk.
20. The system of claim 17, wherein upon receiving a read request
the pseudo-disk driver is configured to serve a response from the
pseudo-disk if responsive data is available therein, and otherwise
to transmit the read request to the media agent for retrieval from
a backup copy if the responsive data is not available at the media
agent.
Description
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S.
Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/865,825, filed on Jun.
24, 2019 with the title of "CONTENT INDEXING OF FILES IN VIRTUAL
DISK BLOCK-LEVEL BACKUP COPIES," which is incorporated herein in
its entirety. Any and all applications 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.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] 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.
BACKGROUND
[0003] 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 maintenance routine.
[0004] The increased use of virtual machines in cloud computing
environments and in non-cloud data centers means that more and more
important company data is generated by virtual machines (VMs).
Virtual disks serve as storage repositories for VM-generated data.
To protect and properly manage VM-generated data, e.g., VM data
files, data owners need granular knowledge about and access to the
data files in virtual disks. Traditional approaches to VM backups
do not offer the desired granularity and/or are hampered by
relatively slow backup and recovery procedures.
SUMMARY
[0005] The present inventors devised a streamlined approach that
overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. The disclosed approach
analyzes block-level backup copies of VM virtual disks and creates
both coarse and fine indexes of backed up VM data files in the
block-level backups. The indexes (collectively the "content index")
enable granular searching by filename, by file attributes
(metadata), and/or by file contents, and further enable granular
live browsing of backed up VM files. Thus, by using the
illustrative data storage management system, ordinary block-level
backups of virtual disks are "opened to view" through indexing. Any
block-level copies can be indexed according to the illustrative
embodiments, including file system block-level copies. The indexing
occurs offline in an illustrative data storage management system,
after VM virtual disks are backed up into block-level backup
copies, and therefore the indexing does not cut into the source
VMs' performance. The disclosed approach is widely applicable to
VMs executing in cloud computing environments and/or in non-cloud
data centers. Likewise, one or more components of the illustrative
data storage management system can be deployed in a cloud computing
environment and/or in a non-cloud data center, depending on needs,
costs, preferences, network topologies, etc. Notably, the
illustrative content indexing is accomplished without restoring the
VM data files being indexed to a staging location. This aspect is
distinguishable from prior art approaches to content indexing of
backed up data.
[0006] The illustrative data storage management system comprises a
"virtual machine content indexer" computing device ("content
indexer" or "VMCI") that is specially configured to create, store,
and serve the content index for use in searching and browsing. The
data storage management system comprises logic for extracting and
indexing data blocks representing certain point in time views of
the VM virtual disk, i.e., content indexing an integrated view of
one or more virtual disk backup copies created at certain points in
time when the VM virtual disk was backed up. Full and incremental
backups are supported without limitation to obtain any number of
desired point-in-time views.
[0007] Without restoring the backed up VM data files to a staging
location, the illustrative logic (interoperating with the local
file manager, logical volume manager, and/or operating system on
the virtual machine content indexer) analyzes data blocks extracted
from backup copies to obtain filenames and file attributes. The
file attributes are generally referred to herein as "metadata" or
"file metadata." Sometimes herein, filenames are also included in
the definition of "file metadata." Filenames and file metadata are
saved to a "coarse index." The coarse index indicates the
point-in-time represented by the indexed filenames and file
metadata (e.g., Sunday 5 pm). Thus, another round of indexing will
generate coarse indexing information for a different point in time
(e.g., Monday 5 pm), and so on. In some embodiments, coarse indexes
are consolidated while retaining the point in time indications for
entries therein so that entries can be identified by point-in-time
filters. In other embodiments a new coarse index is created for
each point-in-time.
[0008] The coarse index is accessible to system administrators and
users and is fronted by a "live browse interface." The interface
comprises search and browse features that enable users to view
which files, folders, and/or directories are available in the
block-level backup copies of the VM virtual disk. The live browse
interface further enables users to search by filename, and by
various attributes collected by the virtual machine content indexer
for the backed up VM files, e.g., point-in-time of backup
operation, author/creator, creation timeframe, last change
timeframe, permissions, size, user-added tags, etc. The kinds and
amount of file metadata varies among different source VMs and among
operating systems therefor, and the invention is not limited to any
particular VM implementation.
[0009] The coarse index is further pressed into service by the
content indexer for purposes of generating a "fine index" that
tracks content inside backed up VM files. Certain indexing criteria
are applied for fine indexing, e.g., keywords, phrases, embedded
images, embedded audio/visual media, etc., without limitation. In
some embodiments, a filtering function selects only certain backed
up VM files for fine filtering. The filtering function is then
applied to the coarse index to identify only the desired files. In
some embodiments, fine indexes are consolidated while retaining the
point in time indications for entries therein so that entries can
be identified by point-in-time filters. In other embodiments a new
fine index is created for each point-in-time.
[0010] Notably, the illustrative embodiments execute without
necessitating a full restore of backed up VM files being indexed.
Rather, data blocks (or groups thereof, e.g., extents, chunks,
etc.) are extracted from block-level backup copies and analyzed;
filenames, file metadata, and/or file content are extracted and
added to the index being built (e.g., coarse, fine). The backed up
VM files are not restored in their entireties and staged at the
content indexer, in contrast to certain prior art solutions. By
avoiding the need to fully restore backed up VM files, the
illustrative embodiments advantageously save time and storage
resources, because a full file restore can be time consuming and
space hogging. Thus, the illustrative embodiments are agnostic of
VM file sizes.
[0011] The coarse index and the fine index (collectively the
"content index") are illustratively retained at the content indexer
along with the live browse interface, but the invention is not so
limited. In some embodiments, the content index and/or live browse
interface are served from a distinct computing device, e.g., from a
cloud-based service console, from a remote data center, etc.,
without limitation. Content indexes are useful for long-term
retention along with the block-level backup copies from which they
originate. Thus, in some embodiments, the content index itself is
backed up to another location at the content indexer, to another
distinct computing device, and/or to secondary storage, without
limitation.
[0012] The illustrative embodiments rely in part on one or more
pseudo-disk drivers at the content indexer. For each point-in-time
backup representation that is being indexed, a pseudo-disk driver
is activated at the content indexer. Each pseudo-disk driver
establishes communications with a media agent that has access to
one or more block-level backup copies that collectively form the
desired point-in-time view of the VM's virtual disk (e.g., a full
backup copy at time T0 and an incremental backup copy at time T1
collectively represent point in time T1). The pseudo-disk driver
presents to the content indexer's operating system a pseudo-storage
volume that corresponds to the desired integrated representation of
the point-in-time (e.g., T1). At the content indexer, a combination
of specialized logic for content indexing, the local operating
system, a logical volume manager, a file manager, and/or the
pseudo-disk driver collaborate according to the illustrative
embodiments to obtain--via the media agent--data blocks from the
relevant block-level backup copies that form the desired integrated
representation of the point-in-time. Illustratively, data blocks
are obtained from the full backup copy created at time T0 and more
recent data blocks are obtained from the incremental backup copy
created at time T1. The media agent is responsible for identifying
the appropriate most up-to-date blocks based on its own local
indexing created when the backup copies were generated. The
obtained data blocks are analyzed and indexed into the illustrative
coarse index and fine index. Each pseudo-disk driver, and its
pseudo-storage volume, corresponds to a distinct point-in-time
representation of the VM's virtual disk.
[0013] In some embodiments, content indexing immediately follows
completion of a block-level backup operation of a VM virtual disk.
In other embodiments, content indexing occurs at other/convenient
times, rather than being tied to a backup schedule.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary
information management system.
[0015] FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a
secondary storage device, and some examples of primary data and
secondary copy data.
[0016] FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information
management system including a storage manager, one or more data
agents, and one or more media agents.
[0017] FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable
information management system.
[0018] FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations
according to an exemplary storage policy.
[0019] FIGS. 1F-1H are block diagrams illustrating suitable data
structures that may be employed by the information management
system.
[0020] FIG. 2A illustrates a system and technique for synchronizing
primary data to a destination such as a failover site using
secondary copy data.
[0021] FIG. 2B illustrates an information management system
architecture incorporating use of a network file system (NFS)
protocol for communicating between the primary and secondary
storage subsystems.
[0022] FIG. 2C is a block diagram of an example of a highly
scalable managed data pool architecture.
[0023] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating some salient portions
of a system 300 for content indexing of files in virtual disk
block-level backup copies, according to an illustrative embodiment
of the present invention.
[0024] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating some additional
details of system 300, including a virtual machine content indexer
350.
[0025] FIG. 5A is a block diagram depicting various point-in-time
views of block-level backup copies.
[0026] FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of content indexing infrastructure 450 engaged in coarse indexing
of one or more block-level backup copies 116 representing
point-in-time T0, and using one pseudo-disk driver 510.
[0027] FIG. 5C is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of content indexing infrastructure 450 for coarse indexing
block-level backup copies representing point-in-time TO and
point-in-time T1, and using multiple pseudo-disk drivers 510a and
510B, respectively.
[0028] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of content indexing infrastructure 450 engaged in coarse and fine
indexing of one or more block-level backup copies 116 representing
point-in-time T0, and using one pseudo-disk driver 510.
[0029] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of a pseudo-disk 520 presented by pseudo-disk driver 510 (e.g.,
volume A, volume B).
[0030] FIG. 8 depicts some salient operations of a method 800
according to an illustrative embodiment of the present
invention.
[0031] FIG. 9 depicts some salient operations of block 806 in
method 800.
[0032] FIG. 10 depicts some salient operations of block 910 in
block 806 of method 800.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0033] Detailed descriptions and examples of systems and methods
according to one or more illustrative embodiments of the present
invention may be found in the section entitled CONTENT INDEXING
FILES IN VIRTUAL DISK BLOCK-LEVEL BACKUP COPIES, as well as in the
section entitled Example Embodiments, and also in FIGS. 3-10
herein. Furthermore, components and functionality for content
indexing files in virtual disk block-level backup copies may be
configured and/or incorporated into information management systems
such as those described herein in FIGS. 1A-1H and 2A-2C.
[0034] Various embodiments described herein are intimately tied to,
enabled by, and would not exist except for, computer technology.
For example, block extraction, pseudo-storage volumes, and content
indexing files in virtual disk block-level backup copies described
herein in reference to various embodiments cannot reasonably be
performed by humans alone, without the computer technology upon
which they are implemented.
Information Management System Overview
[0035] 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.
[0036] FIG. 1A shows one such information management system 100 (or
"system 100"), which generally includes combinations of hardware
and software configured to protect and manage data and metadata
that are generated and used by computing devices in system 100.
System 100 may be referred to in some embodiments as a "storage
management system" or a "data storage management system." System
100 performs information management operations, some of which may
be referred to as "storage operations" or "data storage
operations," to protect and manage the data residing in and/or
managed by system 100. The organization that employs system 100 may
be a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,
educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the
like.
[0037] 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:
[0038] U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled "Modular Backup and
Retrieval System Used in Conjunction With a Storage Area Network";
[0039] U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298, entitled "System And Method For
Archiving Objects In An Information Store"; [0040] U.S. Pat. No.
7,246,207, entitled "System and Method for Dynamically Performing
Storage Operations in a Computer Network"; [0041] U.S. Pat. No.
7,315,923, entitled "System And Method For Combining Data Streams
In Pipelined Storage Operations In A Storage Network"; [0042] U.S.
Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled "Hierarchical Systems and Methods for
Providing a Unified View of Storage Information"; [0043] U.S. Pat.
No. 7,395,282, entitled "Hierarchical Backup and Retrieval System";
[0044] U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled "System and Methods for
Performing a Snapshot and for Restoring Data"; [0045] U.S. Pat. No.
7,617,262, entitled "System and Methods for Monitoring Application
Data in a Data Replication System"; [0046] U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,669,
entitled "Managing Copies Of Data"; [0047] U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579,
entitled "Metabase for Facilitating Data Classification"; [0048]
U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled "Systems And Methods For Stored
Data Verification"; [0049] U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled
"Method and System for Offline Indexing of Content and Classifying
Stored Data"; [0050] U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled "System And
Method For Performing Auxiliary Storage Operations"; [0051] U.S.
Pat. No. 8,285,681, entitled "Data Object Store and Server for a
Cloud Storage Environment, Including Data Deduplication and Data
Management Across Multiple Cloud Storage Sites"; [0052] U.S. Pat.
No. 8,307,177, entitled "Systems And Methods For Management Of
Virtualization Data"; [0053] U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, entitled
"Content-Aligned, Block-Based Deduplication"; [0054] U.S. Pat. No.
8,578,120, entitled "Block-Level Single Instancing"; [0055] U.S.
Pat. No. 8,954,446, entitled "Client-Side Repository in a Networked
Deduplicated Storage System"; [0056] U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900,
entitled "Distributed Deduplicated Storage System"; [0057] U.S.
Pat. No. 9,098,495, entitled "Application-Aware and Remote Single
Instance Data Management"; [0058] U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,687, entitled
"Systems and Methods for Retaining and Using Data Block Signatures
in Data Protection Operations"; [0059] U.S. Pat. No. 9,633,033,
entitled "High Availability Distributed Deduplicated Storage
System"; [0060] U.S. Pat. No. 9,852,026, entitled "Efficient
Application Recovery in an Information
[0061] Management System Based on a Pseudo-Storage-Device Driver;
[0062] U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled "System and Method
to Support Single Instance Storage Operations"; [0063] U.S. Pat.
Pub. No. 2016-0154709 A1, entitled "Point-In-Time Backups Of A
Production Application Made Accessible Over Fibre Channel And/Or
ISCSI As Data Sources To A Remote Application By Representing The
Backups As Pseudo-Disks Operating Apart From The Production
Application And Its Host"; [0064] U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016-0350391,
entitled "Replication Using Deduplicated Secondary Copy Data";
[0065] U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2017-0168903 A1, entitled "Live
Synchronization and Management of Virtual Machines across Computing
and Virtualization Platforms and Using Live Synchronization to
Support Disaster Recovery"; [0066] U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2017-0185488
A1, entitled "Application-Level Live Synchronization Across
Computing Platforms Including Synchronizing Co-Resident
Applications To Disparate Standby Destinations And Selectively
Synchronizing Some Applications And Not Others"; [0067] U.S. Pat.
Pub. No. 2017-0192866 A1, entitled "System For Redirecting Requests
After A Secondary Storage Computing Device Failure"; [0068] U.S.
Pat. Pub. No. 2017-0235647 A1, entitled "Data Protection Operations
Based on Network Path Information"; [0069] U.S. Pat. Pub. No.
2017-0242871 A1, entitled "Data Restoration Operations Based on
Network Path Information"; [0070] U.S. patent application Ser. No.
16/253,643, entitled "File Indexing For Virtual Machine Backups
Based On Using Live Browse Features"; [0071] and [0072] U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/253,727, entitled "File Indexing For
Virtual Machine Backups In A Data Storage Management System".
[0073] 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.
[0074] 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. AVM 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.
[0075] 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.
[0076] Depending on context, the term "information management
system" can refer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and
software components in FIG. 1C, or the term may refer to only a
subset of the illustrated components. For instance, in some cases,
system 100 generally refers to a combination of specialized
components used to protect, move, manage, manipulate, analyze,
and/or process data and metadata generated by client computing
devices 102. However, system 100 in some cases does not include the
underlying components that generate and/or store primary data 112,
such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, and the
primary storage devices 104. Likewise, secondary storage devices
108 (e.g., a third-party provided cloud storage environment) may
not be part of system 100. As an example, "information management
system" or "storage management system" may sometimes refer to one
or more of the following components, which will be described in
further detail below: storage manager, data agent, and media
agent.
[0077] 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.
Client Computing Devices, Clients, and Subclients
[0078] 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.
[0079] 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.
[0080] 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).
[0081] 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., FIG. 1A and FIG.
1C). A communication pathway 114 can include one or more networks
or other connection types including one or more of the following,
without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a
local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a Fibre
Channel (FC) connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
connection, a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP
based network, an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a
cellular network, a wireless data transmission system, a two-way
cable system, an interactive kiosk network, a satellite network, a
broadband network, a baseband network, a neural network, a mesh
network, an ad hoc network, other appropriate computer or
telecommunications networks, combinations of the same or the like.
Communication pathways 114 in some cases may also include
application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., cloud
service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hosted
service provider APIs. The underlying infrastructure of
communication pathways 114 may be wired and/or wireless, analog
and/or digital, or any combination thereof; and the facilities used
may be private, public, third-party provided, or any combination
thereof, without limitation.
[0082] 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 and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices
[0083] 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., FIG. 1B.
[0084] 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.
[0085] 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.
[0086] 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.
[0087] 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.
Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices
[0088] 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.
[0089] 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.
[0090] 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.
[0091] 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).
[0092] 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
another 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.
[0093] 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).
Using Intermediate Devices for Creating Secondary Copies--Secondary
Storage Computing Devices
[0094] 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.
[0095] 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
FIG. 1D, distributing some of the work involved in creating
secondary copies 116 can enhance scalability and improve system
performance. For instance, using specialized secondary storage
computing devices 106 and media agents 144 for interfacing with
secondary storage devices 108 and/or for performing certain data
processing operations can greatly improve the speed with which
system 100 performs information management operations and can also
improve the capacity of the system to handle large numbers of such
operations, while reducing the computational load on the production
environment of client computing devices 102. The intermediate
components can include one or more secondary storage computing
devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more media agents
144. Media agents are discussed further below (e.g., with respect
to FIGS. 1C-1E). These special-purpose components of system 100
comprise specialized programmed intelligence and/or hardware
capability for writing to, reading from, instructing, communicating
with, or otherwise interacting with secondary storage devices
108.
[0096] 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.
[0097] 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.
Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy
[0098] FIG. 1B is a detailed view of some specific examples of
primary data stored on primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary
copy data stored on secondary storage device(s) 108, with other
components of the system removed for the purposes of illustration.
Stored on primary storage device(s) 104 are primary data 112
objects including word processing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets
120, presentation documents 122, video files 124, image files 126,
email mailboxes 128 (and corresponding email messages 129A-C),
HTML/XML or other types of markup language files 130, databases 132
and corresponding tables or other data structures 133A-133C. Some
or all primary data 112 objects are associated with corresponding
metadata (e.g., "Meta1-11"), which may include file system metadata
and/or application-specific metadata. Stored on the secondary
storage device(s) 108 are secondary copy 116 data objects 134A-C
which may include copies of or may otherwise represent
corresponding primary data 112.
[0099] 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, 1336, and 119A as 120', 1336',
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.
Exemplary Information Management System Architecture
[0100] 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. FIG. 1C shows a system 100 designed
according to these considerations and includes: storage manager
140, one or more data agents 142 executing on client computing
device(s) 102 and configured to process primary data 112, and one
or more media agents 144 executing on one or more secondary storage
computing devices 106 for performing tasks involving secondary
storage devices 108.
[0101] Storage Manager
[0102] 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 FIG. 1D.
[0103] 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.
[0104] As shown by the dashed arrowed lines 114 in FIG. 1C, storage
manager 140 may communicate with, instruct, and/or control some or
all elements of system 100, such as data agents 142 and media
agents 144. In this manner, storage manager 140 manages the
operation of various hardware and software components in system
100. In certain embodiments, control information originates from
storage manager 140 and status as well as index reporting is
transmitted to storage manager 140 by the managed components,
whereas payload data and metadata are generally communicated
between data agents 142 and media agents 144 (or otherwise between
client computing device(s) 102 and secondary storage computing
device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction of and under the management
of storage manager 140. Control information can generally include
parameters and instructions for carrying out information management
operations, such as, without limitation, instructions to perform a
task associated with an operation, timing information specifying
when to initiate a task, data path information specifying what
components to communicate with or access in carrying out an
operation, and the like. In other embodiments, some information
management operations are controlled or initiated by other
components of system 100 (e.g., by media agents 144 or data agents
142), instead of or in combination with storage manager 140.
[0105] According to certain embodiments, storage manager 140
provides one or more of the following functions: [0106]
communicating with data agents 142 and media agents 144, including
transmitting instructions, messages, and/or queries, as well as
receiving status reports, index information, messages, and/or
queries, and responding to same; [0107] initiating execution of
information management operations; [0108] initiating restore and
recovery operations; [0109] managing secondary storage devices 108
and inventory/capacity of the same; [0110] allocating secondary
storage devices 108 for secondary copy operations; [0111]
reporting, searching, and/or classification of data in system 100;
[0112] monitoring completion of and status reporting related to
information management operations and jobs; [0113] tracking
movement of data within system 100; [0114] tracking age information
relating to secondary copies 116, secondary storage devices 108,
comparing the age information against retention guidelines, and
initiating data pruning when appropriate; [0115] tracking logical
associations between components in system 100; [0116] protecting
metadata associated with system 100, e.g., in management database
146; [0117] implementing job management, schedule management, event
management, alert management, reporting, job history maintenance,
user security management, disaster recovery management, and/or user
interfacing for system administrators and/or end users of system
100; [0118] sending, searching, and/or viewing of log files; and
[0119] implementing operations management functionality.
[0120] 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.
[0121] 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.
[0122] 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.).
[0123] 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.
[0124] 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.
[0125] Storage Manager User Interfaces
[0126] 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.
[0127] 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.
[0128] 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.
[0129] Storage Manager Management Agent
[0130] 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.
[0131] Information Management Cell
[0132] 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 FIG.
1C may together form an information management cell. Thus, in some
configurations, a system 100 may be referred to as an information
management cell or a storage operation cell. A given cell may be
identified by the identity of its storage manager 140, which is
generally responsible for managing the cell.
[0133] 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).
[0134] Data Agents
[0135] 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.
[0136] 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.
[0137] 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, SharePoint 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.RTM. 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.
[0138] 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 another 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.
[0139] Media Agents
[0140] 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.
[0141] 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.
[0142] 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.
[0143] 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.
[0144] 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., FIG. 1C). In some cases, media agent index 153 does not form
a part of and is instead separate from media agent database
152.
[0145] 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).
[0146] 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.
[0147] 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.
Distributed, Scalable Architecture
[0148] 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.
[0149] 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.
[0150] The distributed architecture also provides scalability and
efficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of
information management system 100 including a plurality of client
computing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as a
plurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associated
media agents 144. Additional components can be added or subtracted
based on the evolving needs of system 100. For instance, depending
on where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add
additional client computing devices 102, secondary storage
computing devices 106, and/or secondary storage devices 108.
Moreover, where multiple fungible components are available, load
balancing can be implemented to dynamically address identified
bottlenecks. As an example, storage manager 140 may dynamically
select which media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108
to use for storage operations based on a processing load analysis
of media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108,
respectively.
[0151] Where system 100 includes multiple media agents 144 (see,
e.g., FIG. 1D), a first media agent 144 may provide failover
functionality for a second failed media agent 144. In addition,
media agents 144 can be dynamically selected to provide load
balancing. Each client computing device 102 can communicate with,
among other components, any of the media agents 144, e.g., as
directed by storage manager 140. And each media agent 144 may
communicate with, among other components, any of secondary storage
devices 108, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140. Thus,
operations can be routed to secondary storage devices 108 in a
dynamic and highly flexible manner, to provide load balancing,
failover, etc. Further examples of scalable systems capable of
dynamic storage operations, load balancing, and failover are
provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207.
[0152] 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 FIG. 1C may be
implemented on the same computing device. In one configuration, a
storage manager 140, one or more data agents 142, and/or one or
more media agents 144 are all implemented on the same computing
device. In other embodiments, one or more data agents 142 and one
or more media agents 144 are implemented on the same computing
device, while storage manager 140 is implemented on a separate
computing device, etc. without limitation.
Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations, Including
Storage Operations
[0153] 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.
[0154] Data Movement Operations, Including Secondary Copy
Operations
[0155] 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.
[0156] 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.
[0157] Backup Operations
[0158] 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.
[0159] 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.
[0160] 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.
[0161] 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.
[0162] 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.
[0163] 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.
[0164] 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.
[0165] Archive Operations
[0166] 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.
[0167] 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.
[0168] Snapshot Operations
[0169] 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.
[0170] 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.
[0171] 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.
[0172] 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.
[0173] 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.
[0174] Replication Operations
[0175] 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.
[0176] 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.
[0177] Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations
[0178] 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.
[0179] 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.
[0180] 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.
[0181] Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage
Management
[0182] 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.
[0183] 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.
[0184] 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.
[0185] 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.
[0186] Auxiliary Copy Operations
[0187] 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.
[0188] Disaster-Recovery Copy Operations
[0189] 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.
[0190] Data Manipulation, Including Encryption and Compression
[0191] 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.
[0192] Encryption Operations
[0193] 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.
[0194] Compression Operations
[0195] 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.
[0196] Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management Operations
[0197] 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.
[0198] Classification Operations/Content Indexing
[0199] 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.
[0200] 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.
[0201] 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.
[0202] Management and Reporting Operations
[0203] 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.
[0204] 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.
[0205] 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.
[0206] 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.
[0207] 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.
[0208] 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.
[0209] 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.
Information Management Policies
[0210] 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.
[0211] 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.,
FIG. 1E). Data associated with a storage policy can be logically
organized into subclients, which may represent primary data 112
and/or secondary copies 116. A subclient may represent static or
dynamic associations of portions of a data volume. Subclients may
represent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certain
embodiments, a portion of data may be given a label and the
association is stored as a static entity in an index, database or
other storage location. Subclients may also be used as an effective
administrative scheme of organizing data according to data type,
department within the enterprise, storage preferences, or the like.
Depending on the configuration, subclients can correspond to files,
folders, virtual machines, databases, etc. In one exemplary
scenario, an administrator may find it preferable to separate
e-mail data from financial data using two different subclients.
[0212] 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.
[0213] 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.
[0214] 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.
[0215] 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.
[0216] 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.
[0217] 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.
[0218] 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: [0219]
schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when and/or
how often to perform information management operations; [0220] the
type of secondary copy 116 and/or copy format (e.g., snapshot,
backup, archive, HSM, etc.); [0221] a location or a class or
quality of storage for storing secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or
more particular secondary storage devices 108); [0222] preferences
regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress, deduplicate, or
otherwise modify or transform secondary copies 116; [0223] which
system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred media
agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage operations;
[0224] resource allocation among different computing devices or
other system components used in performing information management
operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage capacity,
etc.); [0225] whether and how to synchronize or otherwise
distribute files or other data objects across multiple computing
devices or hosted services; and [0226] retention information
specifying the length of time primary data 112 and/or secondary
copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a particular class or tier
of storage devices, or within the system 100.
[0227] 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: [0228]
frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of a
data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,
accessed, or modified; [0229] time-related factors (e.g., aging
information such as time since the creation or modification of a
data object); [0230] deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data
blocks, deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other
metrics); [0231] an estimated or historic usage or cost associated
with different components (e.g., with secondary storage devices
108); [0232] the identity of users, applications 110, client
computing devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,
accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or
secondary copies 116; [0233] a relative sensitivity (e.g.,
confidentiality, importance) of a data object, e.g., as determined
by its content and/or metadata; [0234] the current or historical
storage capacity of various storage devices; [0235] the current or
historical network capacity of network pathways connecting various
components within the storage operation cell; [0236] access control
lists or other security information; and [0237] the content of a
particular data object (e.g., its textual content) or of metadata
associated with the data object.
[0238] Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Copy Operations
[0239] FIG. 1E includes a data flow diagram depicting performance
of secondary copy operations by an embodiment of information
management system 100, according to an exemplary storage policy
148A. System 100 includes a storage manager 140, a client computing
device 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data
agent 142B operating thereon, a primary storage device 104, two
media agents 144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108: a
disk library 108A and a tape library 108B. As shown, primary
storage device 104 includes primary data 112A, which is associated
with a logical grouping of data associated with a file system
("file system subclient"), and primary data 112B, which is a
logical grouping of data associated with email ("email subclient").
The techniques described with respect to FIG. 1E can be utilized in
conjunction with data that is otherwise organized as well.
[0240] As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B
and tape library 108B 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.
[0241] 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.
[0242] 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.
[0243] 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.
[0244] 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.
[0245] Secondary Copy Jobs
[0246] 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.
[0247] Referring to FIG. 1E, at step 1, storage manager 140
initiates a backup job according to the backup copy rule set 160,
which logically comprises all the secondary copy operations
necessary to effectuate rules 160 in storage policy 148A every
hour, including steps 1-4 occurring hourly. For instance, a
scheduling service running on storage manager 140 accesses backup
copy rule set 160 or a separate scheduling policy associated with
client computing device 102 and initiates a backup job on an hourly
basis. Thus, at the scheduled time, storage manager 140 sends
instructions to client computing device 102 (i.e., to both data
agent 142A and data agent 142B) to begin the backup job.
[0248] 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, 1426 may format the data into a backup
format or otherwise process the data suitable for a backup
copy.
[0249] 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 112B, email data agent 142B, and/or
backup copy 116A.
[0250] 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.
[0251] 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 116B. Illustratively, and
by way of illustrating the scalable aspects and off-loading
principles embedded in system 100, disaster recovery copy 116B is
based on backup copy 116A and not on primary data 112A and
112B.
[0252] At step 6, illustratively based on instructions received
from storage manager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 1446
retrieves the most recent backup copy 116A from disk library
108A.
[0253] 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
1166 and store it to tape library 1086. In some cases, disaster
recovery copy 116B is a direct, mirror copy of backup copy 116A,
and remains in the backup format. In other embodiments, disaster
recovery copy 116B may be further compressed or encrypted, or may
be generated in some other manner, such as by using primary data
112A and 1126 from primary storage device 104 as sources. The
disaster recovery copy operation is initiated once a day and
disaster recovery copies 1166 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.
[0254] 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 1086, as specified in the compliance copy rule
set 164.
[0255] At step 9 in the example, compliance copy 116C is generated
using disaster recovery copy 1166 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 112B 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.
[0256] Exemplary Applications of Storage Policies--Information
Governance Policies and Classification
[0257] Again referring to FIG. 1E, storage manager 140 may permit a
user to specify aspects of storage policy 148A. For example, the
storage policy can be modified to include information governance
policies to define how data should be managed in order to comply
with a certain regulation or business objective. The various
policies may be stored, for example, in management database 146. An
information governance policy may align with one or more compliance
tasks that are imposed by regulations or business requirements.
Examples of information governance policies might include a
Sarbanes-Oxley policy, a HIPAA policy, an electronic discovery
(e-discovery) policy, and so on.
[0258] 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.
[0259] 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."
[0260] 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
[0261] While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a
restore operation can be initiated involving one or more of
secondary copies 116A, 116B, and 116C. A restore operation
logically takes a selected secondary copy 116, reverses the effects
of the secondary copy operation that created it, and stores the
restored data to primary storage where a client computing device
102 may properly access it as primary data. A media agent 144 and
an appropriate data agent 142 (e.g., executing on the client
computing device 102) perform the tasks needed to complete a
restore operation. For example, data that was encrypted,
compressed, and/or deduplicated in the creation of secondary copy
116 will be correspondingly rehydrated (reversing deduplication),
uncompressed, and unencrypted into a format appropriate to primary
data. Metadata stored within or associated with the secondary copy
116 may be used during the restore operation. In general, restored
data should be indistinguishable from other primary data 112.
Preferably, the restored data has fully regained the native format
that may make it immediately usable by application 110.
[0262] 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.
[0263] 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.
Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting
[0264] 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.
[0265] 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.
[0266] FIGS. 1F and 1G are diagrams of example data streams 170 and
171, respectively, which may be employed for performing information
management operations. Referring to FIG. 1F, data agent 142 forms
data stream 170 from source data associated with a client computing
device 102 (e.g., primary data 112). Data stream 170 is composed of
multiple pairs of stream header 172 and stream data (or stream
payload) 174. Data streams 170 and 171 shown in the illustrated
example are for a single-instanced storage operation, and a stream
payload 174 therefore may include both single-instance (SI) data
and/or non-SI data. A stream header 172 includes metadata about the
stream payload 174. This metadata may include, for example, a
length of the stream payload 174, an indication of whether the
stream payload 174 is encrypted, an indication of whether the
stream payload 174 is compressed, an archive file identifier (ID),
an indication of whether the stream payload 174 is single
instanceable, and an indication of whether the stream payload 174
is a start of a block of data.
[0267] Referring to FIG. 1G, data stream 171 has the stream header
172 and stream payload 174 aligned into multiple data blocks. In
this example, the data blocks are of size 64 KB. The first two
stream header 172 and stream payload 174 pairs comprise a first
data block of size 64 KB. The first stream header 172 indicates
that the length of the succeeding stream payload 174 is 63 KB and
that it is the start of a data block. The next stream header 172
indicates that the succeeding stream payload 174 has a length of 1
KB and that it is not the start of a new data block. Immediately
following stream payload 174 is a pair comprising an identifier
header 176 and identifier data 178. The identifier header 176
includes an indication that the succeeding identifier data 178
includes the identifier for the immediately previous data block.
The identifier data 178 includes the identifier that the data agent
142 generated for the data block. The data stream 171 also includes
other stream header 172 and stream payload 174 pairs, which may be
for SI data and/or non-SI data.
[0268] FIG. 1H is a diagram illustrating data structures 180 that
may be used to store blocks of SI data and non-SI data on a storage
device (e.g., secondary storage device 108). According to certain
embodiments, data structures 180 do not form part of a native file
system of the storage device. Data structures 180 include one or
more volume folders 182, one or more chunk folders 184/185 within
the volume folder 182, and multiple files within chunk folder 184.
Each chunk folder 184/185 includes a metadata file 186/187, a
metadata index file 188/189, one or more container files
190/191/193, and a container index file 192/194. Metadata file
186/187 stores non-SI data blocks as well as links to SI data
blocks stored in container files. Metadata index file 188/189
stores an index to the data in the metadata file 186/187. Container
files 190/191/193 store SI data blocks. Container index file
192/194 stores an index to container files 190/191/193. Among other
things, container index file 192/194 stores an indication of
whether a corresponding block in a container file 190/191/193 is
referred to by a link in a metadata file 186/187. For example, data
block B2 in the container file 190 is referred to by a link in
metadata file 187 in chunk folder 185. Accordingly, the
corresponding index entry in container index file 192 indicates
that data block B2 in container file 190 is referred to. As another
example, data block B1 in container file 191 is referred to by a
link in metadata file 187, and so the corresponding index entry in
container index file 192 indicates that this data block is referred
to.
[0269] As an example, data structures 180 illustrated in FIG. 1H
may have been created as a result of separate secondary copy
operations involving two client computing devices 102. For example,
a first secondary copy operation on a first client computing device
102 could result in the creation of the first chunk folder 184, and
a second secondary copy operation on a second client computing
device 102 could result in the creation of the second chunk folder
185. Container files 190/191 in the first chunk folder 184 would
contain the blocks of SI data of the first client computing device
102. If the two client computing devices 102 have substantially
similar data, the second secondary copy operation on the data of
the second client computing device 102 would result in media agent
144 storing primarily links to the data blocks of the first client
computing device 102 that are already stored in the container files
190/191. Accordingly, while a first secondary copy operation may
result in storing nearly all of the data subject to the operation,
subsequent secondary storage operations involving similar data may
result in substantial data storage space savings, because links to
already stored data blocks can be stored instead of additional
instances of data blocks.
[0270] 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.
Using Backup Data for Replication and Disaster Recovery ("Live
Synchronization")
[0271] 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.
[0272] FIG. 2A illustrates a system 200 configured to address these
and other issues by using backup or other secondary copy data to
synchronize a source subsystem 201 (e.g., a production site) with a
destination subsystem 203 (e.g., a failover site). Such a technique
can be referred to as "live synchronization" and/or "live
synchronization replication." In the illustrated embodiment, the
source client computing devices 202a include one or more virtual
machines (or "VMs") executing on one or more corresponding VM host
computers 205B, though the source need not be virtualized. The
destination site 203 may be at a location that is remote from the
production site 201, or may be located in the same data center,
without limitation. One or more of the production site 201 and
destination site 203 may reside at data centers at known geographic
locations, or alternatively may operate "in the cloud."
[0273] 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. FIG. 2A
illustrates an embodiment of a data flow which may be orchestrated
at the direction of one or more storage managers (not shown). At
step 1, the source data agent(s) 242a and source media agent(s)
244a work together to write backup or other secondary copies of the
primary data generated by the source client computing devices 202a
into the source secondary storage device(s) 208a. At step 2, the
backup/secondary copies are retrieved by the source media agent(s)
244a from secondary storage. At step 3, source media agent(s) 244a
communicate the backup/secondary copies across a network to the
destination media agent(s) 244b in destination subsystem 203.
[0274] 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."
[0275] 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."
[0276] 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
[0277] 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. FIG. 2B illustrates an information
management system 200 having an architecture that provides such
advantages and incorporates use of a standard file system protocol
between primary and secondary storage subsystems 217, 218. As
shown, the use of the network file system (NFS) protocol (or any
another appropriate file system protocol such as that of the Common
Internet File System (CIFS)) allows data agent 242 to be moved from
the primary storage subsystem 217 to the secondary storage
subsystem 218. For instance, as indicated by the dashed box 206
around data agent 242 and media agent 244, data agent 242 can
co-reside with media agent 244 on the same server (e.g., a
secondary storage computing device such as component 106), or in
some other location in secondary storage subsystem 218.
[0278] 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.
[0279] 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.
[0280] 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.
[0281] 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."
Highly Scalable Managed Data Pool Architecture
[0282] Enterprises are seeing explosive data growth in recent
years, often from various applications running in geographically
distributed locations. FIG. 2C shows a block diagram of an example
of a highly scalable, managed data pool architecture useful in
accommodating such data growth. The illustrated system 200, which
may be referred to as a "web-scale" architecture according to
certain embodiments, can be readily incorporated into both open
compute/storage and common-cloud architectures.
[0283] 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."
[0284] 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.
[0285] 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.
[0286] 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."
[0287] The embodiments and components thereof disclosed in FIGS.
2A, 2B, and 2C, as well as those in FIGS. 1A-1H, may be implemented
in any combination and permutation to satisfy data storage
management and information management needs at one or more
locations and/or data centers.
Content Indexing Files in Virtual Disk Block-Level Backup
Copies
[0288] The disclosed approach analyzes block-level backups of VM
virtual disks and creates both coarse and fine indexes of backed up
VM data files in the block-level backups. The indexes (collectively
the "content index") enable granular searching by filename, by file
attributes (metadata), and/or by file contents, and further enable
granular live browsing of backed up VM files. Thus, by using the
illustrative data storage management system, ordinary block-level
backups of virtual disks are "opened to view" through indexing. Any
block-level copies can be indexed according to the illustrative
embodiments, including file system block-level copies. By making
the present content indexing available to any kind of VM
block-level backup, the present technological improvement is
distinguishable from: the approaches in U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 16/253,643, entitled "File Indexing For Virtual Machine
Backups Based On Using Live Browse Features"; and U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/253,727, entitled "File Indexing For
Virtual Machine Backups In A Data Storage Management System".
[0289] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating some salient portions
of a system 300 for content indexing of files in virtual disk
block-level backup copies, according to an illustrative embodiment
of the present invention. FIG. 3 depicts: secondary storage devices
108 comprising block-level backup copies 116 of VM virtual disk
304; computing device 301; source virtual machine 302; virtual disk
304 comprising primary data 112 comprising e.g., VM data files 313;
and virtual machine content indexer 350 comprising content index
360.
[0290] The bold unidirectional dashed arrow from component 304 to
component 108 depicts a logical view of block-level backup copy
operations applied to virtual disk 304 and resulting in copies 116
stored in secondary storage 108. These operations are well known in
the art, and therefore some components involved therein are not
shown here. The arrow is dashed to show that after a block-level
backup operation completes it is not necessary to maintain
connectivity to the source VM and its virtual disk until the next
backup operation. The bold bi-directional arrow between computing
device 301 and content index 360 depicts a logical view of
operations made possible by content index 360, e.g., granular live
browse of backed up VM data files, searching by filename, by
attributes (metadata), and/or by file content. The bidirectional
arrows between secondary storage 108 and virtual machine content
indexer 350 depict logical connections between backup copies 116
and indexer 350 and do not include all the components taking part
in the illustrative indexing operations. More details are given in
other figures.
[0291] System 300 is a data storage management system analogous to
system 100, and further comprises additional components and
functionality for content indexing of files in virtual disk
block-level backup copies according to the illustrative
embodiments, e.g., virtual machine content indexer 350. System 300
does not necessarily comprise all the depicted components and in
some embodiments comprises additional components not shown here,
e.g., media agents 144, storage manager 440, data agents 142, etc.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after reading
the present disclosure that in cloud computing environments, cloud
computing resources and their underlying hardware infrastructure
are owned/managed by the cloud service provider, whereas functional
components (e.g., implemented in executable software, implemented
in data structures, implemented in stored data) are owned by the
owner/operator of system 300. Accordingly, one or more of the
depicted components in the present figure are implemented in one or
more cloud computing environments and/or in non-cloud data centers,
without limitation.
[0292] Virtual disk 304 is analogous to primary storage devices 104
in the sense that it stores primary data 112, but as is well known
in the art, virtual disks emulate actual hardware storage in
service to virtual machines, such as source VM 302. There is no
limitation on how the underlying storage hardware is implemented
for storing primary data 112 in virtual disk 304, e.g., in a VM
server arrangement, in cloud storage, etc.
[0293] Primary data 112 is generated and accessed by source VM 302
and is well known in the art.
[0294] VM data files 313 are part of primary data 112 and are well
known in the art. VM data files 313 are arranged in one or more
file systems on virtual disk 304, and within one or more
directories therein, without limitation.
[0295] Secondary storage devices 108 are well known in the art and
comprise block-level backup copies 116 of VM virtual disk 304.
There is no limitation on how the underlying storage hardware 108
is implemented for storing secondary copies 116, e.g., in cloud
storage, in non-cloud storage, etc.
[0296] Computing device 301 is a computing resource comprising one
or more hardware processors and computer memory for executing
program instructions. Computing device 301 is well known in the
art. Computing device 301 is used for accessing content indexed
information within system 300, e.g., content index 360.
[0297] Virtual machine 302 is well known in the art and is
implemented on a VM server (not shown) in a non-cloud data center,
as a VM instance in a cloud computing account, etc., without
limitation. Virtual machine 302 is part of a production environment
and generates and uses primary data 112. Data storage for virtual
machine 302 is implemented in virtual disk 304. Virtual machine 302
is a "source" for the block level backup operations that copy
virtual disk 304 into block-level backup copies 116.
[0298] Virtual machine content indexer 350 is a computing resource
that is part of system 300 and is specially configured according to
the illustrative embodiments to perform content indexing and to
serve the resultant content index 360 to others such as users of
computing device 301. Virtual machine content indexer 350 is a
computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and
computer memory for executing program instructions. In some
embodiments, indexer 350 is implemented as a server in a non-cloud
data center. In some embodiments, indexer 350 is implemented as a
virtual machine instance in a cloud computing account, e.g., the
same or different from a cloud computing account hosting source VM
302, without limitation. In some embodiments it is beneficial to
implement indexer 350 in a different computing account/environment
than the one hosting source VM 302. No such limitations are posed
by the present invention.
[0299] Content index 360 comprises information obtained from one or
more block-level backup copies of virtual disk 304. The information
is searchable and enables users to then access granular portions of
the backup copies, such as backed up VM data files. As shown in
more detail elsewhere, content index 360 is a logical construct
comprising one or more coarse indexes and fine indexes. There is no
limitation on the format of how the information is arranged in
content index 360 (and/or any subcomponents thereof).
Illustratively, content index 360 is generated, stored, and served
by indexer 350, but in alternative embodiments those operations are
performed by different components. For example, in some
embodiments, content index 360 is stored at and served by media
agents 144. In some embodiments, content index 360 is stored at
management database 146, which is a logical part of storage manager
440.
[0300] Although the present figure depicts a certain number of
components, the invention is not so limited. For example, any
number of source VMs 302 can be content indexed according to
illustrative embodiments based on secondary copies 116. For
example, a given source VM 302 can have a number of configured
virtual disks 304. Any number of secondary copies 116 can be
content indexed according to illustrative embodiments.
[0301] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating some additional
details of system 300, including a virtual machine content indexer
350. FIG. 4 depicts computing device 301 and components of system
300, including: block-level backup copies of virtual disk image
116; media agent 144; virtual machine content indexer 350
comprising content indexing infrastructure 450, content index 360
comprising coarse index 462 and fine index 464, and live browse
interface 470; and storage manager 440.
[0302] Media agent 144 is described in more detail elsewhere
herein. In regard to content indexing according to the illustrative
embodiments, media agent 144 keeps track of secondary copies 116,
e.g., what changed data blocks are backed up into which copy 116,
responds to requests for data blocks issued by content indexing
infrastructure 450; and/or responds to instructions to participate
in an indexing job issued by storage manager 440. Media agent 144
also communicates backup and/or indexing status with storage
manager 440. Media agent 144 is responsible for generating (at
least in part) and storing copies 116 during the block-level backup
copy operations.
[0303] Storage manager 440 is analogous to storage manager 140 and
additionally comprises features for operating in system 300.
Storage manager 440 logically comprises management database 146
(not shown here), which stores preferences/policies for triggering
content indexing jobs, stores results of indexing jobs, including
e.g., pointers to content index 360, job statistics, etc., without
limitation. Management database 146 also includes retention
preferences for content index 360, e.g., where to store it and how
long to retain it.
[0304] Content indexing infrastructure 450 is a functional
component of virtual machine content indexer 350 and is generally
tasked with generating content index 360. To do so, content
indexing infrastructure 450 communicates with media agent 144 and
storage manager 440. More details are given in subsequent
figures.
[0305] Content index 360 comprises one or more coarse indexes 462
and one or more fine indexes 464. Coarse index 462 tracks filenames
and attributes (metadata) of backed VM data files--information
obtained from one or more block-level backup copies 116. Coarse
index 462 logically comprises one or more data structures,
preferably stored at indexer 350. In some embodiments, coarse index
462 consolidates and accumulates information with every successive
coarse indexing operation, but in alternative embodiments a coarse
index 462 is created and stored separately for every point-in-time
view of block-level copies 116, without limitation.
[0306] Fine index 464 tracks contents of backed up VM data
files--information obtained from one or more block-level backup
copies 116. Fine index 464 does not necessarily index every backed
up VM data file in a copy 116. Fine index 464 logically comprises
one or more data structures, preferably stored at indexer 350. In
some embodiments, fine index 464 consolidates and accumulates
information with every successive fine indexing operation, but in
alternative embodiments a fine index 464 is created and stored
separately for every point-in-time view of block-level copies 116,
without limitation.
[0307] Live browse interface 470 is a functional component of
virtual machine content indexer 350. Live browse interface 470
comprises: communicative features for connecting to one or more
computing devices such as computing device 301; search interface(s)
that enable users to enter search criteria for browsing block-level
backup copies 116; search filtering that accesses one or more
coarse indexes 462 and/or fine indexes 464 and applies search
criteria thereto; results display features for showing results of
the search criteria as applied to content index 360; and drill-down
features that enable users to access certain results in a more
granular fashion, e.g., live browsing a backed up VM data file that
met the search criteria. Live browse interface 470 is depicted here
as a functional component of indexer 350, but the invention is not
so limited and in alternative embodiments live browse interface 470
operates elsewhere, e.g., on client computing device 301, on media
agent 144, on storage manager 440, etc.
[0308] FIG. 5A is a block diagram depicting various point-in-time
views of block-level backup copies 116. The illustrative
embodiments are designed to identify point-in-time views of
block-level backup copies of virtual disk 304 and to perform
content indexing thereupon. A point-in-time view 516 comprises one
or more block-level backup copies 116 that, when logically
combined, represent the subject virtual disk 304 at a point-in-time
when the latest of the one or more copies 116 were taken. For
example, a full backup copy at time T0 and an incremental backup
copy at time T1 collectively represent point in time T1. Media
agent 144 is responsible for identifying the appropriate most
up-to-date blocks based on its own local indexing created when the
backup copies 116 were generated. See, e.g., media agent index
153.
[0309] The present figure depicts a set of block-level backup
copies 116 that form various point-in-time views of the source VM's
virtual disk 304. The shaded data blocks represent data blocks that
were captured in the block-level copy operations. Thus, a full
block-level backup of virtual disk 304 at Time T0 captured all data
blocks in virtual disk 304 and resulted in full backup copy 116-0.
An incremental block-level backup of virtual disk 304 at Time T1
captured only changed data blocks 2 and 3 and resulted in
incremental backup copy 116-1. An incremental block-level backup of
virtual disk 304 at Time T2 captured only changed data blocks 0, 4,
and 5 and resulted in incremental backup copy 116-2. An incremental
block-level backup of virtual disk 304 at Time T3 captured only
changed data block 1 and resulted in incremental backup copy 116-3.
An incremental block-level backup of virtual disk 304 at Time T4
captured only changed data block 2 and resulted in incremental
backup copy 116-4.
[0310] A point-in-time view at a certain Time is a logical
integration of the full backup copy and possibly one or more
incremental backup copies up to an including the Time, taking into
consideration only the most recently changed data blocks.
Accordingly, point-in-time view 516A represents Time T0 and
comprises only full backup copy 116-0, i.e., data blocks 0-5 from
backup copy 116-0. Point-in-time view 5166 represents Time T1 and
comprises full backup copy 116-0 and incremental backup copy 116-1,
i.e., data blocks 0, 1, 4, and 5 from copy 116-0 and data blocks 2
and 3 from copy 116-1. Point-in-time view 516C represents Time T2
and comprises full backup copy 116-0 and incremental backup copies
116-1 and 116-2, i.e., data block 1 from copy 116-0, data blocks 2
and 3 from copy 116-1, and data blocks 0, 4, and 5 from copy 116-2.
Point-in-time view 516D represents Time T3 and comprises full
backup copy 116-0 and incremental backup copies 116-1, 116-2, and
116-3, i.e., data blocks 2 and 3 from copy 116-1, data blocks 0, 4,
and 5 from copy 116-2, and data block 1 from copy 116-3.
Point-in-time view 516E represents Time T4 and comprises full
backup copy 116-0 and incremental backup copies 116-1, 116-2,
116-3, and 116-4, i.e., data block 3 from copy 116-1, data blocks
0, 4, and 5 from copy 116-2, data block 1 from copy 116-3, and data
block 2 from backup copy 116-4.
[0311] Illustratively, the logical integration of multiple backup
copies 116 to produce a point-in-time view 516 is performed by
media agent 144, e.g., using media agent index 153 to keep track of
the various data blocks associated with the various block-level
backup operations and corresponding copies 116.
[0312] FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of content indexing infrastructure 450 engaged in coarse indexing
of one or more block-level backup copies 116 representing
point-in-time T0 and using one pseudo-disk driver 510. The present
figure depicts: media agent 144; content indexing infrastructure
450 comprising pseudo-disk driver 510, pseudo-disk 520A (volume A),
operating system 530, logical volume manager 540, file manager
application 550, data block retrieval and processing logic 560, and
coarse indexer 570; and point-in-time view at time T0 516A
comprising block-level backup copy 116-1. The components are
arranged in a logical progression showing how data blocks in a
block-level backup copy (e.g., 116-0) are processed into coarse
index 462 according to an illustrative embodiment.
[0313] Media agent 144 and point-in-time view 516A were described
in more detail elsewhere herein.
[0314] Content indexing infrastructure 450 illustratively comprises
elements that are well known in the art and which are generally
configured in computing devices such as indexer 350, whether
virtualized or not, i.e., operating system 530, logical volume
manager 540, and file manager application 550 (e.g., Windows File
Explorer). These components play a role in processing data blocks
as they are obtained from one or more block-level backup copies 116
and ultimately are indexed into coarse index 462 and/or fine index
464. See also FIG. 6.
[0315] Pseudo-disk driver 510, is a pseudo-storage-device driver
(which is illustratively implemented as executable software and/or
firmware) that is illustratively installed in the operating system
of indexer 350, but is shown here as a separate component to ease
the reader's understanding of the present disclosure. Pseudo-disk
driver 510 executes on indexer 350. Pseudo-disk driver 510 presents
a pseudo-disk 520 (labeled Volume A) to operating system 530 and
makes pseudo-disk 520 accessible for data storage and retrieval as
though it were a physical storage device/resource that houses
block-level backup copies 116. But as shown in more detail
elsewhere herein (see, e.g., FIG. 7), pseudo-disk 520 does not
store entire block-level backup copies 116, even though it gives
the appearance of doing so. Instead, data blocks are selectively
extracted from backup copies 116 and presented via volume A for
processing on demand, without the need to restore backup copies 116
in their entirety to indexer 350. Illustratively, a pseudo-disk
driver 510 is installed and/or activated for every point-in-time
view 516 to be content indexed, each pseudo-disk driver 510
creating and presenting a corresponding pseudo-disk 520 (e.g.,
Volume A). A non-limiting example of a pseudo-disk driver 510 is
the "CVBLK" driver from Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls,
N.J., USA. See also FIG. 7.
[0316] Pseudo-disk 520 is an instantiation of a pseudo-disk
presented and made accessible by pseudo-disk driver 510 for data
storage and retrieval of one or more backup copies 116 that form a
point-in-time view (e.g., 516A, 516B, etc.) of virtual disk 304.
Pseudo-disk 520 comprises data structures that are illustratively
implemented in cache memory of indexer 350. Pseudo-disk 520 is
mountable and is accessible as a mount point.
[0317] Data block retrieval and processing logic 560 is a
functional component of content indexing infrastructure 450 that
comprises specialized logic for supplying information about backed
up data blocks to coarse indexer 570 and/or fine indexer 590. For
example, logic 560 prompts pseudo-disk driver 510 for certain data
blocks (e.g., next data block in a point-in-time view 516 being
indexed); obtains filenames, directories, metadata from file
manager application 550; and feeds information to coarse indexer
570, which generates entries in coarse index 462. More details are
given in other figures herein.
[0318] Coarse indexer 570 is a functional component of content
indexing infrastructure 450 that comprises specialized logic for
receiving information about backed up data blocks in copies 116 and
organizes the information into coarse index 462. Coarse indexer 570
is illustratively concerned with filenames, directory structures,
and file attributes (metadata), leaving file contents to be handled
by fine indexer 590. Coarse indexer 570 is shown here as separate
from logic 560 to ease the reader's understanding of the present
disclosure, but the invention is not so limited. In alternative
embodiments, logic 560 comprises coarse indexer 570, file selector
580, and fine indexer 590. See also FIG. 6.
[0319] Coarse index 462 is shown in dotted outline, because it is
not part of content indexing infrastructure 450 according to
illustrative embodiments, but rather a result thereof, though the
invention is not so limited. In some alternative embodiments,
content indexing infrastructure comprises coarse index 462 and/or
fine index 464, without limitation.
[0320] FIG. 5C is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of content indexing infrastructure 450 for coarse indexing
block-level backup copies representing point-in-time TO and
point-in-time T1, and using multiple pseudo-disk drivers 510A and
510B, respectively. FIG. 5C is analogous to FIG. 5B, but differs in
that multiple point-in-time views 516 are being indexed here as
compared to a single point-in-time view in FIG. 5B.
[0321] According to the illustrative embodiments, a separate
pseudo-disk driver 510 and its accompanying pseudo-disk 520 is
configured to correspond to each point-in-time view 516. This
approach enables logic 560 to interface separately with each
pseudo-disk driver 510 to drive obtaining the next data block from
secondary storage. Because point-in-time views 516 differ from each
other, this approach ensures that block-level backup copies 116 are
appropriately accessed, causing the proper data blocks to be
retrieved therefrom.
[0322] As depicted here, point-in-time view 516A, which represents
time T0 and comprises block-level backup copy 116-0 is being
content indexed via pseudo-disk driver 510A and pseudo-disk 520A;
and point-in-time view 516B, which represents time T1 and comprises
block-level backup copy 116-0 and copy 116-1 is being content
indexed via pseudo-disk driver 510B and pseudo-disk 520B. All the
pseudo-disks 520 are presented as volumes (e.g., A, B) to operating
system 530 by their respective pseudo-disk driver 510.
[0323] Coarse index 462 is shown in dotted outline, because it is
not part of content indexing infrastructure 450 according to
illustrative embodiments, but rather a result thereof, though the
invention is not so limited. In some alternative embodiments,
content indexing infrastructure comprises coarse index 462 and/or
fine index 464, without limitation.
[0324] Although the present figure depicts only two point-in-time
views 516 being indexed, the invention is not so limited and there
is no limit on how many point-in-time views 516 can be indexed,
using corresponding pseudo-disk drivers 510, based on any number of
backup copies 116 from any number of source VMs 302 and virtual
disks 304.
[0325] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of content indexing infrastructure 450 engaged in coarse and fine
indexing of one or more block-level backup copies 116 representing
point-in-time T0 and using one pseudo-disk driver 510. FIG. 6 is
analogous to FIG. 5B and adds a depiction of fine indexing.
Generally, fine indexing follows coarse indexing in the order of
operations in regard to a given backed up VM data file. In some
embodiments, fine indexing starts after all backed up VM data files
in a point-in-time view 516 have been coarse indexed.
[0326] File selector 580 is a functional component of content
indexing infrastructure 450, which is generally directed to
limiting which backed up VM data files will be subjected to fine
indexing. Accordingly, file selector 580 applies certain filtering
criteria to determine whether a data file that was coarse indexed
will also be fine indexed. Filtering criteria are implemented
through one or more of: pre-administration, e.g., via storage
manager 440; job preferences, e.g., via parameters transmitted by
storage manager 440 when triggering the content indexing job; etc.
Thus, file selector 580 passes to fine indexer 590 data blocks that
belong to a data file selected for fine indexing.
[0327] Fine indexer 590 is a functional component of content
indexing infrastructure 450 that comprises specialized logic for
analyzing backed up data blocks in copies 116 according to certain
content indexing criteria (e.g., keywords, key phrases, image
content, video content, etc.) and organizes the results of the
analysis into fine index 462. Fine indexer 590 is shown here as
separate from logic 560 to ease the reader's understanding of the
present disclosure, but the invention is not so limited. In
alternative embodiments, logic 560 comprises coarse indexer 570,
file selector 580, and fine indexer 590.
[0328] Coarse index 462 and fine index 464 are shown in dotted
outline, because they are not part of content indexing
infrastructure 450 according to illustrative embodiments, but
rather a result thereof, though the invention is not so
limited.
[0329] Although the present figure depicts only one point-in-time
view 516 being indexed, the invention is not so limited and there
is no limit on how many point-in-time views 516 can be fine indexed
based on any number of backup copies 116 from any number of source
VMs 302 and virtual disks 304.
[0330] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating some salient details
of a pseudo-disk 520 presented by pseudo-disk driver 510 (e.g.,
volume A, volume B). The present figure depicts: media agent 144 in
communication with recall store 727; operating system 530 in
communication with I/O buffer 723; and pseudo-disk 520 comprising
I/O buffer 723, private store 725, and recall store 727.
[0331] Input/output buffer (I/O buffer) 723 is a data structure
associated with and maintained by pseudo-disk driver 510. I/O
buffer 723 receives read and write requests from/to operating
system 530, e.g., data blocks being written by logic 560 and/or
data blocks retrieved from backup copies 116.
[0332] Private store 725 is a data structure configured in
pseudo-disk 520. Private store 725 is a staging location for write
requests received from operating system 530. Private store 725 may
receive blocks from I/O buffer 723. There is no limit to the number
of blocks in private store 725.
[0333] Recall store 727 is a data structure configured in
pseudo-disk 520. Recall store 727 is a staging location for data
blocks arriving from media agent 144, which are placed in I/O
buffer 723 responsive to read request received there. There is no
limit to the number of blocks in recall store 727.
[0334] Generally, after an indexing job has completed in reference
to a given point-in-time view 516, pseudo-disk 520 and its contents
are discarded. Thus, any writes that might result from file access
operations invoked by logic 560 are discarded from private store
725 and do not reach secondary copies 116. Likewise, any data
blocks retrieved from secondary copies 116 for content indexing are
not kept at indexer 350 after the indexing job completes. Thus,
pseudo-disk 520 has an insulating effect that protects backup
copies 116 from being changed by the indexing job.
[0335] FIG. 8 depicts some salient operations of a method 800
according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.
Method 800 is generally performed by one or more components of
system 300, e.g., storage manager 440, media agents 144, indexer
350, and/or data agents 142.
[0336] At block 802, system 300 generates one or more block-level
backup copies 116 of virtual disk(s) 304 of a source virtual
machine (VM) 302. Generating block-level copies of virtual disks is
described in more detail on one or more of the patent documents
that are incorporated by reference herein. As noted earlier, any
block-level copies are suitable for content indexing by the
illustrative embodiments, including file system block-level copies,
hypervisor-dependent block-level copies, hypervisor-independent
block level copies, etc., without limitation. Suitable data agents
142, media agents 144, and storage manager 140/440 are used for
this operation.
[0337] At block 804, on virtual machine content indexer (VMCI)
computing device, a pseudo-disk driver 510 generates a pseudo-disk
520 corresponding to each point-in-time-view 516 being content
indexed. As noted in FIG. 5A, a point-in-time view 516 comprises
one or more block-level backup copies 116.
[0338] At block 806, system 300 performs content indexing job(s)
for one or more block-level backup copies 116 in the point-in-time
view 516, resulting in a content index of backed up VM data files,
e.g., content index 360. More details are given in other figures
herein.
[0339] At block 808, system 300, using VM content index 360,
enables users to search VM backup files by filename and/or file
metadata; search by file content; and/or to perform granular live
browse of backed up VM data files. This feature is primarily
enabled by live browse interface 470, which interprets users'
search criteria to determine whether to use coarse index 462 or
fine index 464 to perform the requested search. Accordingly, live
browse interface 470 searches for metadata and filename queries in
coarse index 462; and searches for keywords, key phrases, and other
file content in fine index 464. If substantive search results are
found (other than null), live browse interface 470 provides the
user with a drill down feature (e.g., hyperlink) to enable the user
to access the backed up VM data file that satisfies the search
criteria. The fact that a point-in-time view 516 might comprise
several copies 116 is not visible to the user of live browse
interface 470. Rather, the user sees a filename with a certain
timestamp, e.g., time T2. In some embodiments, the content index
360 and/or live browse interface 470 are served from a computing
device other than indexer 350, e.g., from a cloud-based service
console, from a remote data center, etc., without limitation.
[0340] System 300 presents the appropriate file version to the
user, analogous to how the content indexing handled point-in-time
views. At this point, a pseudo-disk driver 510 is activated at
indexer 350, and it configures a pseudo-disk 520 corresponding to
the point-time-view 516 that carries the desired timestamp, e.g.,
T2. Pseudo-disk 520 is mounted and pressed into service. Logic 560
is invoked to retrieve the data blocks associated with the
point-in-time view of the backed up VM data file the user
requested. Rather than feeding the data blocks to coarse indexer
570 as shown in FIG. 5B, logic 560 instead feeds them to live
browse interface 470, which presents them to the user. The user
thus is able to access and browse a backed up VM data file, without
executing a full restore. If the user wishes to restore the file to
a storage location on the user's computing device or to another
accessible location, control passes to block 810.
[0341] At block 810, system 300 performs a restore operation, still
maintaining the granular scope from the preceding operation, i.e.,
restoring one or more backed up VM data files based on user's
search and/or live browse. Accordingly, the backed up VM data file
is restored to a suitable destination, e.g., to another VM, to a
computing device, etc. Restoring may involve the use of data agents
142, in some embodiments. Restoring block-level backup copies is
described in more detail on one or more of the patent documents
that are incorporated by reference herein.
[0342] FIG. 9 depicts some salient operations of block 806 in
method 800. Block 806 is generally directed to performing a content
indexing job for one or more block-level backup copies 116 in the
point-in-time view 516, resulting in a content index of backed up
VM data files, VM content index 360; the operations in this block
are performed by one or more components of system 300.
[0343] At block 902, storage manager 440 launches (initiates,
triggers, starts) a VM content indexing job. Typically, this is
initiated based on preferences associated with the source VM 302,
e.g., storage policies, indexing policies, etc., which are stored
in management database 146. Accordingly, storage manager 440
notifies indexer 350 and media agent 144 to begin a content
indexing job for one or more identified VMs. Since storage manager
440 tracks indexing jobs, it tracks which points-in-time have been
content indexed in earlier jobs, so that it can properly instruct
indexer 350 and media agent 144 where/when to start the indexing
job.
[0344] At block 904, one or more pseudo-disks corresponding to the
point-in-time view 516 are mounted to indexer 350. This is made
possible by pseudo-disk drivers 510 being installed/and or
activated, each pseudo-disk driver corresponding to a point-in-time
view 516, and further by each pseudo-disk driver 510 creating a
pseudo-disk 520. See also FIGS. 5B, 5C, and 6. Once the pseudo-disk
520 is created, it can be mounted, thereby becoming accessible to
data input/output. This block is performed by indexer 350, e.g.,
using logic 560.
[0345] At block 906, logic 560 causes file manager application 550
to enumerate data files visible in mounted pseudo-disk 520. This is
done in part by file manager 550 issuing read requests that are
intercepted by pseudo-disk driver 510. As shown in FIG. 7, metadata
that is available from recall store 727 in pseudo-disk 520 is
served by pseudo-disk driver 510 therefrom. If not available in
recall store 727, data responsive to a read request must be
requested from media agent 144. Accordingly, pseudo-disk driver 510
transmits the read request to media agent 144.
[0346] Media agent 144, using its local index (e.g., 153), which
was populated when block-level backup copies 116 were generated,
determines the appropriate copies 116 that form point-in-time view
516 being indexed and accesses those copies 116 if need be. Media
agent 144, using its local index (e.g., 153), identifies metadata
blocks available in its local index; if not available locally,
media agent 144 identifies the metadata in the backup copies 116
and recalls the metadata to media agent 144. Media agent 144
process the metadata in its local index and/or recalled from the
backup copies 116 to identify metadata about the backed up virtual
machine data files that is current to the point in time view 516.
Media agent 144 then responds to the pending read request with one
or more appropriate data blocks comprising metadata that is
identified as current as of the point in time view 516. Pseudo-disk
driver 510 stores these responses to recall store 727, and from
there serves the read requests issued by file manager application
550. File manager application 550 reads filenames and file
attributes and transmits them to logic 560. Notably, the backup
copies 116 are not restored in their entireties to the media agent
144 and/or its host computing device. Instead, media agent 144
selectively retrieves/recalls needed metadata from the backup
copies 116 and even from its own previously generated local index
153. Media agent 144 then returns only information that is current
as of the point in time view as depicted in FIG. 5A.
[0347] Thus, block 906 illustrates some of the advantages of the
illustrative architecture, which minimizes the amount of data that
needs to be recalled from backup copies and transmitted among
computing devices. Accordingly, backup copies 116 need not be
restored in their entireties to the media agent and/or to the
indexing server, because their metadata (e.g., filenames, file
attributes) is selectively extracted as needed. Moreover, the
coarse index that is generated from the metadata is current in
reference to a certain point in time view, based on processing
performed by media agent 144, which filters out out-of-date
information and integrates current information into a coherent
point in time representation based on the backup copies. In some
embodiments, the processing and filtering is performed at the
content indexer 350 rather than by the media agent 144.
[0348] In some embodiments, a separate coarse index 462 is created
for each point in time view 516, whereas in other embodiments, the
coarse index 462 tracks information for more than one point in time
view 516.
[0349] At block 908, logic 560 supplies file-associated metadata
(e.g., filenames and file attributes) obtained from the file
manager's enumeration operation to coarse indexer 570, which
arranges the information into coarse index 462. Therefore, coarse
index 462 comprises file names and file attributes for the virtual
machine data files in the virtual machine disk according to the
point in time view 516. Furthermore, the coarse index 462 enables
searching for individual files, as well as for associated file
attributes, among the virtual machine data files based on the
block-level backup copies 116 analyzed in building the coarse
index. Likewise, fine index 464 enables searching for content among
the virtual machine data files based on the block-level backup
copies 116 analyzed in building the fine index.
[0350] At block 910, one or more backed up VM files are subjected
to fine indexing, i.e., indexing of file contents. More details are
given in another figure.
[0351] At block 912, coarse index 462 and fine index
464--collectively content index 360--are retained, preferably at
indexer 350, though the invention is not so limited. In some
embodiments, content index 360 is replicated and/or backed up to
another location. Content indexes are useful for long-term
retention along with the block-level backup copies from which they
originate. Thus, in some embodiments, the content index itself is
backed up to another location at the content indexer, to another
computing device, and/or to secondary storage, without
limitation.
[0352] At block 914, on completion of the content indexing job,
pseudo-disks 520 and data therein are discarded. Pseudo-disks 520
are unmounted. Pseudo-disk drivers 510 are de-activated as
well.
[0353] At block 916, on completion of the content indexing job,
media agent 144 updates its local index (e.g., 153), e.g., flagging
the backup copies 116 that have been content indexed.
[0354] At block 918, on completion of the content indexing job,
media agent 144 and/or indexer 350 report results to storage
manager 440. The results are stored to management database 146, and
include for example, the point-in-time views 516 that were content
indexed, the media agent 144 involved, etc.
[0355] FIG. 10 depicts some salient operations of block 910 in
block 806 of method 800. Block 910 is generally directed to fine
indexing of one or more backed up VM files. This operation
generally follows coarse indexing of filenames and file metadata
and is performed by content indexer 350, e.g., using infrastructure
450. See also FIG. 6.
[0356] At block 1002, based on the coarse index 462, indexer 350
(e.g., using file selector 580) chooses a backed up VM file for
fine indexing.
[0357] At block 1004, indexer 350 (e.g., using fine indexer 590)
applies content criteria to identify content in the file being
content indexed. Criteria are applied to data blocks and/or data
block groupings (e.g., extents, chunks, segments) sufficient to
yield content analysis. Notably, the subject file is not restored
in its entirety in order to perform the content indexing according
to the illustrative embodiments. This streamlines the content
indexing operations and saves a lot of time and storage space and
is one of the principal advantages of the illustrative
approach.
[0358] At block 1006, indexer 350 (e.g., using fine indexer 590)
adds content to a fine index of content found in backed up VM
files, e.g., fine index 464. Fine indexer 590 is responsible for
arranging information in fine index 464.
[0359] At block 1008, control passes back to block 1004 to continue
applying content criteria to other data blocks belonging to the
file being fine indexed.
[0360] At block 1010, control passes to block 1002 to repeat fine
indexing for any number of files being fine indexed in the present
indexing job.
[0361] In regard to the figures described herein, other embodiments
are possible within the scope of the present invention, such that
the above-recited components, steps, blocks, operations, messages,
requests, queries, and/or instructions are differently arranged,
sequenced, sub-divided, organized, and/or combined. In some
embodiments, a different component may initiate or execute a given
operation.
Example Embodiments
[0362] 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.
[0363] According to an embodiment, a method for granular indexing
of backup copies of virtual machine data files using one or more
pseudo-disk drivers comprises: by a storage manager, initiating
indexing of a first representation of a virtual machine disk at a
first point in time, wherein the first representation is based on a
first plurality of block-level backup copies of first virtual
machine data files in the virtual machine disk at or before the
first point in time, and wherein the backup copies were generated
by a media agent; by the storage manager, cause a first pseudo-disk
driver to be activated at a first computing device, wherein the
first pseudo-disk driver corresponds to the first representation
and is in communication with the media agent, wherein the first
computing device comprises one or more hardware processors, and
wherein the storage manager comprises one or more hardware
processors; and wherein the indexing results in a first index that
comprises metadata about the first virtual machine data files in
the virtual machine disk as of the first point in time according to
the first representation of the virtual machine disk, and wherein
the metadata comprises filenames and file attributes. The
above-recited method further comprising: by the first pseudo-disk
driver, cause a first pseudo-disk to be mounted at the first
computing device as a data storage volume for the first
representation, wherein the first pseudo-disk is implemented in
cache memory at the first computing device. The above-recited
method further comprising: by a file manager application executing
at the first computing device, issuing read requests for metadata
in the first representation to the pseudo-disk driver, wherein the
pseudo-disk driver transmits a read request to the media agent if
the read request cannot be served from the pseudo-disk. The
above-recited method further comprising: by the media agent,
responding to each received read request by recalling metadata from
the first plurality of block-level backup copies without restoring
each of the first virtual machine data files in its entirety to the
first computing device; and by the first computing device,
generating the first index that comprises metadata about the first
virtual machine data files in the virtual machine disk as of the
first point in time according to the first representation of the
virtual machine disk, and wherein the metadata comprises filenames
and file attributes. The above-recited method wherein the first
index enables searching for individual files among the first
virtual machine data files based on the first plurality of
block-level backup copies.
[0364] The above-recited method wherein the first representation is
a logical view of the first virtual machine data files in the
virtual machine disk at the first point in time. The above-recited
method wherein the first index is based on metadata identified by
the media agent as current as of the first point in time and stored
at the pseudo-disk. The above-recited method wherein based on
metadata identified by the media agent as current as of the first
point in time, the first index tracks the first virtual machine
data files in the virtual machine disk as of the first point in
time. The above-recited method wherein the media agent processes
the metadata recalled from the first plurality of block-level
backup copies to identify metadata about the first virtual machine
data files that is current as of the first point in time; wherein
the media agent's response to each received read request comprises
metadata identified as current as of the first point in time;
wherein the pseudo-disk driver stores responses from the media
agent to the pseudo-disk; and wherein the first index is based on
the metadata identified as current as of the first point in time
and stored at the pseudo-disk.
[0365] The above-recited method further comprising: by the storage
manager, cause a second pseudo-disk driver to be activated at the
first computing device, wherein the second pseudo-disk driver
corresponds to a second representation of the virtual machine disk
at a second point in time, wherein the second representation is
based on a second plurality of block-level backup copies of second
virtual machine data files in the virtual machine disk at or before
the second point in time, and wherein the second plurality of
block-level backup copies were generated by the media agent; by the
second pseudo-disk driver, cause a second pseudo-disk to be mounted
at the first computing device as a data storage volume for the
second representation, wherein the second pseudo-disk is
implemented in cache memory at the first computing device, and
wherein the second pseudo-disk driver is in communication with the
media agent; by the file manager application, issuing second read
requests for metadata in the second representation to the second
pseudo-disk driver, wherein the pseudo-disk driver transmits a
second read request to the media agent if the second read request
cannot be served from the pseudo-disk; by the media agent,
recalling metadata from the second plurality of block-level backup
copies without restoring each of the second virtual machine data
files in its entirety to the first computing device; and by the
first computing device, generating a second index that comprises
metadata about the second virtual machine data files as of the
second point in time according to the second representation of the
virtual machine disk. The above-recited method wherein the first
index and the second index track file metadata for the virtual
machine disk at the first point in time and at the second point in
time, respectively; and wherein at least one data file among the
first virtual machine data files is also among the second virtual
machine data files.
[0366] The above-recited method further comprising: by the storage
manager, cause a second pseudo-disk driver to be activated at the
first computing device, wherein the second pseudo-disk driver
corresponds to a second representation of the virtual machine disk
at a second point in time, wherein the second representation is
based on a second plurality of block-level backup copies of second
virtual machine data files in the virtual machine disk at or before
the second point in time, and wherein the second plurality of
block-level backup copies were generated by the media agent; by the
second pseudo-disk driver, cause a second pseudo-disk to be mounted
at the first computing device as a data storage volume for the
second representation, wherein the second pseudo-disk is
implemented in cache memory at the first computing device, and
wherein the second pseudo-disk driver is in communication with the
media agent; by the file manager application, issuing second read
requests for metadata in the second representation to the second
pseudo-disk driver, which transmits the second read requests to the
media agent; by the media agent, recalling metadata from the second
plurality of block-level backup copies without restoring each of
the second virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first
computing device; and by the first computing device, adding to the
first index metadata about the second virtual machine data files as
of the second point in time according to the second representation
of the virtual machine disk, wherein the first index comprises file
metadata for the virtual machine disk at the first point in time
and at the second point in time. The above-recited method further
comprising: by the first computing device, selecting one of the
first virtual machine data files tracked by the first index; by the
media agent, restoring to the pseudo-disk from the first plurality
of block-level backup copies, individual portions of the one first
virtual machine data file that the media agent determines to be
current as of the first point in time, wherein the individual
portions are restored one by one without restoring the one first
virtual machine data file in its entirety to the first computing
device; by the first computing device, applying content criteria to
each individual portion in the pseudo-disk to identify content that
matches the content criteria in the one first virtual machine data
file at the first point in time; and by the first computing device,
generating a second index that tracks the identified content that
matches the content criteria, wherein the second index enables
searching for content among the first virtual machine data files in
the virtual machine disk as of the first point in time, based on
the first plurality of block-level backup copies.
[0367] The above-recited method further comprising: by the first
computing device, causing the first pseudo-disk to be discarded
after the first index is generated with respect to the first point
in time. The above-recited method wherein the pseudo-disk driver
stores data included in write commands issued by the file manager
application without making changes to the first plurality of
block-level backup copies; and by the first computing device, after
the first index is generated with respect to the first point in
time, causing the first pseudo-disk to be discarded, including the
data included in the write commands issued by the file manager
application.
[0368] According to another embodiment, a method for granular
indexing backup copies of virtual machine data files using one or
more pseudo-disk drivers comprises: activating a first pseudo-disk
driver at a first computing device, wherein the first pseudo-disk
driver corresponds to a first logical view of first virtual machine
data files in a virtual machine disk at a first point in time,
wherein the first logical view is based on a first plurality of
block-level backup copies of the first virtual machine data files
at or before the first point in time, and wherein the backup copies
were generated by a media agent, and wherein the first computing
device comprises one or more hardware processors; by the first
pseudo-disk driver, cause a first pseudo-disk to be mounted at the
first computing device as a first data storage volume implemented
in cache memory at the first computing device; by the pseudo-disk
driver, receiving from a file manager application executing at the
first computing device read requests for metadata in the first data
storage volume, wherein the pseudo-disk driver transmits the read
requests to the media agent if the read requests cannot be served
from the pseudo-disk; by the media agent, responding to received
read requests by recalling metadata from the first plurality of
block-level backup copies without restoring each of the first
virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first computing
device; and by the first computing device, generating a first index
that comprises metadata about the first virtual machine data files
as of the first point in time, wherein the first index enables
searching for individual files among the first virtual machine data
files based on the first plurality of block-level backup copies.
The above-recited method further comprising: by the first computing
device, selecting one of the first virtual machine data files
tracked by the first index; by the media agent, restoring to the
pseudo-disk from the first plurality of block-level backup copies,
individual portions of the one first virtual machine data file that
the media agent determines to be current as of the first point in
time, wherein the individual portions are restored one by one
without restoring the one first virtual machine data file in its
entirety to the first computing device; by the first computing
device, applying content criteria to each individual portion in the
pseudo-disk to identify content that matches the content criteria
in the one first virtual machine data file at the first point in
time; and by the first computing device, generating a second index
that tracks the identified content, wherein the second index
enables searching for content among the first virtual machine data
files in the virtual machine disk based on the first plurality of
block-level backup copies.
[0369] The above-recited method further comprising: by a storage
manager, initiating indexing of the virtual machine disk at the
first point in time, by causing the activating of the first
pseudo-disk driver at the first computing device, wherein the
storage manager comprises one or more hardware processors. The
above-recited method wherein upon receiving a read request the
pseudo-disk driver serves a response from the pseudo-disk if
responsive data is available therein, and otherwise transmits the
read request to the media agent for retrieval from a backup copy if
the responsive data is not available at the media agent.
[0370] According to yet another embodiment, a data storage
management system comprises: a first computing device comprising
one or more hardware processors and computer memory for executing
program instructions; a second computing device comprising one or
more hardware processors and computer memory for executing program
instructions; wherein the first computing device is configured to:
activate a first pseudo-disk driver that executes at the first
computing device, wherein the first pseudo-disk driver corresponds
to a first logical view of first virtual machine data files in a
virtual machine disk at a first point in time, wherein the first
logical view is based on a first plurality of block-level backup
copies of the first virtual machine data files at or before the
first point in time, and wherein the backup copies were generated
by a media agent that executes at the second computing device; by
the first pseudo-disk driver, cause a first pseudo-disk to be
mounted at the first computing device as a first data storage
volume implemented in cache memory at the first computing device;
by the pseudo-disk driver, receive from a file manager application
executing at the first computing device read requests for metadata
in the first data storage volume, wherein the pseudo-disk driver
transmits the read requests to the media agent if the read requests
cannot be served from the pseudo-disk; wherein the second computing
device is configured to: by the media agent, respond to received
read requests by recalling metadata from the first plurality of
block-level backup copies without restoring each of the first
virtual machine data files in its entirety to the first computing
device; and wherein the first computing device is further
configured to: generate a first index that comprises file metadata
for the first virtual machine data files in the virtual machine
disk at the first point in time, wherein the first index enables
searching for individual files among the first virtual machine data
files based on the first plurality of block-level backup copies,
and wherein the file metadata comprises file names and file
attributes.
[0371] The above-recited system wherein the first computing device
is further configured to: select one of the first virtual machine
data files tracked by the first index; wherein the second computing
device is further configured to: by the media agent, restore to the
pseudo-disk from the first plurality of block-level backup copies,
individual portions of the one first virtual machine data file that
the media agent determines to be current as of the first point in
time, wherein the individual portions are restored one by one
without restoring the one first virtual machine data file in its
entirety to the first computing device; and wherein the first
computing device is further configured to: apply content criteria
to each individual portion in the pseudo-disk to identify content
that matches the content criteria in the one first virtual machine
data file at the first point in time, and generate a second index
that tracks the identified content, wherein the second index
enables searching for content among the first virtual machine data
files in the virtual machine disk based on the first plurality of
block-level backup copies.
[0372] The above-recited system, wherein the second computing
device is further configured to: by the media agent, process the
metadata recalled from the first plurality of block-level backup
copies to identify metadata about the first virtual machine data
files that is current as of the first point in time, wherein the
media agent's response to each received read request comprises
metadata identified as current as of the first point in time,
wherein the pseudo-disk driver stores responses from the media
agent to the pseudo-disk, and wherein the first index is based on
the metadata identified as current as of the first point in time
and stored at the pseudo-disk. The above-recited system, wherein
upon receiving a read request the pseudo-disk driver is configured
to serve a response from the pseudo-disk if responsive data is
available therein, and otherwise to transmit the read request to
the media agent for retrieval from a backup copy if the responsive
data is not available at the media agent.
[0373] In other embodiments, a system or systems may operate
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 may operate according to one or
more of the systems and/or computer-readable media recited in the
preceding paragraphs. In yet more embodiments, a computer-readable
medium or media, excluding transitory propagating signals, may
cause one or more computing devices having one or more processors
and non-transitory computer-readable memory to operate according to
one or more of the systems and/or methods recited in the preceding
paragraphs.
Terminology
[0374] 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.
[0375] 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.
[0376] 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.
[0377] 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.
[0378] 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.
[0379] 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.
[0380] 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.
[0381] 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. .sctn. 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. .sctn. 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.
* * * * *