Use of auxiliary data protection software in failover operations

• US 10,365,839 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2018
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• 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:
  US15/977,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20190026035A1
• Time in Patent Office: 445 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 cell with failover management capability, comprising:

a first grouping of computing components configured to be in networked communication with a remote storage manager geographically remote from the information management cell, the first grouping comprising;

one or more computing devices including at least one client computing device having one or more applications installed thereon;

one or more secondary storage devices; and

a failover storage manager installed on at least one of the one or more computing devices, wherein

the first grouping of computing devices are configured to perform data protection operations in which data generated by the one or more applications is copied to the one or more secondary storage devices,

when the information management cell has connectivity with the remote storage manager, the first grouping performs the data protection operations at the direction of the remote storage manager,

when the information management cell does not have connectivity with the remote storage manager, the first grouping performs the data protection operations at the direction of the failover storage manager, and

the failover storage manager is configured to, when the information management cell does not have connectivity with the remote storage;

access a stored storage policy; and

cause the first grouping to perform a first data protection of the data protection operations according to the storage policy, in which data generated by a first application of the one or more applications is copied to the one or more secondary storage devices.

2. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein the failover storage manager is further configured to assign a temporary unique job ID for the first data protection operation.

3. The information management cell of claim 2, wherein the temporary unique job ID is generated based on one or more of an identifier for the information management cell and a time at which the first data protection operation is performed.

4. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein the failover storage manager is further configured to provide information that is used in performing the first data protection operation, the information comprising one or more of:

global namespace, source location, and destination location.

5. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein a computing device of the one or more computing devices is configured to detect loss of connectivity to the remote storage manager by polling the remote storage manager at an interval.

6. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein the data protection operations are secondary copy operations.

7. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein the failover storage manager is one of a plurality of failover storage managers in the information management cell, and the failover 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.

8. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein the failover storage manager has limited functionality in comparison to the remote storage manager.

9. The information management cell of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing devices are in networked communication with one another via a local area network, and wherein the information management cell is in networked communication with the remote storage manager via a wide area network.

10. A method of providing failover management capability in an information management system, the method comprising:

with an information management cell, receiving an instruction to perform a first data protection operation from a remote storage manager that is geographically remote from the information management cell, wherein the information management cell comprises;

one or more computing devices including at least one client computing device having one or more applications installed thereon;

one or more secondary storage devices; and

a failover storage manager installed on at least one of the one or more computing devices;

with the one or more computing devices, at the direction of the remote storage manager, creating a first data protection copy on the one or more secondary storage devices, the first data protection copy including data generated by the one or more applications;

subsequent to creation of the first data protection copy, detecting a loss of connectivity between the information management cell and the remote storage manager;

in response to said detecting, with the failover storage manager;

accessing a stored storage policy; and

initiating a second data protection operation in which data generated by the one or more applications is copied to the one or more secondary storage devices without the involvement of the remote storage manager.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising assigning, by the failover storage manager, a temporary unique job ID for the second data protection operation.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the temporary unique job ID is generated based on one or more of an identifier for the information management cell and a time at which the second data protection operation is performed.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing, by the failover storage manager, information that is used in performing the second data protection operation, the information comprising one or more of:

global namespace, source location, and destination location.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said detecting a loss of connectivity between the information management cell and the remote storage manager comprises polling the remote storage manager at an interval.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second data protection operations are secondary copy operations.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the failover storage manager is one of a plurality of failover storage managers in the information management cell, and the failover 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.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the failover storage manager has limited functionality in comparison to the remote storage manager.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more computing devices are in networked communication with one another via a local area network, and wherein the information management cell is in networked communication with the remote storage manager via a wide area network.