EMULATED STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20080016131A1
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Vantara, LLC (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sepaton Incorporated (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Reiter, Timmie, Sandorfi, Miklos
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00

Abstract

A method for removing redundant data from a backup storage system is presented. In one example, the method may include identifying a first back-up data object, identifying a second back-up data object, detecting a first portion of the first back-up data object that is a copy of a second portion of the second back-up data object, and replacing the second portion with a pointer to the first portion.

Claims

1. A method for removing redundant data from a backup storage system, the method comprising:

identifying a first back-up data object;

identifying a second back-up data object;

detecting a first portion of the first back-up data object that is a copy of a second portion of the second back-up data object; and

replacing the second portion with a pointer to the first portion.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein replacing the second portion with the pointer to the first portion comprises:

creating a copy of the second back-up data object excluding the second portion and including a pointer to the first portion; and

deleting the second back-up data object.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising validating that the copy of the second back-up data object represents the same data as the second back-up data object.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the second back-up data object includes identifying a second back-up data object that was backed-up less recently than the first back-up data object.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the second back-up data object includes identifying a second back-up data object that was backed-up more recently than the first back-up data object.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata;

wherein identifying the first back-up data object includes identifying a first back-up data object associated with data object metadata having the at least one first characteristic; and

wherein identifying the second back-up data object includes identifying a second back-up data object associated with data object metadata having the at least one first characteristic.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata includes:

identifying a location in primary storage associated with the first back-up data object; and

identifying a location in primary storage associated with the second back-up data object.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata includes:

identifying a software application associated with the first back-up data object; and

identifying a software application associated with the second back-up data object.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata includes:

identifying a back-up policy associated with the first back-up data object; and

identifying a back-up policy associated with the second back-up data object.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata includes:

identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata that was stored while the first back-up data object was being backed-up; and

identifying at least one first characteristic of data object metadata that was stored while the second back-up data object was being backed-up.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting the first portion of the first back-up data object includes detecting the first portion of the first back-up data object using metadata associated with the first back-up data object and metadata associated with the second back-up data object.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein detecting the first portion of the first back-up data object using metadata includes detecting the first portion of the first back-up data object using metadata stored in a relational database.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the first back-up data object includes identifying a first data file;

and

wherein identifying the second back-up data object includes identifying a second data file.

14. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable signals stored thereon that define instructions that, as a result of being executed by a computer, instruct the computer to perform the method of claim 1.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed in a grid computing environment.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed on a back-up storage system while data is not being backed-up to the back-up storage system.

21. The method according to claim 6, further comprising identifying at least one second characteristic of data object metadata;

wherein identifying the first back-up data object includes identifying a third portion of the first back-up data object that is associated with data object metadata having the at least one second characteristic, the method further comprising excluding the third portion from additional processing.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting the first portion of the first back-up data object includes selecting a technique for locating redundant data based on metadata associated with the first back-up data object.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein selecting the technique for locating redundant data includes selecting a technique for locating redundant data that uses metadata associated with the first back-up data object.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein selecting the technique for locating redundant data includes selecting a technique for locating redundant data that uses data included in the first back-up data object.

17. A method comprising:

identifying a first data object associated with a software application;

identifying a second data object associated with the software application;

detecting, using a pattern of data distribution associated with the software application, redundant data in both the first data object and the second data object;

replacing the redundant data in the first data object with a pointer to the redundant data disposed in the second data object.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable signals stored thereon that define instructions that, as a result of being executed by a computer, instruct the computer to perform the method of claim 17.

19. A system comprising:

back-up storage media storing a plurality of back-up data objects including a first back-up data object including first data and a second back-up data object including second data; and

a controller configured to identify any portion of the second data that is the same as any portion of the first data, and to replace an identified portion of the second data with a pointer to a corresponding portion of the first data.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the controller is further configured to replace an identified portion of the second data object by creating a copy of the second data object excluding the identified portion and including a pointer to the corresponding portion of the first data.