TAPE DATA MANAGEMENT

• US 20120179867A1
• Filed: 11/09/2011
• Published: 07/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: StorageDNA, Inc.
• Original Assignee: StorageDNA, Inc.
• Inventors: Chakravarty, Tridib, Grandhi, Suman, Bright, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,773,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/111
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/71 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0682 Tape device
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/107 of operating tapes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/231 Content storage operation, e.g. caching movies for short term storage, replicating data over plural servers, prioritizing data for deletion

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing data with respect to tape storage are provided. The system includes a data manager for receiving metadata related to content and for generating a proxy file system which mirrors the data structure of the content data. The system further includes a server coupled to a tape device, the server receiving the content data directly from a data source and providing the content data the tape device for storage on a formatted tape media.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computer, for storing information on tape, comprising:

receiving stored files and information of a modification time of each of the stored files;

commanding writing of the stored files to tape;

writing a proxy file for each of the stored files to memory, each proxy file including an indication of the modification time of the corresponding stored file; and

commanding writing of the proxy files to tape.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the stored files include video information, and wherein proxy files for the stored files including video information include a version of the video information at a lower resolution than the resolution of the video information in the stored files.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein in the proxy files are stored in a directory structure matching a directory structure for the received stored files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy files are stored in a directory structure matching a directory structure for the stored files as written to tape.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising writing a sequence to memory, the sequence indicating order in which stored files were written to tape, and commanding writing of the sequence to tape.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a stored file has a modification time later than a modification time indicated by a proxy file for the stored file; and

commanding writing of the stored file to tape if the stored file has a modification time later than a modification time indicated by the proxy file for the stored file.

7. A system for data management, comprising:

a processor to receive metadata related to source content and extract information from the metadata to determine a data structure for storage of the source content;

a server, coupled to data manager via a network connection, to receive from the processor the metadata and the data structure for storage of the source content and to receive the source content from a client and to execute instructions to cause the content data to be written to a formatted tape media of a tape device coupled thereto.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the source content is stored in a file system on the formatted tape media.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the file system is a linear tape file system.

10. A computer implemented method for managing data, comprising:

receiving via a server, content data and metadata information, the content data being directly provided from a content data source;

initializing a proxy file system;

executing instructions to cause the content data, write sequence information and the proxy file system to be sequentially written to a formatted tape media.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the tape media is formatted to provide a linear tape file system.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the content data source is a client coupled to the server via a network.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the content data source is a storage area network coupled to the server.

14. A computer implemented method for restoring content data from a tape, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a formatted tape including content data, a binary file, the binary file including instructions which when executed cause a processor to;

read directory structure information from the tape; and

restore the content data included on the tape to a predetermined target location.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein the tape is an Linear Tape Open version 5 (LTO-5) tape.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein the tape is formatted with a Linear Tape File System (LTFS).

17. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein the directory structure information includes an archive history.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein the directory structure information includes proxy file system information.

19. A computer implemented method for self-verification of content data on a tape media, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a formatted tape including content data, a binary file, the binary file including instructions which when executed cause a processor to;

perform a checksum on the content data on the tape;

compare the checksum with a correct checksum stored on the tape;

provide an indication of a data verification result.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the indication of a data verification result includes displaying on a display device, a message indicating a checksum error when the checksum is not equal to the correct checksum stored on the tape.

21. A computer implemented method for generating a preview of content data stored on a tape storage medium, the method comprising:

receiving content data from a source to be written to a tape storage medium;

extracting metadata from the content data and using the metadata to generate a proxy data structure;

copying a file included in the source content data and storing the copied file in the proxy data structure;

writing the source content data to the tape storage medium;

storing the proxy data structure in a storage device of a production station;

accessing, via the production station, a file of the proxy data structure to generate a preview of a corresponding source file of the content data written to tape.

22. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein the source file includes an image and the preview includes a display of a lower resolution version of the image.

23. The computer implemented method of claim 21, wherein the production station may further access the proxy data structure to generate a listing of the files included in the source content data.

24. The computer implemented method of claim 23, wherein the listing includes a modification time for a file included in the source content.

25. The computer implemented method of claim 23, wherein the listing includes a size of a file included in the source content.