SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANALYZING SNAPSHOTS

• US 20130246360A1
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Ngo, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,298,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/639
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• 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 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

This application describes techniques for creating a second snapshot of a first snapshot of a set of data, modifying the first snapshot, and reverting the modifications to the first snapshot. For example, portions of one or more transaction logs may be played into a database to put the database in a particular state a particular point in time. The second snapshot may then be used to revert to a prior state of the database such that additional transaction logs may be played into the database. These techniques enable the ability to put the database into multiple states as the database existed at multiple points in time. Therefore, data can be recovered from the database as the data existed at different points in time. Moreover, individual data objects in the database can be accessed and analyzed as the individual data objects existed at different points in time.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing a snapshot of a set of data, the system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor;

a copy component executed by the at least one processor and configured to create a full copy of the set of data, and to create a copy of a log of changes made to the set of data after the full copy of the set of data was made, wherein the set of data includes multiple data objects;

a snapshot component executed by the at least one processor and configured to

create a first snapshot of the set of data at a first time,

wherein the first snapshot includes pointers to data in the set of data;

create a copy of the first snapshot at a second time,

wherein the second time is after the first time and

an interface and analysis component executed by the at least one processor and configured to

receive a user request to access, via the first snapshot, at least one of the multiple data objects;

access, based on the received user request, the at least one of the multiple data objects,

wherein the access includes modifying the full copy of the set of data based on;

the first snapshot, the log of changes, or both the first snapshot and the log of changes; and

wherein the snapshot component is further configured to create, prior to the access, a snapshot of the copy of the first snapshot and associated transaction logs;

wherein the system is further configured to

receive an instruction to change at least a portion of the set of data to another state; and

change the set of data to the other state of based at least in part on the copy of the first snapshot.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot component modifies the first snapshot after creating the copy of the first snapshot, wherein the set of data includes a database and database logs, and wherein the snapshot component modifies the first snapshot by playing one or more database logs into the database.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of data is associated with an application, and wherein the application includes an email server, a Structured Query Language (SQL) server, a file server, or an application server.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component configured to perform at least one operation on the accessed multiple data objects, wherein performing the at least one operation includes either

indexing the accessed multiple data objects and adding information to an index;

associating the accessed multiple data objects with one or more classifications and storing the one or more classifications in a metabase;

or

extracting the accessed multiple data objects from the set of data and copying the multiple data objects to a storage device.

5. A tangible computer-readable medium carrying instructions, which when executed by at least one data processing device, analyzes a snapshot of a set of data, comprising:

creating, by the least one data processing device, a first snapshot of a set of data at a first time,

wherein the first snapshot captures a first state of the set of data at the first time, and

wherein the set of data includes multiple data objects;

modifying the first snapshot;

creating a copy of the first snapshot at a second time,

wherein the copy of the first snapshot includes a copy of pointers associated with the first snapshot, and

wherein the copy of the first snapshot captures a second state of the set of data at the second time;

receiving a request to access at least one of the multiple data objects;

creating, before accessing the at least one of the multiple data objects, a snapshot of the copy of the first snapshot and at least one associated transaction log;

accessing, via the first snapshot, at least one of the multiple data objects;

analyzing the accessed at least one of the multiple data objects; and

reverting to the second state of the set of data.

6. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein modifying the first snapshot occurs before creating the second snapshot.

7. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein modifying the first snapshot occurs after creating the second snapshot.

8. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein creating the first snapshot of the set of data includes creating the first snapshot of the set of data at least partly with a software-based snapshot provider.

9. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein creating the first snapshot of the set of data includes creating the first snapshot of the set of data at least partly with a hardware-based snapshot provider.

10. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of data includes a database and database logs, and wherein modifying the first snapshot includes playing one or more database logs into the database.

11. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein reverting to the second state of the set of data includes performing a revert operation utilizing the snapshot of the copy of the first snapshot.

12. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the set of data is utilized by an application, and wherein the application includes either an email server, a Structured Query Language (SQL) server, a file server, or an application server.

13. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, further comprising, after reverting to the second state of the set of data, modifying the first snapshot again.

14. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 5, further comprising performing at least one operation on the accessed one or more multiple data objects, wherein performing the at least one operation includes either—

indexing the multiple data objects and adding information to an index;

associating the multiple data objects with one or more classifications and storing the one or more classifications in a metabase;

or

extracting the multiple data objects from the set of data and copying the multiple data objects to a storage device.

15. A tangible computer-readable medium carrying instructions, which when executed by at least one computing device, analyzes a set of data, wherein the set of data includes multiple data objects, comprising:

causing a full copy of the set of data to be created at a first time;

causing a full copy of the set of data to be created at a second time after the first time;

causing to be created at least one log of changes made to the set of data between the first time and the second time;

after the first time and before the second time, causing multiple snapshots to be created

wherein each snapshot represents a different state of the set of data after the first time and before the second time;

identifying a point in time to obtain a copy of at least one data object in the set of data,

wherein the point in time is after the first time and before the second time, and

wherein the one data object was changed after the first time and before the second time;

causing the one data object, as changed after the first time and before the second time, to be accessed; and

,

before accessing the one data object, causing a copied snapshot of the one of multiple snapshots to be created, and,

subsequent access to at least some of the data objects in the set of data as changed between the first time and the second time are permitted via the copied snapshot.

16. A tangible computer-readable medium carrying instructions, which when executed by at least one computing device, analyzes data, comprising:

receiving at least one replication log indicating at least one change to first data, wherein

the first data includes multiple individual data objects,

the least one replication log can be utilized to replicate the at least one change to second data that is a copy of the first data as the first data existed at a first point in time, and

the least one replication log includes at least one marker indicating a second point in time at which the first data is consistent;

utilizing, by the computing device, the least one replication log to cause the at least one change to the second data to be replicated;

upon reaching the at least one marker in the least one replication log, causing to be created a snapshot of the second data changed according to the replication logs;

analyzing the snapshot of the second data changed according to the least one replication log; and

accessing one or more of the multiple individual data objects as the multiple individual data objects existed at the second point in time.

17. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the second data includes a database and at least one database log, wherein the least one replication log includes modifications to the database and/or the at least one database log, and wherein utilizing the least one replication log to replicate the changes to the second data includes modifying the database using the at least one database log.

18. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein analyzing the snapshot of the second data includes performing at least one modification to the snapshot of the second data, and further comprising:

after analyzing the snapshot of the second data, reverting the snapshot of the second data; and

after reverting the snapshot of the second data, utilizing least one replication log to replicate additional changes to the second data.

19. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising after creating the snapshot of the second data, utilizing least one replication log to replicate additional changes to the second data.