RESTORATION OF A SYSTEM FROM A SET OF FULL AND PARTIAL DELTA SYSTEM SNAPSHOTS ACROSS A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM

• US 20100257403A1
• Filed: 04/03/2009
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, James R., Virk, Navjot, Mehr, John D., Leshinsky, Yan V., Sosnosky, Lara M., Murphy, Elissa E.
• Application Number:
  US12/418,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20100257403A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Provided herein are systems and methodologies for highly efficient backup and restoration in a network-based backup system. A distributed, hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P)/cloud backup architecture is leveraged, wherein information can be segmented and distributed across a set of peers and one or more global storage locations (e.g., cloud storage locations) within an associated network or internetwork. Using this architecture, images and/or delta blocks corresponding to respective images are intelligently placed across storage locations based on various network factors such as node locality, health, capacity, or the like. Similarly, restoration of a system can be performed by querying respective locations at which data corresponding to a desired system state are located and pulling the data from one or more optimal network locations as listed in an index and/or a similar structure based on similar network factors.

Claims

1. A system for restoring information from a backup system, comprising:

a processor that executes machine-executable components stored on a computer-readable medium, the components comprising;

a query component that identifies information to be restored that is associated with a desired state of an associated computing device and a plurality of storage locations on a network at which respective portions of the information are located, wherein the information comprises at least a portion of a file or a system image;

a data retrieval component that obtains the respective portions of the information from the identified plurality of storage locations; and

a system restore component that restores the computing device to the desired state using the obtained information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of storage locations comprise at least one peer device and at least one cloud server.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an imaging component that collects system image information from the computing device; and

a distribution component that distributes the system image information to respective storage locations on the network.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the system image information comprises one or more of an image of an operating system associated with the computing device or a system snapshot obtained from the computing device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the information to be restored comprises one or more delta images that include information relating to changes between a current operating state of the computing device and one or more previous operating states of the computing device.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a segmentation component that divides information corresponding to files or system images into respective blocks, wherein the distribution component distributes the respective blocks to respective storage locations on the network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the distribution component distributes the respective blocks to respective storage locations on the network based at least in part on amounts of copies of respective blocks that exist at the respective storage locations.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the query component further comprises an index lookup component that identifies the plurality of storage locations at which the respective portions of the information to be restored are located based on one or more indexes that map respective data stored in the network to locations at which the respective data are stored.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one index utilized by the index lookup component is stored at one or more of the computing device or a remote storage location in the network.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a boot component that facilitates booting the computing device and identifying the information to be restored from at least one remote location in the network.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the system restore component restores the computing device to the desired state by merging obtained information to be restored with information locally stored at the computing device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the query component further comprises a network analysis component that determines storage locations on the network from which the respective portions of the information to be restored are to be retrieved based on one or more of locality of respective storage locations, health of respective storage locations, network topology, peer machine type, or availability of respective storage locations.

13. A method of performing system recovery within a network-based backup system, comprising:

identifying data associated with a desired system state to be restored comprising one or more files, images, or file or image segments;

obtaining information relating to respective portions of the data associated with the desired system state to be restored from a plurality of respective network storage locations; and

restoring the desired system state at one or more computer memories associated with the desired system state using the obtained information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the obtaining comprises:

identifying a set of blocks corresponding to the data associated with the desired system state to be restored;

determining respective peer storage locations or cloud storage locations from which respective identified blocks are to be retrieved; and

retrieving the identified blocks from the respectively determined peer storage locations or cloud storage locations.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining comprises determining respective peer storage locations or cloud storage locations from which respective identified blocks are to be retrieved using at least one of a locally stored index or a remotely stored index.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining comprises determining respective peer storage locations or cloud storage locations from which respective identified blocks are to be retrieved based on one or more of locality of respective network storage locations, health of respective network storage locations, network topology, peer machine type, or availability of respective network storage locations.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

dividing information associated with a current system state into respective segments;

selecting respective network storage locations to which the segments are to be distributed from one or more peer locations and one or more cloud locations; and

distributing the segments among the respective selected network storage locations.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

recording the selected network locations and the respective segments to be distributed thereto in an index; and

communicating at least a portion of the index to one or more network storage locations.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising initiating a network boot from at least one remote location in the network, wherein the identifying data associated with the desired system state to be restored comprises identifying the data associated with the desired system state to be restored using the remote location to which the network boot was initiated.

20. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to act as a system for performing system recovery from a distributed backup system, the system comprising:

means for distributing at least a portion of a file or a system image among one or more peers and one or more cloud storage locations based on at least one of locality, capacity, health, or types of respective storage locations;

means for identifying initialization of a system restore;

means for querying at least one peer or at least one cloud storage location for copies of at least a portion of the file or the system image upon initialization of the system restore;

means for determining a plurality of optimal locations from which to obtain at least a portion of the file or the system image based on received query results; and

means for rebuilding an associated system at least in part by retrieving information corresponding to at least a portion of the file or the system image from the determined optimal locations.