SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF MEDIA MANAGEMENT, SUCH AS MANAGEMENT OF MEDIA TO AND FROM A MEDIA STORAGE LIBRARY

• US 20080243754A1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Gokhale, Parag, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv
• Granted Patent: US 8,346,733 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/004 Error avoidance G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0686 Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/41 Flat as opposed to hierarchical combination, e.g. library of tapes or discs, CD changer, or groups of record carriers that together store one title
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/002 Programmed access in sequence to a plurality of record carriers or indexed parts, e.g. tracks, thereof, e.g. for editing; transfer of record carriers from magazine G11B15/68, G11B17/10; G11B17/22

Abstract

A system and method for determining media to be exported out of a media library is described. In some examples, the system determines a media component to be exported, determines the media component is in the media library for a specific process, and exports the media component after the process is completed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when implemented by a component of a data storage system, perform a method to facilitate physical transfer of media components with respect to an automated data storage library, wherein the automated data storage library includes (i) multiple data storage components, (ii) at least one device for at least reading data from the data storage components, and (iii) a library controller coupled to the device, wherein the method comprises:

identifying a particular media component to be used by the automated data storage library for a predetermined data read or data write operation;

automatically sending a message to a location outside the library, wherein the message identifies the particular media component, and wherein the message includes a request to physically send the particular media component for import to the automated data storage library; and

,

instructing the automated data storage library or the data storage system to not export the particular media component until the predetermined data read or data write operation has been performed.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, the method further comprising:

identifying the location outside the library storing the particular media component;

acknowledging a successful import of the particular media component;

indicating when the predetermined read or write operation has been performed; and

upon receiving the indication, exporting the particular media component out of the library.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the particular media component is a magnetic tape.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the particular media component is an optical disk.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the particular media component is a USB drive.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the location outside the library is an offsite media component storage facility.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a signal indicating that the particular media component is to be physically retrieved from the location outside the library and to be imported into the automated data storage library.

8. A method in a computing system for determining media to be exported out of a data storage media library, the method comprising:

identifying a media component containing stored data satisfying a retention criteria;

determining that the media component is in the data storage media library for a specific process; and

initiating exportation of the media component out of the media library upon receiving an indication that the specific process is complete and the data no longer satisfies the retention criteria.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving an indication that the specific process is complete comprises receiving input from a system administrator.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving an indication that the specific process is complete comprises referring to a database of media components.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining that the media component is in the data storage media library for a specific process comprises receiving an indication from a system administrator.

12. A method of automatically performing a restore operation at a restore location, the method comprising:

identifying a media component to be recalled in order to perform the restore operation;

automatically recalling the media component from an offsite storage location, wherein the offsite storage location houses the media component;

at the restore location, automatically recovering data stored on the media component;

automatically verifying that the data recovery is complete; and

upon verifying the data recovery is complete, sending the media component back to the offsite storage location, else retaining the media component at the restore location.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

verifying the recalled media component as the identified media component.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

automatically comparing the recalled media component to the identified media component; and

automatically recovering data only if the comparison determines that the recalled media component is the identified media component.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein automatically sending the media component comprises automatically generating shipping materials to accompany the media component.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein automatically sending the media component comprises automatically alerting the offsite storage location.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein automatically recalling the media component comprises automatically sending a message to the offsite storage location requesting the media component.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying a media component comprises receiving a user input.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein identifying a media component comprises receiving an automatically generated recall flag.

20. One or more computer memories collectively containing a data structure, the data structure containing one or more elements related to media stored in a media library, each element comprising medium identification information, the medium identification information identifying the medium, and export suppression information, the export suppression information indicating retention criteria to be satisfied before exporting the medium from the media library.

21. The computer memories of claim 20, wherein the export suppression information comprises instructions to not export the medium from the media library.

22. The computer memories of claim 20, wherein the retention criteria is satisfied when the export suppression information is null.

23. The computer memories of claim 20, wherein the retention criteria is not satisfied when the element contains export suppression information.

24. A system for determining when to transfer physical media out of a media library, the system comprising:

a time determination component that determines a date value associated with a physical medium or data stored on the physical medium;

a restore component that determines if the physical medium is in the media library for a data transfer operation;

an action component that, in response to a determination that the physical medium is in the media library for a restore operation, performs an action indicating that the physical medium is in the media library for the data transfer operation; and

a export component that exports the physical medium from the media library after receiving information from both the time determination component and the action component.

25. A system for performing a restore operation, the system comprising:

means for identifying a media component to be recalled in order to perform the restore operation;

means for recalling the media component from an offsite storage location, wherein the offsite storage location houses the media component;

means for recovering data stored on the recalled media component;

means for determining that the data recovery is complete; and

only after the recovery is complete, means for returining the media component to the offsite storage location.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

means for verifying the recalled media component as the identified media component, wherein the means for verifying comprise a scanner.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

means for verifying the recalled media component as the identified media component, wherein the means for verifying comprise an RFID reader.

28. A computer-readable medium containing executable code that causes a computer system to perform a method of acquiring media components for a media storage facility, the method comprising:

obtaining information related to historical usage of at least one set of media components;

determining an amount of media components contained within the media storage facility;

predicting future usage of the at least one set of media components; and

when the predicted future usage requires an amount of media components greater than the determined amount contained within the media storage facility, acquiring additional medial components to satisfy the predicted future usage.

29. A computer-implemented method of obtaining data storage media for a data storage media library used in data storage operations, the method comprising:

identifying storage requirements for one or more future data storage operations;

determining an available storage capacity of available media within the media library;

comparing the identified storage requirements with the available storage capacity of available media within the media library; and

when the identified storage requirements are greater than the available storage capacity, automatically requesting for additional media for the media library.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the comparison includes comparing the identified storage requirements to a number of pieces of media within the media library.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the comparison includes comparing the identified storage requirements to a collective free capacity of media within the media library.

32. A system for predicting data storage media requirements for a media library associated with a data storage system, the system comprising:

a data storage prediction component, wherein the storage prediction component determines an estimated storage requirement for a future storage operation using the media library; and

a media acquisition component, in communication with the data storage prediction component, wherein the media acquisition component acquires media for the media library based at least in part on the determined estimated storage requirements received from the data storage prediction component.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component identifies a trend in information associated with previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the identified trend.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to types of media used in previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related a total volume of media used in previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to user preferences during previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to storage operations not associated with the media library and related to other data storage systems and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to storage operations performed within a specified time period before the future storage operation, identifies a trend in the retrieved information, and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the identified trend.

39. The system of claim 32, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to contents of the data to be stored by the future storage operation, identifies a capacity of media in the media library suitable for storing the contents of the data to be stored and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information and the identified capacity of media.

40. A method of obtaining an additional data storage article for a warehouse that contains data storage articles at a current time, the method comprising:

predicting a future deficit of data storage articles at a future time, wherein the prediction is based on a previous deficit of data storage articles that occurred at a previous time;

estimating, at the current time, an amount of data storage articles required to satisfy the predicted future deficit; and

retrieving a number of data storage articles equal to the estimated amount before the future time.

41. A method of verifying a request for data storage media to be recalled from an off-site location to a data storage media library associated with a data storage operation, the method comprising:

receiving information indicating a shipment of media components sent from a media storage facility to the media library;

upon receipt at the media library of the shipment of media components from the media storage facility, automatically or partially automatically identifying the media components in the shipment;

automatically comparing the identified media components with the received information indicating the media components sent from the media storage facility; and

when the comparison determines that the identified media components include the indicated media components, automatically confirming receipt of the requested media components;

or

when the comparison determines that the identified media components do not include all of the indicated media components, automatically or partially automatically performing an action to obtain the not included media components.

42. A system for verifying a shipment of requested data storage media components received at a media library, the system comprising:

an identification component, wherein the identification component identifies the received media components;

a comparison component, wherein the comparison component compares information related to the identified media components with information related to the requested media components; and

a verification component in communication with the identification component and comparison component, wherein the verification component determines if the shipment contains the requested media components based at least in part on the comparison.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the identification component includes a machine-readable symbol scanner configured to identify a media component by reading one or more machine-readable symbols of the media component.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein the information related to the requested media components includes a printed report automatically generated by a provider of the requested media components.

45. The system of claim 42, further comprising:

a system information component, wherein the system information component is configured to review the information related to the requested media components and determine a possible location of a requested media component not included in the shipment.

46. The system of claim 42, further comprising:

an error correction component, wherein the error correction component performs an action related to correcting an error in shipment when the verification component determines that the shipment does not contain all the requested media components.

47. The system of claim 42, further comprising:

a confirmation component, wherein the confirmation component performs an action related to confirming that the shipment contains all the requested media components.

48. A method of correcting an erroneous shipment of media components received at a data storage library, the method comprising:

determining that media components requested by the data storage library are not included in the shipment, or that the shipment contains media components not requested by the data storage library, by comparing the received media components with a report included in the shipment that provides information identifying the requested media components; and

automatically performing an action to correct the erroneous shipment of media components to the data storage library.

49. A computer-readable medium containing executable code that causes a computing system to perform a method of verifying a recall of data to a data storage system, the method comprising:

transmitting a request for a specified set of data stored at a data storage facility;

receiving a set of data at the data storage system from the data storage facility;

comparing the requested set of data with the received set of data; and

upon determining that the received set of data contains the requested set of data, performing an action confirming the receipt of the specified set of data;

or

upon determining that the received set of data does not contain the requested set of data, performing an action to obtain the specified set of data.

50. A method of recalling data storage media to a data storage media library based on a predicted future data restore operation for a computing system, the method comprising:

retrieving information related to one or more previous restore operations of the computing system;

predicting a possible need for a resource within the computing system based at least in part on the retrieved information related to one or more previous restore operations of the computing system; and

importing from a location outside of the data storage media library a media component to be stored in the media library based at least in part on the predicted possible need for the resource, wherein the media component contains information related to a possible restoration of the resource.

51. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

upon an actual failure of the resource, restoring the resource using the information contained in the stored media component; and

exporting the media component out of the media library.

52. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

upon an actual failure of the resource, restoring the resource using the information contained in the stored media component.

53. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

upon an actual failure of the resource, restoring the resource using the information contained in the stored media component;

updating a data structure containing information related to a number of restorations of the resource; and

when the number of restorations exceeds a predetermined threshold, maintaining the media component within the media library.

54. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

selecting a threshold time period to maintain the media component, wherein the threshold time period is determined based at least in part on the predicted possible resource failure; and

exporting the media component out of the media library after a current time exceeds the threshold time period.

55. A system for restoring resources contained in a computing system, comprising:

a resource information component, wherein the resource information component contains information related to historical performance of resources of the computing system;

a prediction component, wherein the prediction component determines a possible failure of the resources of the computing system based at least in part on the historical performance information; and

an information recall component, in communication with the resource component and the prediction component, wherein the information recall component recalls data from a data storage facility to be used in a restore of the determined possible failure, wherein the data storage facility is geographically remote from the system.

56. A system of maintaining contents of a media library associated with a data restoration system for a computing system, comprising:

a resource information component, wherein the resource information component monitors performance of resources of the computing system and provides information related to the performance of the resources;

a provisioning component, wherein the provisioning component determines media components to store within the media library based at least in part on information retrieved from the resource information component; and

a movement component, wherein the movement component imports media components into the media library and exports media components out of the media library based at least in part on instructions received from the provisioning component.

57. A data structure stored within memory of a computing system, the data structure containing one or more entries, wherein each of the entries comprise information identifying a resource within a computing system, information identifying a media component that contains data used in restoring the resource, information that indicates a predicted time frame of need for the resource, and information that identifies an action be performed in order to transfer the media component to a media library associated with the computing system during the predicted time frame.

58. A method of importing a data storage media component to a data storage media library, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of one or more changes made to a set of data within a file system;

determining one or more media components containing sets of data related to the changed set of data; and

recalling to the data storage library the one or more media components containing the sets of data related to the changed set of data, wherein the recalling includes automatically recalling the one or more media components from a location outside of the data storage media library.

59. The method of claim 58, further comprising:

updating the sets of data on the recalled one or more media components to reflect some of the changes made to the changed set of data.

60. The method of claim 58, further comprising:

updating metadata on the recalled one or more media components to reflect some of the changes made to the changed set of data.

61. The method of claim 58, further comprising:

performing an action with the recalled one or more media components, wherein the action is performed in response to the changes made to the set of data.

62. The method of claim 58, further comprising:

performing an action with the recalled one or more media components, wherein the action includes performing a restore operation in response to some of the the changes made to the set of data.

63. A system for recalling data storage media components to a media library based on changes made to data in a file system, comprising:

a data change component, wherein the data change component provides information related to changes made to an data set of the file system, wherein the file system is associated with a data set stored on a media component;

a data identification component, wherein the data identification component identifies data stored outside of the file system associated with the changed data set; and

a media recall component, in communication with the data change component and the data identification component, wherein the media recall component imports the media component containing the identified data to the media library.

64. The system of claim 63, further comprising:

an action component, in communication with the data change component and the data identification component, wherein the action component performs an action based on the changes made to the data set of the file system using the imported media component.

65. The system of claim 63, further comprising:

a restore component, in communication with the data change component and the data identification component, wherein the restore component performs a restore operation using the data contained in the imported media component.

66. The system of claim 63, further comprising:

a restore component, in communication with the data change component and the data identification component, wherein the restore component holds the imported media component within the media library for use in a restore operation and releases the media component from the media library after completion of the restore operation.

67. A system for recalling media components to a media library based on changes made to data in a file system, comprising:

a data change component, wherein the data change component provides information related to changes made to a data set of the file system; and

a media recall component, in communication with the data change component, wherein the media recall component imports a media component containing data related to the data set based at least in part on the changes made to the data set.

68. The system of claim 67, further comprising:

a prediction component, in communication with the data change component and the media recall component, wherein the prediction component receives the information related to the changes made to the data set and predicts a need for a file system resource;

wherein the imported media component contains data related to the needed file system resource.

69. The system of claim 67, further comprising:

a data modification component, wherein the data write component modifies the data contained within the imported media component to reflect the changes made to the data set.