TRANSFERRING OR MIGRATING PORTIONS OF DATA OBJECTS, SUCH AS BLOCK-LEVEL DATA MIGRATION OR CHUNK-BASED DATA MIGRATION

• US 20140108470A1
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Lad, Kamleshkumar K.
• Granted Patent: US 10,572,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/822
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/119 Details of migration of file systems migration mechanisms in storage systems G06F3/0647
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A system and method for migrating data objects based on portions of the data objects is described. The system may transfer portions of files, folders, and other data objects from primary storage to secondary storage based on certain criteria, such as time-based criteria, age-based criteria, and so on. An increment may be one or more blocks of a data object, or one or more chunks of a data object, or other segments that combine to form or store a data object. For example, the system identifies one or more blocks of a data object that satisfy a certain criteria, and migrates the identified blocks. The system may determine that a certain number of blocks of a file have not been modified or called by a file system in a certain time period, and migrate these blocks to secondary storage.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium with instructions, which when executed by at least one data processor, permits restoration of a portion of a file in a data storage system, comprising:

receiving, at a file system, a request from a user to modify only a portion of a file,

wherein the file is at least partially stored in secondary storage on a storage device, and

wherein the storage device is located at a location geographically different than a location for the file system;

identifying one or more data blocks within the storage device that contain data associated with the portion of the file to be modified;

retrieving the data contained by the identified one or more data blocks without retrieving all data blocks associated with the file;

presenting the retrieved data to the user; and

upon receiving input from the user to modify the portion of the file, transferring data associated with the received input for storage by the storage device.

2. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising maintaining, using an intermediate component that resides between the file system and the storage device, a bitmap in a memory of the intermediate component, wherein the bitmap reflects information about changes or updates to the file.

3. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the identified one or more data blocks are a proper subset of a set of data blocks that contain associated with the file.

4. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the identifying one or more data blocks identifies one or more chunks within the storage device.

5. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing data already stored in the storage device into subsets of data based on logical divisions including a date of creation, deletion or reception or a size of data to be divided; and

updating an index associated with the file to include information associating the identified one or more data blocks with the storage device.

6. A method in a data storage system for restoring a portion of a file, the method comprising:

receiving, at a file system, a request from a user to modify only a portion of a file,

wherein the file is at least partially stored in secondary storage on a storage device, and

wherein the storage device is located at a location geographically different than a location for the file system;

determining one or more data blocks within the storage device that contain data associated with the portion of the file to be modified;

retrieving the data contained by the identified one or more data blocks without retrieving all data blocks associated with the file;

providing the retrieved data in response to the user request; and

upon receiving input from the user to modify the portion of the file, transferring data associated with the received input for storage by the storage device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising maintaining, using an intermediate component that resides between the file system and the storage device, a bitmap in a memory of the intermediate component, wherein the bitmap reflects information about changes or updates to the file.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the identified one or more data blocks are a proper subset of a set of data blocks that contain associated with the file.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the identifying one or more data blocks identifies one or more chunks within the storage device.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

dividing data already stored in the storage device into subsets of data based on logical divisions including a date of creation, deletion or reception or a size of data to be divided; and

updating an index associated with the file to include information associating the identified one or more data blocks with the storage device.

11. A system for restoring a portion of a file, the system comprising:

at least one processor;

means, at a file system, for receiving a request from a user to modify only a portion of a file,

wherein the file is at least partially stored in secondary storage on a storage device and

wherein the storage device is located at a location geographically different than a location for the file system;

means for identifying one or more data blocks within the storage device that contain data associated with the portion of the file to be modified;

means for retrieving the data contained by the identified one or more data blocks without retrieving all data blocks associated with the file;

means for presenting the retrieved data to the user; and

means for transferring data associated with the received input for storage by the storage device upon receiving input from the user to modify the portion of the file.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the identified one or more data blocks are a proper subset of a set of data blocks that contain associated with the file.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for identifying one or more data blocks identifies one or more chunks within the storage device.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for maintaining a bitmap in a memory of an intermediate component, wherein the bitmap reflects information about changes or updates to the file.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for dividing data already stored in the storage device into subsets of data based on logical divisions including a date of creation, deletion or reception or a size of data to be divided; and

means for updating an index associated with the file to include information associating the identified one or more data blocks with the storage device.