Information management by a media agent in the absence of communications with a storage manager

• US 10,013,314 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2016
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Klose, Michael Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Uddin, Mohammed R
• Application Number:
  US15/377,837
• Publication Number:
  US 20170091049A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 707640, 707652, 707617, 707668, 707999204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/201 between storage system components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration

Abstract

A media agent is configured to perform substantially autonomously to initiate, continue, and manage information management operations such as a backup job of a certain client'"'"'s primary data, manage the operations, and generate and store resultant system-level metadata from the operations, etc. The media agent is configured to do this even when out of communication with the storage manager that manages the information management system. When communications are restored, the media agent reports the relevant metadata to the storage manager. The storage manager comprises corresponding enhancements, including specialized logic for identifying the media agent as an intelligent media agent capable of some autonomous functionality, for transmitting management parameters thereto, and for seamlessly integrating the received metadata into the storage manager'"'"'s associated management infrastructure such as a management database.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, by a storage manager that manages an information management system without assistance from other storage managers,

a secondary storage computing device as being a component of the information management system that comprises executable logic for autonomously managing storage operations in the information management system on behalf of the storage manager,

wherein the identifying is performed in anticipation of the storage manager being out of communication with the secondary storage computing device;

transmitting, by the storage manager to the identified secondary storage computing device, one or more management parameters for autonomously managing the storage operations when the secondary storage computing device is out of communication with the storage manager;

after communications with the secondary storage computing device resume,

receiving, by the storage manager, from the secondary storage computing device,

metadata generated by the secondary storage computing device based on the storage operations autonomously managed thereby while out of communication with the storage manager; and

integrating the received metadata, by the storage manager, into an associated management database,

resulting in information management status becoming available to the storage manager for at least some of the storage operations that occurred at the secondary storage computing device while the storage manager was out of communication with the secondary storage computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more management parameters for autonomously managing the storage operations are transmitted by the storage manager in response to one or more requests received from the secondary storage computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary storage computing device requests transmission from the storage manager of the one or more management parameters for autonomously managing storage operations in the information management system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting of the one or more management parameters for autonomously managing the storage operations is initiated by the storage manager.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more management parameters comprises a storage policy that applies to at least one client computing device, which is a component of the information management system, and which generates primary data involved in at least one of the storage operations.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

initiating and managing, by the secondary storage computing device while out of communication with the storage manager, based on executing the executable logic, and further based on at least part of the one or more management parameters for autonomously managing the storage operations,

one or more of the storage operations for a portion of primary data generated by a client computing device, which is a component of the information management system,

wherein the client computing device is also out of communication with the storage manager while the one or more of the storage operations are performed.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the received metadata identifies the client computing device and the portion of primary data.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the integrating by the storage manager further comprises integrating into the management database an association between the storage operations and the secondary storage computing device that autonomously managed them while out of communication with the storage manager.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the integrating by the storage manager further comprises integrating into the management database an association between the storage operations and a media agent that executes on the secondary storage computing device, and

wherein the media agent comprises the executable logic for autonomously managing, while out of communication with the storage manager, the storage operations on behalf of the storage manager.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the received metadata is in reference to at least one storage operation that (i) began while the storage manager and the secondary storage computing device were in communication with each other, and (ii) continued and was completed after the storage manager and the secondary storage computing device were no longer in communication with each other without the secondary storage computing device requiring further instructions from the storage manager or from another storage manager.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the storage manager, which one or more client and subclient components of the information management system to subject to the storage operations that are to be autonomously managed by the secondary storage computing device while out of communication with the storage manager, and according to the one or more management parameters for autonomously managing the storage operations.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by the storage manager, based at least in part on the anticipation of the storage manager being out of communication with the secondary storage computing device during a first time frame,

which storage operations are to be autonomously managed by the secondary storage computing device while out of communication with the storage manager.

13. A computer-readable medium, excluding transitory propagating signals, storing instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device hosting a storage manager that manages an information management system, cause the storage manager to perform operations comprising:

while the storage manager is in communication with a media agent executing on a secondary storage computing device that receives and stores management parameters from the storage manager as a component of the information management system and in anticipation of the storage manager being out of communication with the media agent,

determining, by the storage manager, that the media agent is configured for autonomously managing storage operations in the information management system on behalf of the storage manager while out of communication with the storage manager;

based on the determining, transmitting to the media agent, one or more management parameters to be used by the media agent for autonomously managing the storage operations; and

after communications with the media agent resume,

receiving, by the storage manager from the media agent, metadata generated by the media agent based on the storage operations autonomously managed by the media agent while out of communication with the storage manager; and

integrating the received metadata, by the storage manager, into an associated management database,

thereby incorporating information about the storage operations that occurred at the media agent while the media agent was out of communication with the storage manager.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the transmitting of the one or more management parameters to be used by the media agent for autonomously managing the storage operations is initiated by the storage manager.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the integrating by the storage manager comprises adding into the associated management database an association between a given storage operation and the media agent that performed the given storage operation on behalf of the storage manager.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the received metadata identifies a client computing device and a portion of primary data involved in one of the storage operations.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the received metadata is in reference to a first storage operation that (i) began while the storage manager and the media agent were in communication with each other, and (ii) continued after the storage manager and the media agent were no longer in communication with each other without the media agent requiring further instructions from the storage manager or from another storage manager.

18. A method comprising:

generating primary data by a client computing device, wherein the client computing device is a component of an information management system managed by a storage manager without assistance from other storage managers;

while in communication with a secondary storage computing device, initiating by the storage manager an information management job comprising a storage operation for at least a portion of the primary data generated by the client computing device, wherein the information management job is processed at least in part by the secondary storage computing device;

while out of communication with the storage manager, continuing by the secondary storage computing device to process the information management job based on management parameters previously received from the storage manager in anticipation of losing communications with the secondary storage computing device; and

wherein the continuing to process by the secondary storage computing device comprises;

generating at least one secondary copy of data from the storage operation for the at least a portion of primary data,

storing the at least one secondary copy of data to one or more secondary storage devices in communication with the secondary storage computing device, and

generating metadata comprising information about the at least one secondary copy of data and the information management job.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the continuing to process occurs while the client computing device is also out of communication with the storage manager.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

after communications with the secondary storage computing device resume, receiving by the storage manager from the secondary storage computing device the metadata generated by the secondary storage computing device while out of communication with the storage manager; and

integrating the received metadata, by the storage manager, into an associated management database, resulting in information management status becoming available to the storage manager for at least some of the storage operation that occurred at the secondary storage computing device while the storage manager was out of communication with the secondary storage computing device.