MANAGING COPIES OF DATA

• US 20110173207A1
• Filed: 03/29/2011
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Gokhale, Parag, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Lu, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,099,428 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/134 Distributed indices
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A method in a computer system for retrieving data from one of multiple copies of the data is provided, referred to as the data management system. The data management system receives a request identifying at least one data object to be accessed. Then, the data management system queries a metabase to locate data copies that contain the identified at least one data object, wherein the data copies are created from similar source data, and wherein for each data copy the metabase contains an indication of the availability of the copy relative to other copies. Next, the data management system determines one of the located data copies to use to access the identified at least one data object, wherein the determination is made based on the indicated availability contained in the metabase for each of the located data copies. Then, the data management system accesses the identified at least one data object using the determined one of the located data copies.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for retrieving data from one of multiple copies of the data, the method comprising:

receiving, from a requesting computer, a request identifying at least one data object to be accessed;

identifying multiple copies of the data object that satisfy the request from the requesting computer;

for each identified copy, determining an availability of the copy relative to other identified copies,

wherein determining the availability at least includes determining an approximate time required to access the identified copy;

selecting an identified copy to use for accessing the identified at least one data object,

wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the determined availability of the identified copies; and

accessing the identified at least one data object using the selected copy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a data management operation based on the accessed at least one data object,

wherein the data management operation comprises at least one of:

encryption, data deduplication, and indexing.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating an index of content contained within at least some of the multiple copies, wherein the index further contains at least two of:

information regarding locations of where the multiple copies are located,

keywords contained within at least some of the multiple copies,

classifications assigned to data in at least some of the multiple copies, and

user access information describing which users are permitted to view contents of the data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability includes determining at least two of:

whether one of the copies is stored on magnetic disk,

whether one of the copies is stored in a tape library,

whether one of the copies is stored in an offsite data vault,

whether one of the copies is stored with a third-party data storage provider,

whether one of the copies is encrypted, and

whether hardware differences exist between copies stored in a particular tier or class of a hierarchical storage management (HSM) system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability includes determining a purpose of the retrieval request, wherein the determined purpose is for a legal discovery request.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of each copy includes at least assigning an availability score to each copy, and wherein selecting an identified copy comprises selecting the copy based on a proximity to a requesting computer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining a type of media on which the copy is stored.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining a physical location where the copy is stored and identifying the copy as less available if it is stored at an offsite location than if it is stored at an onsite location.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining whether the copy is encrypted and if the copy is encrypted identifying the copy as less available than a non-encrypted copy.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining a tier of storage and type of hardware on which the copy is stored.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining a network topology and identifying the availability of the copy based on the subnet on which the copy is stored.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining a storage location with in storage hierarchy to which the copy belongs.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least determining one or more access rights associated with the request and identifying the copy as more available if it has a less restrictive access requirement.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of each copy includes at least assigning an availability score to each copy and selecting an identified copy comprises selecting the copy having the greatest score, and wherein the score is based on a type of media on which a copy is stored.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the request includes a purpose associated with the request and wherein selecting an identified copy includes at least selecting an identified copy based on a timeframe associated with the purpose associated with the request.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the request is part of a storage operation to be performed on the identified at least one data object and wherein selecting an identified copy comprises selecting a copy on which to perform the storage operation.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying multiple copies of the data object that satisfy the request includes at least identifying older copies for which the identified at least one data object is up to date.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying multiple copies of the data object that satisfy the request includes at least determining one or more access restrictions or privileges of a requestor associated with the request and identifying copies that satisfy the one or more access restrictions.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the availability of the copy includes at least retrieving a predetermined availability indication from a database that stores metadata about each of the identified copies, and wherein the method further comprises:

associating with each identified copy one of multiple availability indicators; and

, updating the metadata of the database with the associated availability indicators.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to access multiple copies of data through a web server, by a method comprising:

submitting a web-based request identifying at least one data object stored as multiple data copies within a data management system,

wherein the web-based request was received from a user, and

wherein the computer system stores authentication information associated with the user;

receiving a web page containing multiple results responsive to the submitted web-based request, wherein each result contains a link through which a data object associated with the result can be accessed,

wherein the multiple received results include at least two copies of substantially the same identified data object,

wherein the at least two copies are associated with an availability score that represents a time to access each of the at least two copies,

wherein the computer system stores authentication information that specifies accessibility for the at least two copies of the data object,

wherein one of the at least two copies is inaccessible to the user based on the user'"'"'s authentication information and the authentication information that specified accessibility of the at least two copies of the data object;

submitting a request to access a data object associated with the multiple received results,

wherein the request to access the data object was received from a user; and

providing to the user a copy of the data object, wherein the data object is formatted for display to the user via a web browser.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising requesting performance of a data management operation based on the one data object,

wherein the data management operation comprises at least one of:

encryption, data deduplication, and indexing.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the computer system includes an index of content contained within at least some of the multiple data copies, wherein the index further contains at least two of:

information regarding locations of where the multiple data copies are located,

keywords contained within at least some of the multiple data copies,

classifications assigned to data in at least some of the multiple data copies, and

user access information describing which users are permitted to view contents of the multiple data copies.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the availability includes at least two of:

whether one of the copies is stored on magnetic disk,

whether one of the copies is stored in a tape library,

whether one of the copies is stored in an offsite data vault,

whether one of the copies is stored with a third-party data storage provider,

whether one of the copies is encrypted, and

whether hardware differences exist between copies stored in a particular tier or class of a hierarchical storage management (HSM) system.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein receiving a version of the data object formatted for display in a web browser comprises converting a word processing document in an application-specific format into HTML.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein receiving a version of the data object formatted for display in a web browser comprises converting an email message into HTML.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein receiving a version of the data object formatted for display in a web browser comprises converting a data object that is proprietary to one operating system into a format accessible by any operating system.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to permit a computer to display a page for identifying and retrieving data objects accessible through multiple copies of similar source data, comprising:

a criteria entry area configured to receive one or more criteria that identify at least one data object stored within a data management system;

a search activation indication configured to initiate a search for matching data objects based on the received criteria

wherein the matching data objects include multiple copies of the at least one data object; and

a results display area configured to display the multiple copies of the at least one data object that match the received criteria,

wherein the results display area provides a link to the multiple copies of the one or more data objects through which a browser-compatible instance of the multiple copies of the data object can be both viewed and accessed,

wherein the results display area includes availability information for the multiple copies of the one or more data objects, and,

wherein the availability information at least includes determining an approximate time required to access each of the multiple copies of the one or more data objects.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the availability information indicates of each matching data object, such that a user can select a matching data object to access based on the availability of the data object.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the results display area displays a type associated with each matching data object such that a user can select a matching data object to access based on the type of the data object.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the criteria entry area contains an area for entering one or more categories associated with the at least one data object stored within the data management system.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the data management system includes an index of content contained within at least some of the data objects, wherein the index further contains at least two of:

information regarding locations of where the data objects are located,

keywords contained within at least some of the data objects,

classifications assigned to data in at least some of the data objects, and

user access information describing which users are permitted to view contents of the data objects.

32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27 wherein the availability includes at least two of:

whether one of the copies is stored on magnetic disk,

whether one of the copies is stored in a tape library,

whether one of the copies is stored in an offsite data vault,

whether one of the copies is stored with a third-party data storage provider,

whether one of the copies is encrypted, and

whether hardware differences exist between copies stored in a particular tier or class of a hierarchical storage management (HSM) system.