IDENTIFYING FILES FOR MULTIPLE SECONDARY COPY OPERATIONS USING DATA OBTAINED DURING BACKUP OF PRIMARY STORAGE

• US 20140181441A1
• Filed: 06/21/2013
• Published: 06/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Kumarasamy, Paramasivam
• Application Number:
  US13/924,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20140181441A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2058 using more than 2 mirrored copies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0613 in relation to throughput
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays

Abstract

A data storage system can scan one or more information stores of primary storage and analyze the metadata of files stored in the one or more information stores of primary storage to identify multiple, possibly relevant, secondary copy operations that can be performed on the files. The storage system can also identify primary storage usage information of each file during the scan and use that information to generate reports regarding the usage of the primary storage.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

reviewing metadata obtained during a backup of a plurality of files stored in one or more information stores of primary storage, wherein the metadata obtained during backup includes at least file size data and modification date data of each file of the plurality of files,

wherein the backup comprises identifying a first set of one or more files from the plurality of files that have been modified since a previous backup date using metadata of the plurality of files, wherein the previous backup date indicates a date when modifications to files in the one or more information stores were most recently copied to a secondary storage;

identifying a second set of one or more files that were last modified prior to a system archival date using the metadata obtained during backup; and

identifying primary storage usage data of each file of the plurality of files using the metadata obtained during backup.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of each file further comprises a file creation date, disk type data, and volume type data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing an archive operation on the second set of one or more files after reviewing the metadata obtained during backup.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising upon identifying a file that was last modified prior to a system archival date, performing an archive operation on the file prior to reviewing the metadata obtained during backup of another file of the plurality of files.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising compiling the identified primary storage usage data of each file.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising generating a report based on the compiled identified primary storage usage data of each file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the system archival date is based on at least one of a creation date, last access date, and last modify date of each file.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the system archival date is based on the identity of at least one of a user of each file and the creator of each file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the system archival date is based on a rating of each file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary storage usage data comprises an amount of storage used for the plurality of files, the location of the plurality of files on the volume or disk, and any faults that occurred during the storage of the plurality of files.

11. A method comprising:

analyzing backup metadata of each file of a plurality of files stored in one or more information stores of primary storage, the backup metadata comprising metadata obtained during a backup of the plurality of files, wherein the backup includes copying at least a portion of one or more files from the plurality of files from primary storage to secondary storage,

wherein backup metadata of each file of the plurality of files is analyzed prior to analyzing backup metadata of a second file of the plurality of files, and wherein analyzing backup metadata of each file comprises;

determining whether the file was last modified prior to a system archival date using the backup metadata of the file, and

upon determining that the file was last modified prior to a system archival date, verifying that a copy of the file is stored in the secondary storage and identifying the file as one of one or more files identified for archive operations.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the identifying the file as one of one or more files identified for archive operations comprises replacing the file in the one or more information stores with an identifier indicating the location of one or more copies of the file in the secondary storage.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising performing the archive operations on the one or more files identified for archive operations.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying primary storage usage data of each file of the plurality of files using the backup metadata.

15. A system comprising:

a primary storage system comprising at least a first information store, a plurality of files stored on the first information store, wherein the plurality of files include metadata;

a second information store comprising backup metadata including metadata obtained from the plurality of files during a backup of at least a first set of one or more files from the plurality of files;

a data agent executing on one or more processors and configured to;

identify a second set of one or more files from the plurality of files that were last modified prior to a system archival date using the backup metadata, and

identify primary storage usage data of each file of the plurality of files using the backup metadata.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a secondary storage system comprising at least a third information store and a plurality of copies of the first set of one or more files.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the first information store and the second information store are the same information store.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the data agent is further configured to perform an archive operation on the second set of one or more files after reviewing the backup metadata.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the metadata of each file further comprises a file creation date, disk type data, and volume type data.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the data agent is further configured to generate a report based on the identified primary storage usage data of each file.