Creating customized bootable image for client computing device from backup copy

• US 10,324,808 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumarasamy, Paramasivam, Mitkar, Amit, Degaonkar, Sumedh Pramod
• Primary Examiner(s): Lyons, Andrew M.
• Application Number:
  US15/644,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20180024895A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• Field of Search: 714E11118, 714E11119, 714E11121, 715E11118, 717174
• 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 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1441 Resetting or repowering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

According to certain aspects, a method of creating customized bootable images for client computing devices in an information management system can include: creating a backup copy of each of a plurality of client computing devices, including a first client computing device; subsequent to receiving a request to restore the first client computing device to the state at a first time, creating a customized bootable image that is configured to directly restore the first client computing device to the state at the first time, wherein the customized bootable image includes system state specific to the first client computing device at the first time and one or more drivers associated with hardware existing at time of restore on a computing device to be rebooted; and rebooting the computing device to the state of the first client computing device at the first time from the customized bootable image.

Claims

1. A method of creating customized bootable images for a plurality of client computing devices in an information management system, the method comprising:

using one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware;

creating an image of a client computing device of a plurality of client computing devices, wherein the image comprises a non-default system state of the client computing device at a first time, the non-default system state comprising;

a kernel of the client computing device,

one or more virtual machine managers, and

a plurality of drivers, wherein the non-default system state at the first time reflects one or more internal settings of the client computing device at the first time;

creating a generic bootable image that includes a default kernel and one or more default device drivers;

subsequent to creating the generic bootable image and the image of the client computing device, receiving a request to restore a target computing device to the non-default system state;

subsequent to receiving the request to restore the target computing device, using the generic bootable image as a template to create a customized bootable image specific to the client computing device, the customized bootable image comprising the non-default system state, wherein the customized bootable image is configured to directly restore the target computing device to the non-default system state by booting from the kernel of the client computing device without first booting from the default kernel of the generic bootable image and then loading the kernel of the client computing device, and wherein the customized bootable image further comprises one or more drivers associated with computer hardware existing on the target computing device at a restoration time of the destination computing device; and

performing a single-step reboot process to reboot the target computing device to the non-default system state using the customized bootable image, wherein the single-step reboot process comprises loading the customized bootable image without booting from the default kernel of the generic bootable image and without modifying drivers included in the customized bootable image during the single-step reboot process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the client computing device is generated from a backup of the client computing device stored at a secondary storage subsystem.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the backup is a backup image comprising a clone of at least one nonvolatile storage device of the client computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the client computing device is one of a plurality of images of the client computing device, each image associated with different non-default system states of the client computing device at different times.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the request to restore the target computing device comprises a request to restore the target computing device to the non-default system state of the client computing device at the first time, and wherein the method further comprises selecting the image of the client computing device associated with the first time from the plurality of images of the client computing device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the request to restore the target computing device comprises a request to restore the target computing device to the non-default system state of the client computing device at a second time, and wherein the method further comprises selecting the image of the client computing device associated with the first time from the plurality of images of the client computing device as the image associated with a time closest to the second time of the plurality of images.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the image further comprises user data obtained from a backup image of the client computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the target computing device is the client computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some computer hardware of the target computing device at the restoration time differs from computer hardware of the client computing device at the first time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the customized bootable image comprises:

creating an initial customized bootable image that includes a system state specific to the client computing device at the first time; and

adding to the initial customized bootable image one or more drivers associated with computer hardware not included on the client computing device at the first time to create the customized bootable image.

11. A system configured to create customized bootable images for a client computing device in an information management system, the method comprising:

a computing system comprising one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, wherein the computing system is configured to;

create an image of a client computing device, wherein the image comprises a non-default system state of the client computing device at a first time, the non-default system state comprising;

a kernel of the client computing device,

one or more virtual machine managers, and

a plurality of drivers, wherein the non-default system state at the first time reflects one or more internal settings of the client computing device at the first time;

create a generic bootable image that includes a default kernel and one or more default device drivers;

subsequent to creating the generic bootable image and the image of the client computing device, receive a request to restore a target computing device to the non-default system state;

subsequent to receiving the request to restore the target computing device, use the generic bootable image as a template to create a customized bootable image specific to the client computing device, the customized bootable image comprising the non-default system state, wherein the customized bootable image is configured to directly restore the target computing device to the non-default system state by booting from the kernel of the client computing device without first booting from the default kernel of the generic bootable image and then loading the kernel of the client computing device, and wherein the customized bootable image further comprises one or more drivers associated with computer hardware existing on the target computing device at a restoration time of the destination computing device; and

perform a single-step reboot process to reboot the target computing device to the non-default system state using the customized bootable image, wherein the single-step reboot process comprises loading the customized bootable image without booting from the default kernel of the generic bootable image and without modifying drivers included in the customized bootable image during the single-step reboot process.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the image of the client computing device is generated from a backup of the client computing device stored at a secondary storage subsystem.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the backup is a backup image comprising a clone of at least one nonvolatile storage device of the client computing device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the image of the client computing device is one of a plurality of images of the client computing device, each image associated with different non-default system states of the client computing device at different times.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the request to restore the target computing device comprises a request to restore the target computing device to the non-default system state of the client computing device at the first time, and wherein the computing system is further configured to select the image of the client computing device associated with the first time from the plurality of images of the client computing device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the request to restore the target computing device comprises a request to restore the target computing device to the non-default system state of the client computing device at a second time, and wherein the computing system is further configured to select the image of the client computing device associated with the first time from the plurality of images of the client computing device as the image associated with a time closest to the second time of the plurality of images.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the image further comprises user data obtained from a backup image of the client computing device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the target computing device is the client computing device.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein at least some computer hardware of the target computing device at the restoration time differs from computer hardware of the client computing device at the first time.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein creating the customized bootable image comprises:

creating an initial customized bootable image that includes a system state specific to the client computing device at the first time; and

adding to the initial customized bootable image one or more drivers associated with computer hardware not included on the client computing device at the first time to create the customized bootable image.