METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING STORED DATA

• US 20080249996A1
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Published: 10/09/2008
• 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 7,937,365 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 method for managing data associated with a data storage device, wherein the data storage device is coupled to multiple computers over a network, the method comprising:

storing application data received from multiple computers over the network in the data storage device, the application data comprising data in multiple software application formats;

receiving a data storage policy that specifies one or more data storage operations to be performed on the stored application data;

storing in an index summary data describing the stored application data so that the application data can be identified based on one or more received search parameters;

receiving a search request from a user comprising at least one search parameter;

searching the index for application data based on the at least one received search parameter, wherein the search accesses the summary data and identifies matching application data from multiple computers and in multiple application formats.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a storage operation based on the storage policy, wherein the storage policy defines performing a backup of the search results.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the at least one received search parameter as a new data storage policy, wherein the new data storage policy comprises a set of preferences or storage criteria associated with performing a storage operation to retrieve similar search results in a subsequent query.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage policy is associated a scheduling component and defines when the scheduling component should perform a storage operation and how often to perform the storage operation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data storage policy is stored in a storage manager, the storage manager further comprising a jobs agent configured to carry out data storage operations, a management agent configured to monitor the status of the data storage operations, and an interface module configured to display the status of the data storage operations to a user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the search request from the user across the network via a web browser, wherein the search identifies data stored across multiple data storage tiers in the network satisfying the search request.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more documents satisfying the at least one search parameter and retrieving one or more identified documents for access by a user without overwriting a current copy of the one or more identified documents on the data storage component.

8. 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:

storing application data received from multiple computers over the network in the data storage device, the application data comprising data in multiple software application formats;

receiving a data storage policy that specifies one or more data storage operations to be performed on the stored application data;

storing in an index summary data describing the stored application data so that the application data can be identified based on one or more received search parameters;

receiving a search request from a user comprising at least one search parameter;

searching the index for application data based on the at least one received search parameter, wherein the search accesses the summary data and identifies matching application data from multiple computers and in multiple application formats.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising performing a storage operation based on the storage policy, wherein the storage policy defines performing a backup of the search results.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising storing the at least one received search parameter as a new data storage policy, wherein the new data storage policy comprises a set of preferences or storage criteria associated with performing a storage operation to retrieve similar search results in a subsequent query.

11. A method for accessing documents available through a network, wherein the documents are stored on one or more data storage devices coupled to the network, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access one or more documents, wherein the request is associated with a selected security clearance level;

searching a metabase to locate metadata describing one or more documents satisfying the request based on a security clearance level stored with the metadata that describes characteristics of the documents;

resolving references in the located metadata to identify one of the one or more data storage devices containing the data, wherein the resolving at least assists in determining which of the one or more data storage devices to access the data from, and wherein the access is at least in part based on a data access criteria that specifies the results that a user has access to view; and

providing a signal to access, via the network and in response to the request, the one or more documents at the one or more identified data storage devices.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving one or more search parameters relating to documents stored on at least one of the data storage devices.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising identifying one or more documents satisfying the one or more received search parameters.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining access control information of the one or more documents determined to satisfy the received search parameters and comparing the access control information to a security clearance level of a user associated with the search.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying a preview of each document determined to satisfy the received search parameters and for which the security level is sufficient for viewing the documents based on the access control information.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer perform a method for accessing documents available through a network, wherein the documents are stored on one or more data storage devices coupled to the network, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access one or more documents, wherein the request is associated with a selected security clearance level;

searching a metabase to locate metadata describing one or more documents satisfying the request based on a security clearance level stored with the metadata that describes characteristics of the documents;

resolving references in the located metadata to identify one of the one or more data storage devices containing the data, wherein the resolving at least assists in determining which of the one or more data storage devices to access the data from, and wherein the access is at least in part based on a data access criteria; and

providing a signal to access, via the network and in response to the request, the one or more documents at the one or more identified data storage devices.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving one or more search parameters relating to documents stored on at least one of the data storage devices.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising identifying one or more documents satisfying the one or more received search parameters.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining a security clearance level of the one or more documents determined to satisfy the received search parameters.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising displaying a preview of the one or more documents determined to satisfy the received search parameters if the security level is greater than a predetermined level for the one or more documents.