SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING AUXILIARY STORAGE OPERATIONS

• US 20090187711A1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Published: 07/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Gokhale, Parag, Vijayan Retnamma, Manoj Kumar, Prahlad, Anand, Amarendran, Arun Prasad, Lu, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,714 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays

Abstract

Systems and methods for protecting data in a tiered storage system are provided. The storage system comprises a management server, a media management component connected to the management server, a plurality of storage media connected to the media management component, and a data source connected to the media management component. Source data is copied from a source to a buffer to produce intermediate data. The intermediate data is copied to both a first and second medium to produce a primary and auxiliary copy, respectively. An auxiliary copy may be made from another auxiliary copy. An auxiliary copy may also be made from a primary copy right before the primary copy is pruned.

Claims

1. A method which, when executed on a computer, stores data in a tiered storage system, the method comprising:

accessing a storage policy associated with a tiered data storage system, wherein the storage policy defines copying source data from a data source to at least two storage media destinations in the tiered data storage system;

copying the source data according to said storage policy from the data source to a first location to produce intermediate data, wherein said copying comprises;

dividing the source data into a plurality of portions, and

assigning with a media management component each of the plurality of portions a header, wherein the header indicates the two storage media destinations associated with the storage policy, and the header indicates the types of storage associated with the first and second media destinations;

copying the intermediate data, according to said headers, to the first storage media destination to produce a primary copy of the source data; and

streaming one or more portions of the intermediate data, according to said headers, to the second storage media destination to produce a secondary copy of the source data.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising monitoring the copying of the intermediate data to the first storage media destination.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising monitoring the copying of the intermediate data to the second storage media destination.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining that an interruption occurred in the production of the primary copy or secondary copy;

completing the production of the uninterrupted copy; and

thereafter, when the interruption is resolved, completing the interrupted production of the primary or secondary copy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein copying the intermediate data to the first and second storage media destinations comprises formatting the intermediate data in a first format based on a media type of the first storage media destination and formatting the intermediate data in a second format based on the a media type of the second storage media destination.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said copying the source data further comprises performing compression on the source data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said copying the source data further comprises performing encryption on the source data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining when the primary copy is about to be deleted; and

performing a copy of the primary data to a third storage media destination.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the header further indicates a time to produce the primary copy or the auxiliary copy.

10. A computer storage system comprising:

a storage manager component executing in one or more computer processors adapted to access a storage policy associated with a tiered data storage system, wherein the storage policy defines copying source data from a data source to at least two storage media destinations in the tiered data storage system, wherein the storage manager is further adapted to direct the copy the source data according to said storage policy from the data source to a first location to produce intermediate data;

one or more media management components executing in one or more computer processors, wherein one or more of the media management components generates a header for a plurality of portions of the source data, wherein the header indicates the two storage media destinations associated with the storage policy, and the header indicates the types of storage associated with the first and second media destinations, and wherein one or more of the media management components directs copying of the intermediate data, according to said headers, to the first storage media destination to produce a primary copy of the source data; and

a transfer stream configured to stream one or more portions of the intermediate data, according to said headers, to the second storage media destination to produce a secondary copy of the source data.

11. The system of claim 10, comprising a monitoring module executing in one or more processors adapted to monitor the copying of the intermediate data to the first storage media destination.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the monitoring module is further adapted to monitor the copying of the intermediate data to the second storage media destination.

13. The system of claim 11, comprising one or more computer processors configured to determine that an interruption occurred in the production of the primary copy or secondary copy, to complete the production of the uninterrupted copy, and thereafter, when the interruption is resolved, to complete the interrupted production of the primary or secondary copy.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the media management component is further configured to format the intermediate data in a first format based on a media type of the first storage media destination and format the intermediate data in a second format based on the a media type of the second storage media destination.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the media management component is further adapted to determine when the primary copy is about to be deleted, and perform a copy of the primary data to a third storage media destination.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the header portion further indicates a time to produce the primary copy or the auxiliary copy.