MODULAR SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING DATA STORAGE OPERATIONS

• US 20080244177A1
• Filed: 06/09/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Oshinsky, David Alan, Crescenti, John, Prahlad, Anand, Kavuri, Srinivas
• Granted Patent: US 8,433,679 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

The invention is a modular backup and retrieval system. The software modules making up the backup and retrieval system run independently, and can run either on the same computing devices or on different computing devices. The modular software system coordinates and performs backups of various computing devices communicating to the modules. At least one module on one of the computing devices acts as a system manager for a network backup regimen. A management component acts as a manager for the archival and restoration of the computing devices on the network. It manages and allocates library media usage, maintains backup scheduling and levels, and supervises or maintains the archives themselves through pruning or aging policies. A second software module acts as a manager for each particular library media.

Claims

1. A modular system for managing data storage operations in a network environment, the system comprising:

a plurality of storage devices;

a plurality of first modules, each first module operating on a particular one of a plurality of first computing devices and configured to identify data from the particular first computing device to be associated with one or more storage operations;

a plurality of second modules operating on a plurality of second computing devices and communicatively coupled to the plurality of first modules and to the plurality of storage devices, the plurality of second modules being configured to receive the identified data from the plurality of first modules and to direct a physical transfer of the identified data to the plurality of storage devices; and

a manager module communicatively coupled to the plurality of first and second modules, the manager module being configured to initiate a first storage operation and to select at least one first module from the plurality of first modules and at least one second module from the plurality of second modules to perform the first storage operation, said selection of the at least one second module being based on at least loads of the plurality of second modules,

wherein the at least one second module is configured to store data associated with the first storage operation on at least one of the plurality of storage devices and to maintain a first index maintaining at least a physical location of the stored data, and wherein the at least one second module is further configured to forward a second index based on the first index to the manager module for tracking the stored data, wherein the second index comprises less information than the first index.

2. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the at least one first module is configured to filter types of data from the particular first computing device to include in the first storage operation.

3. The modular system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of first modules is application specific.

4. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the manager module is configured to initiate the first storage operation in response to a request from the at least one first module.

5. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the manager module is configured to initiate the first storage operation based on an aging policy.

6. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the manager module is configured to initiate the first storage operation based on a network load.

7. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the manager module is further configured to track configuration parameters of one or more applications running on the plurality of first computing devices.

8. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the at least one second module is further configured to store a first portion of the data associated with the first storage operation to a first storage device and a second portion of the data associated with the first storage operation to a second storage device.

9. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the at least one first module is further configured to manage a timing of the first storage operation.

10. The modular system of claim 1, wherein the at least one first module is further configured to prioritize the data to be stored according to the first storage operation.

11. A method for performing storage operations in a network environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request to perform a storage operation;

determining a usage of a plurality of media modules, wherein each of the plurality of media modules is configured to direct a physical transfer of data to at least one of a plurality of storage devices;

selecting a first media module from the plurality of media modules to perform the storage operation;

selecting a first client module from a plurality of client modules to obtain from a first computing device data associated with the storage operation;

instructing the first media module to perform the physical transfer of the data to a first storage device of the plurality of storage devices, wherein the first media module creates an index recording a physical location of the stored data on the first storage device; and

receiving from the first media module metadata indicative of the data stored on the first storage device, the metadata being usable to track the stored data and comprising less information than the index.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising instructing a second media module of the plurality of media modules to retrieve the data from the first storage device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said retrieving comprises relocating the stored data from the first storage device to a second storage device of the plurality of storage devices, wherein the second storage device comprises a slower medium than the first storage device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the metadata further comprises information on at least one of origination information of the stored data and permissions associated with the stored data.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to perform the storage operation is received from the first client module.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage operation comprises an incremental backup operation.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said selecting the first client module comprises sending to the first client module criteria for determining the data to include in the incremental backup operation.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to perform the storage operation is based on a backup schedule.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein said instructing the first media module further comprises instructing the first media module to perform the physical transfer of a first portion of the data to the first storage device of the plurality of storage devices and to perform the physical transfer of a second portion of the data to a second storage device of the plurality of storage devices.

20. A modular system for storing data in a network environment, the system comprising,

means for storing data;

means for obtaining data from a first plurality of network computing devices to be associated with one or more storage operations, said obtaining means executing on the first plurality of network computing devices;

means for directing a physical storage of the data received from said obtaining means to said storing means, said directing means operating on a plurality of second network computing devices; and

means for initiating a first storage operation and for selecting at least one of said obtaining means and at least one of said directing means to perform the first storage operation, said selecting being based at least on a load of said directing means,

wherein said at least one directing means is configured to store data associated with the first storage operation on at least one of said storing means and to maintain a first index detailing a physical location of the stored data on said at least one storing means, and wherein said at least one directing means is further configured to forward a second index to said initiating means to track the stored data, wherein the second index comprises less information than the first index.