Systems and methods for providing a modification history for a location within a data store

• US 20060047895A1
• Filed: 08/24/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Rowan, Michael, Rodgers, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 7,287,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/112
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1474 in transactions G06F16/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

A storage management device can receive a request for a modification history for a location within a data store, determine one or more times at which at least a portion of data stored at the location was modified, and transmit the one or more determined times.

Claims

1. A method for providing a modification history for a location within a data store, the method comprising:

receiving, by a storage management device, a request for a modification history for a location within a data store;

determining, by the storage management device, at least one time at which at least a portion of data stored at the location was modified; and

transmitting, by the storage management device in response to the received request, the at least one determined time.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the location comprises an address range within the data store.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the address range comprises a logical block address and a length.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the logical block address specifies a beginning of the address range.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the request for the modification history is received in a packet.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the packet comprises at least a portion of an input/output command.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the input/output command is in a standard input/output command format.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the input/output command is a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) command.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining step comprises determining at least one time at which a subset of the data stored at the location was modified.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining step comprises determining at least one time at which all of the data stored at the location was modified.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining step comprises determining at least one time at which a superset of the data stored at the location was modified.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one time comprises at least two times.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one time comprises one time.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying, by the storage management device, for each determined time, an address range within the data store at which data was modified at that determined time.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one identified address range comprises at least a portion of the location.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one identified address range comprises a superset of the location.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising transmitting, by the storage management device in response to the received request, the at least one identified address range.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the at least one determined time and the at least one identified address range are transmitted in a single packet.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the transmitted packet comprises at least one tuple, each tuple comprising one determined time and the address range identified for that determined time.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the transmitted packet indicates the number of tuples comprised within the packet.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the single packet is transmitted to a host.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one address range comprises a logical block address and a length.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the logical block address specifies a beginning of the at least one address range.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined time is an absolute time.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the determined time is a time relative to a present time.

26. A storage management device for providing a modification history for a location within a data store, the storage management device comprising:

a receiver for receiving a request for a modification history for a location within a data store;

a determination module for determining at least one time at which at least a portion of data stored at the location was modified; and

a transmitter for transmitting, in response to the received request, the at least one determined time.

27. An article of manufacture having computer-readable program means embodied therein for providing a modification history for a location within a data store, the article comprising:

computer-readable program means for receiving a request for a modification history for a location within a data store;

computer-readable program means for determining at least one time at which at least a portion of data stored at the location was modified; and

computer-readable program means for transmitting, in response to the received request, the at least one determined time.

28. A method for obtaining a modification history for a location within a data store, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a computer, a request for a modification history for a location within a data store; and

receiving, by the computer in response to the transmitted request, at least one time at which at least a portion of data stored at the location was modified.

29. A data packet corresponding to a request for a modification history for a location within a data store, the data packet comprising:

an address range identifying the location of one or more units of storage within a data store; and

an operation code requesting a modification history for the address range.

30. The data packet of claim 29 wherein the operation code requests at least one time at which at least a portion of data stored at the address range was modified.

31. A data packet corresponding to a response to a request for a modification history for a location within a data store, the data packet comprising:

at least one tuple, comprising;

an address range identifying the location of one or more units of storage within a data store at which data was modified at a determined time; and

the determined time.

32. The data packet of claim 31 further comprising an indicator indicating the number of tuples comprised within the data packet.

33. The data packet of claim 31 wherein the determined time is an absolute time.

34. The data packet of claim 31 wherein the determined time is a time relative to a present time.

35. A method for providing a modification history for a location within a data store, the method comprising:

receiving, by a storage management device, a request for a modification history for a location within a data store;

determining, by the storage management device, at least one time from which all data stored at the location was modified; and

transmitting, by the storage management device in response to the received request, the at least one determined time.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein at least one portion of the data stored at the location was modified at a different time from the at least one determined time.