Stored data reverification management system and method

• US 20060242489A1
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Gokhale, Parag, Brockway, Brian, Lu, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,748 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/718
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2029/0409 Online test
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system and method are provided for verifying data copies and reverifying the copies over the life span of media according to a verification policy. Characteristics of media and use of media are tracked to provide metrics which may be used to dynamically reevaluate and reassign verification policies to optimize media usage. Copies that fail verification operations may be repaired by repeating a storage operation for recent copies or by substituting a close temporal copy of the failed copy.

Claims

1. A method for reverifying data, the method comprising:

in accordance with a verification policy, identifying a media item and initiating a verification operation; and

in association with an outcome of the verification operation, tracking at least one storage characteristic of the media item.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the outcome of the verification operation and the at least one storage characteristic are tracked to generate a metric, wherein the metric is applied to evaluate the verification policy.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the metric is applied to evaluate the verification policy comprises predicting media use to perform a storage operation according to a storage policy.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein if the verification operation outcome fails;

further comprising identifying the at least one characteristic of the media item;

identifying a second media item including the at least one characteristic; and

evaluating the verification policy of the second media item

5. A method for repairing reverified data, the method comprising:

initiating a verification operation for a data copy, according to a verification policy;

if the data copy fails the verification operation, repairing the data copy, wherein repairing the data copy comprises identifying a close temporal copy, and updating the data copy with the close temporal copy.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the close temporal copy is identified by consulting an index.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the close temporal copy is a copy of data that is the same application type as the data copy.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the close temporal copy is a copy of data from a time period similar to the data copy.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the close temporal copy is identified according to user preferences.

10. A method for forecasting media usage, the method comprising:

receiving at least one storage characteristic of a first media item among a plurality of media items;

receiving a verification policy for the first media item;

initiating a verification operation for the first media item according to the verification policy;

tracking an outcome of the verification operation;

calculating a metric based on the outcome and the at least one storage characteristic; and

based on the metric, evaluating the verification policy.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein evaluating the verification policy comprises identifying a second media item among the plurality of media items having the at least one storage characteristic;

and dependent on the outcome of the verification operation of the first media item, evaluating the verification policy of the second media item.