Lightweight mounting of a secondary copy of file system data

• US 10,514,853 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2018
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumarasamy, Paramasivam
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Debbie M
• Application Number:
  US15/987,741
• Publication Number:
  US 20180335965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 580 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/119 Details of migration of file systems migration mechanisms in storage systems G06F3/0647
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1844 Management specifically adapted to replicated file systems
• 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

A data storage system allows a user to search a secondary copy such as a back up, archive, or snapshot and receive an abbreviated version of the secondary copy of the file system as a result of the search. The abbreviated version of the secondary copy of the file system may include metadata such as a listing of secondary copy data that correspond with a search term or other filtering criteria provided by the user. An operating system of the user'"'"'s computing device may mount the abbreviated version so that it can be displayed within a view of the file system of the computing device. Once a user selects one or more desired data objects listed in the abbreviated version, the selected actual one or more data objects are retrieved from secondary storage.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to;

transmit filtering criteria to a secondary storage subsystem, the secondary storage subsystem including one or more secondary storage devices that contain a secondary copy of at least a portion of a file system;

receive, at the secondary storage subsystem, the filtering criteria;

determine, by the secondary storage subsystem, an abbreviated version of the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of one or more data objects in the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria, wherein the identification corresponds to a subset of the data objects in the secondary copy;

retrieve, by the secondary storage subsystem, metadata corresponding the abbreviated version;

receive, from the secondary storage subsystem, metadata corresponding to the abbreviated version of the secondary copy;

mount the abbreviated version of the secondary copy;

display the abbreviated version of the secondary copy within a graphical user interface;

receive an indication of a selection of an identification of a first data object in the one or more data objects;

transmit, to the secondary storage subsystem, a request for a copy of the selected first data object; and

receive the copy of the selected first data object from the secondary storage subsystem.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtering criteria comprises a search term comprising text.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of the one or more data objects in the secondary copy including one or more instances of the text and an identification of one or more data objects in the secondary copy not including one or more instances of the text, and wherein the identification of each data object including one or more instances of the text is identified differently than the identification of each data object not including one or more instances of the text.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises links or pointers to copies of the data objects that match the filtering criteria.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the links or pointers to the copies of the data objects generate commands instructing a media agent to retrieve the secondary copy of the data objects.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a file structure of the abbreviated version of the secondary copy is the same as a file structure of the secondary copy.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the filtering criteria is received by a media agent, wherein the media agent generates a content index of the secondary copy and uses the content index to locate secondary copies of data objects that match the filtering criteria.

8. A method for searching a file system, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a computing device, filtering criteria to a secondary storage subsystem, the secondary storage subsystem including one or more secondary storage devices that contain a secondary copy of at least a portion of a file system comprising a plurality of files and directories;

receiving, at the secondary storage subsystem, the filtering criteria;

determining, by the secondary storage subsystem, an abbreviated version of the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of one or more data objects in the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria, wherein the identification corresponds to a subset of the data objects in the secondary copy;

retrieving, by the secondary storage subsystem, metadata corresponding the abbreviated version;

receiving, from the secondary storage subsystem, metadata corresponding to the abbreviated version of the secondary copy;

mounting the abbreviated version of the secondary copy;

displaying the abbreviated version of the secondary copy within a graphical user interface;

receiving an indication of a selection of an identification of a first file or directory of the plurality of files or directories;

transmitting, to the secondary storage subsystem, a request for a copy of the selected file or directory; and

receiving the copy of the selected first file or directory from the secondary storage subsystem.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the filtering criteria comprises a search term comprising text.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of the plurality of the files and directories in the secondary copy including one or more instances of the text and an identification of the plurality of the files and directories in the secondary copy not including one or more instances of the text, and wherein the identification of each file and directory including one or more instances of the text is identified differently than the identification of each file and directory not including one or more instances of the text.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises links or pointers to the copies of the data objects that match the filtering criteria.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the links or pointers to the copies of the data objects generate commands instructing a media agent to retrieve the secondary copy of the data objects.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein a file structure of the abbreviated version of the secondary copy is the same as a file structure of the secondary copy.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the filtering criteria is received by a media agent, wherein the media agent generates a content index of the secondary copy and uses the content index to locate secondary copies of data objects that match the filtering criteria.

15. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed in a processor, are configured to implement operations for searching a file system, the operations comprising:

transmitting filtering criteria from a primary storage subsystem to a secondary storage subsystem, the secondary storage subsystem including one or more secondary storage devices that contain a secondary copy of at least a portion of a file system;

receiving, at the secondary storage subsystem, the filtering criteria;

determining, by the secondary storage subsystem, an abbreviated version of the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of one or more data objects in the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria, wherein the identification corresponds to a subset of the one or more data objects in the secondary copy;

retrieving, by the secondary storage subsystem, metadata corresponding the abbreviated version;

receiving at the primary storage subsystem, from the secondary storage subsystem, the metadata corresponding to the abbreviated version of the secondary copy;

displaying the abbreviated version of the secondary copy within a graphical user interface;

receiving an indication of a selection of an identification of a first data object in the one or more data objects;

transmitting, from the primary storage subsystem to the secondary storage subsystem, a request for a copy of the selected first data object; and

receiving the copy of the selected first data object from the secondary storage subsystem.

16. A method for searching a file system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a secondary storage subsystem, filtering criteria, the secondary storage subsystem including one or more secondary storage devices that contain a secondary copy of at least a portion of a file system;

identifying data objects in the secondary copy that satisfy the filtering criteria;

generating an abbreviated version of the secondary copy based on the identified data objects, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of one or more data objects in the secondary copy that are identified by the secondary storage subsystem as satisfying the filtering criteria, wherein the identification corresponds to a subset of the data objects in the secondary copy;

transmitting the abbreviated version of the secondary copy to a computing device for display by the computing device in a graphical user interface;

mounting the abbreviated version of the secondary copy;

receiving a command from the computing device to retrieve a first data object in the one or more data objects selected by a user via the graphical user interface;

retrieving the first data object from the secondary storage in response to receiving the command; and

transmitting the retrieved first data object to the computing device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the filtering criteria comprises a search term comprising text.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the version of the secondary copy comprises an identification of the one or more data objects in the secondary copy including one or more instances of the text and an identification of the one or more of data objects in the secondary copy not including one or more instances of the text, and wherein the identification of each file and directory including one or more instances of the text is identified differently than the identification of each file and directory not including one or more instances of the text.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the abbreviated version of the secondary copy comprises links or pointers to the copies of the data objects that match the filtering criteria.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the links or pointers to the copies of the data objects generate commands instructing a media agent to retrieve the secondary copy of the data objects.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein a file structure of the abbreviated version of the secondary copy is the same as a file structure of the secondary copy.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the filtering criteria is received by a media agent, wherein the media agent generates a content index of the secondary copy and uses the content index to locate secondary copies of data objects that match the filtering criteria.