USE OF AUXILIARY DATA PROTECTION SOFTWARE IN FAILOVER OPERATIONS

• US 20140337662A1
• Filed: 05/07/2014
• Published: 11/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: GOKHALE, Parag, KOTTOMTHARAYIL, Rajiv, KARANDIKAR, Amey Vijaykumar, VIJAYAN, Manoj Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,483,362 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/006 Identification G06F11/2289 takes precedence
• 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 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2092 Techniques of failing over between control units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• 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

According to certain aspects, an information management cell can include at least one secondary storage computing device configured to conduct primary data generated by at least one client computing device to a secondary storage device(s) as part of secondary copy operations, wherein the secondary storage computing device normally operates to conduct primary data to the secondary storage device(s) for storage as a secondary copy in a first secondary copy file format, at the direction of a main storage manager; and can include a failover storage manager configured to activate in response to loss of connectivity between the cell and the main storage manager, and instruct a secondary copy application to perform a secondary copy operation in which the primary data generated by the at least one client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in a second secondary copy file format different than the first secondary copy file format.

Claims

1. An information management cell configured to perform emergency backups, comprising:

at least one client computing device having one or more applications executing thereon configured to generate primary data for storage in one or more primary storage devices;

at least one secondary storage computing device comprising computer hardware configured to conduct the primary data generated by the client computing device to one or more secondary storage devices as part of secondary copy operations,

wherein the secondary storage computing device normally operates to conduct the primary data to the one or more secondary storage devices for storage as a secondary copy in a first secondary copy file format, at the direction of a main storage manager; and

a failover storage manager executing on a computing device within the information management cell and configured to;

activate in response to loss of connectivity between the information management cell and the main storage manager; and

instruct a secondary copy application installed on a computing device within the information management cell to perform a secondary copy operation in which the primary data generated by the client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in a second secondary copy file format different than the first secondary copy file format.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the main storage manager is geographically remote from the information management cell.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the failover storage manager executes on the at least one secondary storage computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary copy application is installed on the at least one client computing device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one client computing device comprises at least one data agent installed thereon which converts the primary data into the first secondary copy file format.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary copy application is installed on the at least one client computing device prior to activation of the failover storage manager.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format is stored in the one or more secondary storage devices.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format is stored in the one or more primary storage devices.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format is a point-in-time image of the primary data generated by the at least one client computing device.

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

initiate a first secondary copy operation according to a storage policy associated with a secondary copy operation of the primary data to the one or more secondary storage devices; and

instruct the one or more secondary storage computing devices to copy the primary data to the one or more secondary storage devices to create a first secondary copy in the first secondary copy file format.

11. A method of providing an information management cell configured to perform emergency backups, comprising:

detecting loss of connectivity between a main storage manager and an information management cell, wherein the information management cell comprises;

at least one client computing device having one or more applications executing thereon configured to generate primary data for storage in one or more primary storage devices; and

at least one secondary storage computing device comprising computer hardware configured to conduct the primary data generated by the client computing device to one or more secondary storage devices as part of secondary copy operations,

wherein the secondary storage computing device normally operates to conduct the primary data to the one or more secondary storage devices for storage as a secondary copy in a first secondary copy file format, at the direction of a main storage manager; and

in response to detecting the loss of connectivity between the information management cell and the main storage manager, activating a failover storage manager executing on a computing device within the information management cell; and

instructing, by the failover storage manager, a secondary copy application installed on a computing device within the information management cell to perform a secondary copy operation in which the primary data generated by the client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in a second secondary copy file format different than the first secondary copy file format.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the main storage manager is geographically remote from the information management cell.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the failover storage manager executes on the at least one secondary storage computing device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the secondary copy application is installed on the at least one client computing device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one client computing device comprises at least one data agent installed thereon which converts the primary data into the first secondary copy file format.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the secondary copy application is installed on the at least one client computing device prior to activation of the failover storage manager.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format is stored in the one or more secondary storage devices.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format is stored in the one or more primary storage devices.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format is a point-in-time image of the primary data generated by the at least one computing device.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

initiating, by the failover storage manager, a first secondary copy operation according to a storage policy associated with a secondary copy operation of the primary data to the one or more secondary storage devices; and

instructing, by the failover storage manager, the one or more secondary storage computing devices to copy the primary data to the one or more secondary storage devices to create a first secondary copy in the first secondary copy file format.