SINGLE SNAPSHOT FOR MULTIPLE AGENTS

• US 20140201150A1
• Filed: 01/09/2014
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumarasamy, Paramasivam, Vallabhaneni, Brahmaiah, Nallathambi, Vimal Kumar, Zakharkin, Dmitriy Borisovich, Bangalore, Prashanth Nagabhushana
• Granted Patent: US 9,886,346 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/639
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1402 Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0614 Improving the reliability of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A data storage system according to certain aspects can share a single snapshot for multiple applications and/or agents. For example, the data storage system can receive snapshot commands from multiple applications and/or agents, and can group them for a single snapshot (e.g., based on time of receipt of the snapshot commands). Data associated with the multiple applications and/or agents may reside on a single LUN or volume. The data storage system can take a single snapshot of the LUN or volume, and generate metadata regarding which portion of the snapshot is related to which application. The single snapshot can be stored in one or more secondary storage devices. The single snapshot may be partitioned into portions relating to different applications and stored separately.

Claims

1. A data storage system configured to generate a snapshot of data relating to a plurality of applications, the system comprising:

computer hardware; and

a snapshot manager executing on the computer hardware and configured to;

group a plurality of snapshot requests associated with a plurality of applications based on a respective time of receipt of the plurality of snapshot requests,

wherein the plurality of applications are executing on a client computing device and data generated by the plurality of applications is stored in a logical volume in primary storage;

obtain a snapshot of the logical volume storing the data generated by the plurality of applications associated with the grouped snapshot requests;

generate mapping data between a particular one of the plurality of applications and a portion of the snapshot relating to the particular one of the plurality of applications; and

store the snapshot of the logical volume in secondary storage.

2. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot of the logical volume comprises the data generated by the plurality of applications in the logical volume.

3. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the logical volume comprises data associated with a file system of the client computing device.

4. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot is a hardware snapshot.

5. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein said storing the snapshot of the logical volume in secondary storage comprises:

partitioning the snapshot into a plurality of portions corresponding to the plurality of applications associated with the grouped snapshot requests; and

storing the plurality of portions in the secondary storage.

6. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein said grouping a plurality of snapshot requests comprises grouping a plurality of snapshot requests that have the respective time of receipt within a specified period of time.

7. The data storage system of claim 6, wherein a first snapshot request of the plurality of snapshot requests is designated as a master snapshot request, the first snapshot request having an earliest respective time of receipt within the specified period of time, and the master snapshot request obtains the snapshot of the logical volume.

8. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to quiesce the plurality of applications prior to said obtaining the snapshot of the logical volume.

9. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to store the mapping data in one or more of:

a system table or a system catalog.

10. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to:

receive a request to restore data relating to an application of the plurality of applications from the snapshot of the logical volume in the secondary storage; and

restore the data relating to the application from the snapshot based on the mapping data for the application.

11. A method of generating a snapshot of data relating to a plurality of applications, the method comprising:

grouping, using computer hardware, a plurality of snapshot requests associated with a plurality of applications based on a respective time of receipt of the plurality of snapshot requests,

wherein the plurality of applications are executing on a client computing device and data generated by the plurality of applications is stored in a logical volume in primary storage;

obtaining a snapshot of the logical volume storing the data generated by the plurality of applications associated with the grouped snapshot requests;

generating, using computer hardware, mapping data between a particular one of the plurality of applications and a portion of the snapshot relating to the particular one of the plurality of applications; and

storing the snapshot of the logical volume in secondary storage.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the snapshot of the logical volume comprises the data generated by the plurality of applications in the logical volume.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the logical volume comprises data associated with a file system of the client computing device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the snapshot is a hardware snapshot.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said storing the snapshot of the logical volume in secondary storage comprises:

partitioning the snapshot into a plurality of portions corresponding to the plurality of applications associated with the grouped snapshot requests; and

storing the plurality of portions in the secondary storage.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said grouping a plurality of snapshot requests comprises grouping a plurality of snapshot requests that have the respective time of receipt within a specified period of time.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a first snapshot request of the plurality of snapshot requests is designated as a master snapshot request, the first snapshot request having an earliest respective time of receipt within the specified period of time, and the master snapshot request obtains the snapshot of the logical volume.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising quiescing the plurality of applications prior to said obtaining the snapshot of the logical volume.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the mapping data in one or more of:

a system table or a system catalog.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a request to restore data relating to an application of the plurality of applications from the snapshot of the logical volume in the secondary storage; and

restoring the data relating to the application from the snapshot based on the mapping data for the application.