METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING STORED DATA

• US 20080243796A1
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Brockway, Brian, May, Andreas, Prahlad, Anand, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Kavuri, Srinivas, Muller, Marcus S., Amarendran, Arun Prasad
• Granted Patent: US 7,882,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2453 Query optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A complete document management system is disclosed. Accordingly, systems and methods for managing data associated with a data storage component coupled to multiple computers over a network are disclosed. Systems and methods for managing data associated with a data storage component coupled to multiple computers over a network are further disclosed. Additionally, systems and methods for accessing documents available through a network, wherein the documents are stored on one or more data storage devices coupled to the network, are disclosed.

Claims

1. A system for managing data associated with at least one data storage component, wherein the data storage component is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the system comprising:

a data storage management component for managing data stored within the data storage component, wherein data stored within the data storage component includes multiple secondary copies of primary data;

a metabase associated with the data storage management component that stores descriptive data referring to the stored data managed by the data storage management component; and

a search component for searching stored data associated with multiple applications and associated with the multiple secondary copies based on a single query,

wherein the stored data includes data types relating to at least two or more different applications.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a HTML-based graphical user interface for receiving user input identifying a type of data to be used by the search component in a search.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the user interface is further configured to display a preview of search results that provides a summary of the search results.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the metabase comprises multiple content indices, and wherein each of the content indices is associated with a logical volume that comprises one or more physical volumes.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a security component for storing multiple security policies relating to multiple users and further defining data access rights for those users including which search results can be displayed to the user in response to a search.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the search component is configured to receive search criteria input via a web browser.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the storage management component is further configured to receive from a user an indication that the search results satisfy the criteria for which the user is searching and to apply the search criteria as a data management policy for future searches by the user to receive similar results.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the data types relate to different types of applications that generate different formats of data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary copies comprise backup copies and archive copies.

10. A method for managing data associated with one or more data storage devices, wherein the data storage devices are coupled to multiple computers over a network, the method comprising:

receiving data through a storage operation specified by a data storage policy for managing data stored within the data storage device, wherein the storage operation creates at least one secondary copy of the data;

maintaining an index of the received data and the secondary copy of the data; and

searching stored data associated with multiple different secondary copies, wherein the search is based on a single query provided by a user, and wherein the stored data is in multiple application formats.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving user input through a graphical user interface identifying a type of data to be used for searching.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the index comprises multiple content indices, and wherein each of the content indices is associated with a logical volume that represents one or more physical volumes.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing multiple security policies relating to multiple users, wherein the policies further define data access rights for those users that specify the data that can be accessed by each user.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving search criteria from a user and an indication that the search criteria produce the type of results that a user wants to find on a regular basis, and storing the search criteria as a data management policy that the user can apply to receive new search results in the future that match the search criteria.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the secondary copies comprise copies of secondary copies on which additional data storage operations have been performed.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein two or more of the secondary copies differ in type of document and time of creation.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer perform a method for managing data associated with a data storage component, wherein the data storage component is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the method comprising:

receiving data from a first computer over the network in a first software application format;

receiving data from a second computer over the network in a second software application format;

receiving a data storage policy that specifies one or more storage operations to be performed on the data received from the first and second computer;

maintaining an index comprising the data received from the first and second computer, wherein the index parses the first and second application formats to identify indexable content within the received data;

receiving a query from a user to identify content stored across multiple computers and in multiple software application formats that matches a search criteria; and

in response to the query, searching the indexed data received from the first and second computer to identify data that matches the search criteria.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the index comprises multiple content indices, and wherein each of the content indices is associated with a different type of content.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing multiple security policies relating to multiple users, wherein the policies define the data for which a user can receive search results.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving an indication from the user that the searching identifies a type of search results that the user would like to receive on a regular basis, and storing the search criteria as a data management policy that the user can apply in future queries to receive similar search results based on new data received by the system.