Information management by a media agent in the absence of communications with a storage manager
First Claim
1. A system for making secondary copies of data while a storage manager is out of communication with other components in the system, the system comprising:
- a first computing device for hosting a storage manager;
a storage device for storing secondary copies of data;
a second computing device in communication with (i) the storage device and (ii) a client computing device, the second computing device comprising;
executable logic, and management parameters received from the storage manager in anticipation of the second computing device being out of communication with the storage manager;
wherein the second computing device is configured, based at least in part on the executable logic and one or more of the management parameters, to;
autonomously initiate and manage one or more secondary copy operations for a portion of primary data accessible to the client computing device,while the second computing device is out of communication with the storage manager and without being directed by the storage manager or by any other storage manager,while the client computing device is also out of communication with the storage manager, andgeneratemetadata that is based on results from the one or more secondary copy operations to be transmitted to the storage manager after communications therewith resume; and
for a first secondary copy operation among the one or more secondary copy operations that is successful, the second computing device is further configured to;
(a) generate at least one secondary copy of the portion of the primary data, (b) store the at least one secondary copy to the storage device, and (c) based on results of the first secondary copy operation, generate first metadata indicating that the at least one secondary copy was generated.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A media agent is configured to perform substantially autonomously to initiate, continue, and manage information management operations such as a backup job of a certain client'"'"'s primary data, manage the operations, and generate and store resultant system-level metadata from the operations, etc. The media agent is configured to do this even when out of communication with the storage manager that manages the information management system. When communications are restored, the media agent reports the relevant metadata to the storage manager such that the storage manager may seamlessly integrate the information into its management information infrastructure.
199 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A system for making secondary copies of data while a storage manager is out of communication with other components in the system, the system comprising:
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a first computing device for hosting a storage manager; a storage device for storing secondary copies of data; a second computing device in communication with (i) the storage device and (ii) a client computing device, the second computing device comprising;
executable logic, and management parameters received from the storage manager in anticipation of the second computing device being out of communication with the storage manager;wherein the second computing device is configured, based at least in part on the executable logic and one or more of the management parameters, to; autonomously initiate and manage one or more secondary copy operations for a portion of primary data accessible to the client computing device, while the second computing device is out of communication with the storage manager and without being directed by the storage manager or by any other storage manager, while the client computing device is also out of communication with the storage manager, and generate metadata that is based on results from the one or more secondary copy operations to be transmitted to the storage manager after communications therewith resume; and for a first secondary copy operation among the one or more secondary copy operations that is successful, the second computing device is further configured to;
(a) generate at least one secondary copy of the portion of the primary data, (b) store the at least one secondary copy to the storage device, and (c) based on results of the first secondary copy operation, generate first metadata indicating that the at least one secondary copy was generated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method comprising:
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generating primary data by a client computing device, wherein the client computing device is a component of an information management system managed by a storage manager which is hosted by a first computing device; and initiating and managing, by a media agent executing on a second computing device, while out of communication with the storage manager, and without being directed by the storage manager or by any other storage manager, one or more secondary copy operations, wherein the initiating and managing are based on an information management policy previously received by the media agent from the storage manager in anticipation of the second computing device being out of communication with the storage manager; wherein the initiating and managing, by the media agent, comprises; instructing the client computing device to transmit to the media agent a portion of primary data accessible to the client computing device, wherein the portion of primary data is processed for backup before being transmitted to the media agent, generating at least one secondary copy based on the portion of primary data processed for backup, storing the at least one secondary copy to one or more storage devices in communication with the second computing device, and generating metadata comprising information about the one or more secondary copy operations; and by the storage manager, integrating the metadata as received from the media agent into a management database that comprises information about secondary copies in the information management system. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification