Partial sharing of secondary storage files in a data storage system

• US 10,140,037 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2016
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Varadharajan, Prakash, Vibhor, Anand, Karandikar, Amey Vijaykumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Casanova, Jorge A
• Application Number:
  US15/280,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20170090795A1
• Time in Patent Office: 789 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• 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

The data storage system according to certain aspects can allow users to share a portion of a file (e.g., a document) in secondary storage. The user may specify a portion of a secondary storage file to share and send a link to the portion to another user. The other user can access the shared portion from the link, and just the shared portion may be restored from secondary storage. The data storage system according to certain aspects can also provide a native view of secondary storage data on a client computer. The index data and/or metadata relating to secondary storage data may be stored in native format (e.g., format of the application(s) that generated the secondary storage data) so that the secondary storage data can be displayed in a native view. The index data and/or metadata may be synchronized on the client without synchronizing the secondary storage data itself.

Claims

1. A method of sharing a portion of a file in secondary storage, the method comprising:

using one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware;

accessing index data associated with secondary copies of a plurality of files residing in a primary storage subsystem, the secondary copies stored in one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem;

based on the accessed index data, causing a graphical representation of a first file of the plurality of files to be displayed to a first user in a native view provided via a first client computing device of the first user residing in the primary storage subsystem, the first file corresponding to a first secondary copy stored in the one or more secondary storage devices;

receiving, from the first client computing device, a request to share a portion of the first file, wherein the request is based on selection of the portion of the first file by the first user from the native view;

in response to the request, generating a link to a selected portion of the first secondary copy corresponding to the selected portion of the first file; and

in response to activation of the link by a second user different from the first user, causing the selected portion of the first secondary copy to be restored for presentation to the second user, without causing the entire first secondary copy to be restored from the one or more secondary storage devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the link comprises a start secondary storage offset and an end secondary storage offset identifying the selected portion within the first secondary copy.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the second user is authorized to access the selected portion of the first secondary copy.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the link is usable to view a preview of the selected portion of the first secondary copy of the first file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the link is not usable to view a portion of the first secondary copy that is outside the selected portion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the link is usable to view a portion of the first secondary copy that is outside the selected portion.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the generated link to the second user via email.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the graphical representation of the first file to be displayed to the first user based on a determination that the first file satisfies a search query entered by the first user via the native view.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the index data comprises content index data associated with the plurality of files, and the link is a link to a portion of the content index data corresponding to the selected portion of the first secondary copy.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the index data to the primary storage subsystem, thereby synchronizing the index data between the secondary storage subsystem and the primary storage subsystem for access by the first client computing device in providing the native view.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the selected portion of the first secondary copy to be restored from the one or more secondary storage devices to a storage device residing in the primary storage subsystem and associated with a second client computing device of the second user.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the request to share the selected portion of the first secondary copy, receiving one or more search criteria from the first client computing device;

based on the one or more search criteria, electronically searching the plurality of files and determining that the first file meets the one or more search criteria; and

sending search result information to the first client computing device, the search result information usable by the first client computing device to provide the native view to the first user.

13. A data storage system configured to share a portion of a file in secondary storage, the system comprising:

computer hardware configured to execute instructions that cause the computer hardware to;

access index data associated with secondary copies of a plurality of files residing in a primary storage subsystem, the secondary copies stored in one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem;

based on the accessed index data, cause a graphical representation of a first file of the plurality of files to be displayed to a first user in a native view provided via a first client computing device of the first user residing in the primary storage subsystem, the first file corresponding to a first secondary copy stored in the one or more secondary storage devices;

receive, from the first client computing device, a request to share a portion of the first file, wherein the request is based on selection of the portion of the first file by the first user from the native view;

in response to the request, generate a link to a selected portion of the first secondary copy corresponding to the selected portion of the first file; and

in response to activation of the link by a second user different from the first user, cause the selected portion of the first secondary copy to be restored for presentation to the second user, without causing the entire first secondary copy to be restored from the one or more secondary storage devices,

wherein the computer hardware is in networked communication with a secondary storage computing device residing in the secondary storage subsystem and configured to cause the secondary copies to be stored in the one or more secondary storage devices.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the link comprises a start secondary storage offset and an end secondary storage offset identifying the selected portion within the first secondary copy.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to determine that the second user is authorized to access the selected portion of the first secondary copy.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the link is not usable to view a portion of the first secondary copy that is outside the selected portion.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to cause the graphical representation of the first file to be displayed to the first user based on a determination that the first file satisfies a search query entered by the first user via the native view.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to send the index data to the primary storage subsystem, thereby synchronizing the index data between the secondary storage subsystem and the primary storage subsystem for access by the first client computing device in providing the native view.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to cause the selected portion of the first secondary copy to be restored from the one or more secondary storage devices to a storage device residing in the primary storage subsystem and associated with a second client computing device of the second user.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to:

prior to receiving the request to share the selected portion of the first file, receive one or more search criteria from the first client computing device;

based on the one or more search criteria, electronically search the plurality of files and determine that the first file meets the one or more search criteria; and

send search result information to the first client computing device, the search result information usable by the first client computing device to provide the native view to the first user.