SCHEDULE BASED DATA LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

• US 20110276539A1
• Filed: 05/04/2010
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Thiam, Alioune
• Granted Patent: US 8,812,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2058 using more than 2 mirrored copies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11

Abstract

A system and method for defining a separate lifecycle policy for each of one or more data images. A backup server is configured to select a first point-in-time value, which indicates when to begin moving a data image from a first data storage medium to a second storage medium. The point-in-time value corresponds to a calendar date and an hour or hours of the day. The backup server is configured to continue selecting a respective point-in-time value for each data storage medium within a tiered storage hierarchy in order to define the lifecycle policy. The backup server may be further configured to delete a copy of the data image on a source data storage medium when completion of a move of the data image to a destination data storage medium is detected. Further, the backup server may detect scheduling conflicts between two or more lifecycle policies.

Claims

1. A method for defining a lifecycle policy for each of one or more data images, the method comprising:

selecting a data image stored on a first data storage medium for definition of a first lifecycle;

defining said first lifecycle, wherein said defining comprises;

identifying a first point-in-time value which indicates when to initiate movement of the data image from the first data storage medium to a second data storage medium; and

identifying a second point-in-time value which indicates when to allow initial movement of the data image from the second data storage medium to a third data storage medium;

storing data corresponding to said first lifecycle, wherein said data comprises data which identifies the data image, the first point-in-time value, the second point-in-time value, the first data storage medium, and the second data storage medium.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein movement of the data image from the first data storage medium to the second data storage medium comprises a backup operation, and movement of the data image from the second data storage medium to the third data storage medium comprises a duplication operation.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising presenting to the user one or more time windows of availability for moving the data image during the duplication operation, wherein the one or more time windows of availability do not overlap a time window for the backup operation by more than a predetermined threshold.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein in addition to the identified second point-in-time value, allowance of the initial movement of the data image during the duplication operation is further qualified by at least one of the following:

a current available capacity of the second data storage medium or the third storage medium, a business value of the data image, an age of the data image, and a size of the data image.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising detecting a conflict, wherein the conflict comprises at least one of the following:

two or more lifecycle policies include a scheduled concurrent access of a given data storage medium;

an available capacity of a given data storage medium has reached a predetermined threshold;

a projected available capacity of a given data storage medium upon completion of a scheduled move corresponds to a predetermined threshold; and

a projected duration for movement of a given data image exceeds an available time window.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein in response to detecting said conflict, the method further comprises presenting a message corresponding to the conflict and providing a user an opportunity to modify one or more stored values corresponding to an existing lifecycle.

7. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising moving the data image during a duplication operation in response to detecting a respective point-in-time value is reached and any other identified qualifying value is reached.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising deleting a copy of the data image on a respective source data storage medium in response to detecting movement of the data image from the respective source data storage medium has completed.

9. A computer system comprising:

a backup server;

a network; and

one or more client computers coupled to the backup server via the network;

wherein the backup server is configured to;

enable a user to select a data image stored on a first data storage medium for definition of a first lifecycle;

enable the user to define said first lifecycle, wherein said defining comprises;

identifying a first point-in-time value which indicates when to initiate movement of the data image from the first data storage medium to a second data storage medium; and

identifying a second point-in-time value which indicates when to allow initial movement of the data image from the second data storage medium to a third data storage medium;

store data corresponding to said first lifecycle, wherein said data comprises data which identifies the data image, the first point-in-time value, the second point-in-time value, the first data storage medium, and the second data storage medium.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein movement of the data image from the first data storage medium to the second data storage medium comprises a backup operation, and movement of the data image from the second data storage medium to the third data storage medium comprises a duplication operation.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the backup server is further configured to present to the user one or more time windows of availability for moving the data image during the duplication operation, wherein the one or more time windows of availability do not overlap a time window for the backup operation by more than a predetermined threshold.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein in addition to the identified second point-in-time value, allowance of the initial movement of the data image during the duplication operation is further qualified by at least one of the following:

a current available capacity of the second data storage medium or the third storage medium, a business value of the data image, an age of the data image, and a size of the data image.

13. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the backup server is further configured to detect a conflict, wherein the conflict comprises at least one of the following:

two or more lifecycle policies include a scheduled concurrent access of a given data storage medium;

an available capacity of a given data storage medium has reached a predetermined threshold;

a projected available capacity of a given data storage medium upon completion of a scheduled move corresponds to a predetermined threshold; and

a projected duration for movement of a given data image exceeds an available time window.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein in response to detecting said conflict, the backup server is configured to present a message corresponding to the conflict and provide the user an opportunity to modify one or more stored values corresponding to an existing lifecycle.

15. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising moving the data image during a duplication operation in response to detecting a respective point-in-time value is reached and any other identified qualifying value is reached.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the backup server is further configured to delete a copy of the data image on a respective source data storage medium in response to detecting movement of the data image from the respective source data storage medium has completed.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions for defining a lifecycle policy for each of one or more data images, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to:

select a data image stored on a first data storage medium for definition of a first lifecycle;

define said first lifecycle, wherein said defining comprises;

identifying a first point-in-time value which indicates when to initiate movement of the data image from the first data storage medium to a second data storage medium; and

identifying a second point-in-time value which indicates when to allow initial movement of the data image from the second data storage medium to a third data storage medium;

store data corresponding to said first lifecycle, wherein said data comprises data which identifies the data image, the first point-in-time value, the second point-in-time value, the first data storage medium, and the second data storage medium.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein movement of the data image from the first data storage medium to the second data storage medium comprises a backup operation, and movement of the data image from the second data storage medium to the third data storage medium comprises a duplication operation.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the program instructions are further executable to present to the user one or more time windows of availability for moving the data image during the duplication operation, wherein the one or more time windows of availability do not overlap a time window for the backup operation by more than a predetermined threshold.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein in addition to the identified second point-in-time value, allowance of the initial movement of the data image during the duplication operation is further qualified by at least one of the following:

a current available capacity of the second data storage medium or the third storage medium, a business value of the data image, an age of the data image, and a size of the data image.