BACKING UP AND RESTORING SECURITY INFORMATION FOR SELECTED DATABASE OBJECTS

• US 20100082552A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Beatty, Louis, Saraf, Deepak, DeVos, Steven R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/674
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques

Abstract

A mechanism to selectively restore portions of a monolithically backed up database, while maintaining security relationships associated with the restored portions of the database is provided. Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer-readable storage medium for receiving a request to restore a selected object from among a plurality of backed up objects in a database backup, accessing security-related information associated with the selected object in the database backup, restoring the selected object using the information associated with the selected object in a target area, and associating elements of the security-related information with the restored selected object.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request to restore a selected object from a backup of a database comprising a plurality of objects, wherein

the plurality of objects comprises the selected object, and

the selected object has associated security-related information;

accessing the associated security-related information, wherein the associated security-related information is gathered from the backup of the database;

restoring the selected object in a target database; and

associating one or more elements of the associated security-related information with the restored selected object.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said accessing the associated security-related information comprises:

locating a set of security-related information associated with the selected object in the backup, wherein

said locating comprises using database table metadata gathered from the backed up database at the time the backup of the database was created, and

the set of security-related information comprises the associated security-related information; and

reading the set of security-related information.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

generating a security code associated with the selected object, wherein the security code is generated using one or more of the elements of the associated security-related information.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said associating one or more elements of the associated security-related information with the restored selected object further comprises:

deriving the associated security-related information from the security code.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said associating the associated security-related information with the restored selected object further comprises:

storing the associated security-related information using an object model of an application associated with the selected object.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the object model comprises an application program interface (API).

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

selecting the one or more elements of associated security-related information for associating with the restored selected object.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said selecting the one or more elements of associated security-related information comprises:

determining a level of a hierarchy of the target database in which the selected object is restored;

identifying security-related information associated with the level of the hierarchy; and

selecting the one or more elements of associated security-related information corresponding to the security-related information associated with the level of the hierarchy.

9. A system comprising:

a processor;

a first storage object coupled to the processor, wherein

the first storage object stores a backup of a database, and

the backed up database comprises a plurality of objects and security-related information associated with the plurality of objects;

a second storage object coupled to the processor, wherein

the second storage object stores a target storage area for objects restored from the backup of the database; and

a memory, coupled to the processor, and storing instructions executable by the processor, said instructions configured to

receive a request to restore a selected object from the database backup, wherein the plurality of objects comprises the selected object;

access the security-related information associated with the selected object, wherein the associated security-related information is gathered from the backup of the database;

restore the selected object to the second storage object; and

associate one or more elements of the associated security-related information with the restored selected object.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said instructions to access the associated security-related information further comprise instructions configured to:

locate a set of security-related information associated with the selected object in the backup, wherein

said locating comprises using database table metadata gathered from the backed up database at the time the backup of the database was created, and

the set of security-related information comprises the associated security-related information; and

read the set of security-related information.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the memory further stores instructions configured to generate a security code associated with the selected object, wherein the security code is generated using one or more of the elements of the associated security-related information.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the instructions configured to associate one or more elements of the associated security-related information with the restored selected object further comprise instructions configured to:

derive the associated security-related information from the security code.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the memory stores instructions further configured to

select the one or more elements of associated security-related information for associating with the restored selected object.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the instructions configured to select the one or more elements of associated security-related information further comprise instructions configured to:

determine a level of a hierarchy of the target database in which the selected object is restored;

identify security-related information associated with the level of the hierarchy; and

select the one or more elements of associated security-related information corresponding to the security-related information associated with the level of the hierarchy.

15. A computer-readable storage medium comprising:

a first set of instructions, executable by a processor, and configured to receive a request to restore a selected object from a backup of a database comprising a plurality of objects, wherein

the plurality of objects comprises the selected object, and

the selected object has associated security-related information;

a second set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to access the associated security-related information, wherein the associated security-related information is gathered from the backup of the database;

a third set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to restore the selected object in a target database; and

a fourth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to associate one or more elements of the associated security-related information with the restored selected object.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the second set of instructions further comprises:

a fifth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to locate a set of security-related information associated with the selected object in the backup, wherein

the fifth set of instructions comprises instructions configured to use database table metadata gathered from the backed up database at the time the backup of the database was created, and

the set of security-related information comprises the associated security-related information; and

a sixth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to read the set of security-related information.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 further comprising:

a seventh set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to generate a security code associated with the selected object, wherein the security code is generated using one or more of the elements of the associated security-related information.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the fourth set of instructions further comprises:

an eighth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to derive the associated security-related information from the security code.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 further comprising:

a fifth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to select the one or more elements of associated security-related information for associating with the restored selected object.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 wherein the fifth set of instructions further comprises:

a sixth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to determine a level of a hierarchy of the target database in which the selected object is restored;

a seventh set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to identify security-related information associated with the level of the hierarchy; and

an eighth set of instructions, executable by the processor, and configured to select the one or more elements of associated security-related information corresponding to the security-related information associated with the level of the hierarchy.