Use of auxiliary data protection software in failover operations

• US 10,001,935 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Gokhale, Parag, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Karandikar, Amey Vijaykumar, Vijayan, Manoj Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Kamini B
• Application Number:
  US15/282,528
• Publication Number:
  US 20170115906A1
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 714 411
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/006 Identification G06F11/2289 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2092 Techniques of failing over between control units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

According to certain aspects, an information management cell can include at least one secondary storage computing device configured to conduct primary data generated by at least one client computing device to a secondary storage device(s) as part of secondary copy operations, wherein the secondary storage computing device normally operates to conduct primary data to the secondary storage device(s) for storage as a secondary copy in a first secondary copy file format, at the direction of a main storage manager; and can include a failover storage manager configured to activate in response to loss of connectivity between the cell and the main storage manager, and instruct a secondary copy application to perform a secondary copy operation in which the primary data generated by the at least one client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in a second secondary copy file format different than the first secondary copy file format.

Claims

1. An information management system with failover management capability, comprising:

a first grouping of computing components comprising a plurality of computing devices and a plurality of storage devices, the first grouping of computing components configured to be in networked communication with a first storage manager geographically remote from the first grouping of computing components,

the plurality of computing devices comprising a client computing device having a first software application installed thereon,

at least one of the plurality of computing devices configured, as part of one or more first secondary copy operations, at the direction of the first storage manager, to copy primary data generated by the first software application to one or more secondary storage devices of the plurality of storage devices,

at least one of the plurality of computing devices, the second storage manager configured to, in the event of loss of connection between the first storage manager and the first grouping of computing components;

access a storage policy and based on the storage policy, activate a second storage manager implemented by at least one of the plurality of computing devices;

with the activated second storage manager,

initiate a second secondary copy operation in which one or more of the plurality of computing devices create a secondary copy on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

generate a unique temporary identifier associated with the secondary copy based on one or more of an identifier for the first grouping of computing components and a time at which the second secondary copy operation is performed,

wherein the first grouping of computing components is further configured, upon reestablishment of connection between the first storage manager and the first grouping of computing components, to transmit the temporary identifier to the first storage manager as part of a synchronization process.

2. The information management system of claim 1, wherein the first storage manager is configured to perform content indexing on the secondary copy subsequent to the synchronization.

3. The information management system of claim 1, wherein the second storage manager is further configured to deactivate subsequent to the synchronization.

4. The information management system of claim 1, wherein the second storage manager is further configured to provide to information that is used in performing the second secondary copy operation including one or more of:

global namespace, source location, and destination location.

5. The information management system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of computing devices are configured to detect loss of connectivity to the first storage manager by polling the first storage manager at an interval.

6. The information management system of claim 1, wherein the second storage manager is one of a plurality of failover storage managers implemented by the plurality of computing devices, and the second storage manager is selected for use in response to the loss of connectivity based at least in part on a pre-determined order of priority for activating the plurality of failover storage managers.

7. A method of performing a failover operation in an information management system, the method comprising:

at the direction of a first storage manager, during one or more first secondary copy operations, with at least one of a plurality of computing devices of a first grouping of computing components, copying primary data generated by a first software application installed on a client computing device of the plurality of computing devices to one or more secondary storage devices of the first grouping of computing components, the first storage manager geographically remote from the first grouping of computing components;

with at least one of the plurality of computing devices, in the event of loss of connection between the first storage manager and the first grouping of computing components;

accessing a storage policy;

based on the storage policy, activating a second storage manager implemented by at least one of the plurality of computing devices, wherein the second storage manager initiates a second secondary copy operation in which one or more of the plurality of computing devices create a secondary copy on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

generating a unique temporary identifier associated with the secondary copy based on one or more of an identifier for the first grouping of computing components and a time at which the second secondary copy operation is performed; and

upon reestablishment of the connection between the first storage manager and the first grouping of computing components, transmitting the temporary identifier from the first grouping of computing components to the first storage manager as part of a synchronization process.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first storage manager is configured to perform content indexing on the secondary copy subsequent to the synchronization.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising deactivating the second storage manager subsequent to the synchronization.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising, with the second storage manager, providing information that is used in performing the second secondary copy operation including one or more of:

global namespace, source location, and destination location.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising, with at least one of the plurality of computing devices, detecting loss of connectivity to the first storage manager by polling the second first storage manager at an interval.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the second storage manager is one of a plurality of failover storage managers implemented by the plurality of computing devices, and the method further comprises selecting the second storage manager, for use in response to the loss of connectivity based at least in part on a pre-determined order of priority for activating the plurality of failover storage managers.