Extended snapshot using backup and microservice

• US 10,216,449 B1
• Filed: 12/23/2016
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EMC Holding Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Li, Junxu, Auchmoody, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Rojas, Midys
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doan, Khoa D
• Application Number:
  US15/390,138
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

Embodiments are described for presenting a backed up data object to a client, in a native file format, in response to a request from the client to retrieve the requested data object. The request includes security attributes of the requested data object. If the security attributes in the request match the security attributes stored with the backed up data object, then the requested data objet is returned to the requesting client. When a backup is performed, metadata associated with each backed up data object is stored in the backup data set. When a request is received to restore a backed up data object, a metadata tree is constructed that represents the directory structure of the backed up data objects, and further includes security attributes for each data object and an offset into the backup data set where the requested data object can be found.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request from a client device for retrieval of a data object from a backup set of data objects, the request including security attributes associated with the requested data object and client device, wherein the request further comprises an indication of a type of file system on the client device, and the data object is stored in a universal format independent of the file system on the client device;

in response to receiving the request, generating a metadata tree for the backup set of data objects in response to a determination that the metadata tree has not been generated;

wherein generating the metadata tree comprises generating a node for insertion into the metadata tree, the node including the object data, a metadata associated with the object data, and the security attributes;

in response to determining that the security attributes in the request match one or more security attributes of the requested data object;

converting the data object and the associated metadata from the universal format to the file system format, then returning the requested data object and the metadata to the requesting client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein returning the requested data object and the metadata associated with the requested data object comprises:

traversing the metadata tree and finding a node in the metadata tree representing the requested data object;

determining, from the node, an offset in the backup data where the request data object is stored;

reading the data object from the backup set.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the metadata associated with the data object is obtained from the node in the metadata tree associated with the requested data object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the security attributes of the data object are stored as metadata associated with the backup data object, the security attributes being stored in a universal format, and the method further comprises:

converting the security attributes in the request from a format known to the client device, into the universal format, before determining that the security attributes in the request match one or more security attributes of the requested data object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising reconstructing the data object from a deduplicated version of the requested data object before returning the requested data object and metadata associated with the data object to the requesting client device.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium programmed with executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system having at least one hardware processor, perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from a client device for retrieval of a data object from a backup set of data objects, the request including security attributes associated with the requested data object and client device, wherein the request further comprises an indication of a type of file system on the client device, and the data object is stored in a universal format independent of the file system on the client device;

in response to receiving the request, generating a metadata tree for the backup set of data objects in response to a determination that the metadata tree has not been generated;

wherein generating the metadata tree comprises generating a node for insertion into the metadata tree, the node including the object data, a metadata associated with the object data, and the security attributes;

in response to determining that the security attributes in the request match one or more security attributes of the requested data object;

converting the data object and the associated metadata from the universal format to the file system format, then returning the requested data object and the metadata to the requesting client device.

7. The medium of claim 6, wherein returning the requested data object and metadata associated with the requested data object comprises:

traversing the metadata tree and finding a node in the metadata tree representing the requested data object;

determining, from the node, an offset in the backup data where the request data object is stored;

reading the data object from the backup set.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the metadata associated with the data object is obtained from the node in the metadata tree associated with the requested data object.

9. The medium of claim 6, wherein the security attributes of the data object are stored as metadata associated with the backup data object, the security attributes being stored in a universal format, and the operations further comprise:

converting the security attributes in the request from a format known to the client device, into the universal format, before determining that the security attributes in the request match one or more security attributes of the requested data object.

10. The medium of claim 6, further comprising reconstructing the data object from a deduplicated version of the requested data object before returning the requested data object and metadata associated with the data object to the requesting client device.

11. A system comprising:

a processing system having at least one hardware processor, the processing system coupled to a memory programmed with executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, perform operations comprising;

receiving a request from a client device for retrieval of a data object from a backup set of data objects, the request including security attributes associated with the requested data object and client device, wherein the request further comprises an indication of a type of file system on the client device, and the data object is stored in a universal format independent of the file system on the client device;

in response to receiving the request, generating a metadata tree for the backup set of data objects in response to a determination that the metadata tree has not been generated;

wherein generating the metadata tree comprises generating a node for insertion into the metadata tree, the node including the object data, a metadata associated with the object data, and the security attributes;

in response to determining that the security attributes in the request match one or more security attributes of the requested data object;

converting the data object and the associated metadata from the universal format to the file system format, then returning the requested data object and the metadata to the requesting client device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein returning the requested data object and metadata associated with the requested data object comprises:

traversing the metadata tree and finding a node in the metadata tree representing the requested data object;

determining, from the node, an offset in the backup data where the request data object is stored;

reading the data object from the backup set.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the metadata associated with the data object is obtained from the node in the metadata tree associated with the requested data object.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the security attributes of the data object are stored as metadata associated with the backup data object, the security attributes being stored in a universal format, and the operations further comprise:

converting the security attributes in the request from a format known to the client device, into the universal format, before determining that the security attributes in the request match one or more security attributes of the requested data object.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising reconstructing the data object from a deduplicated version of the requested data object before returning the requested data object and metadata associated with the data object to the requesting client device.