USE OF TEMPORARY SECONDARY COPIES IN FAILOVER OPERATIONS

• US 20140337664A1
• 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 9,483,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/6.3
• 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 a failover storage manager configured to: instruct a secondary copy application to perform a secondary copy operation in which primary data generated by at least one client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in a second secondary copy file format different than a first secondary copy file format; and subsequent to reestablishment of connectivity to a main storage manager, restore the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format to obtain restored data that is no longer in the second secondary copy file format; and can include at least one secondary storage computing device configured to, subsequent to the restore of the secondary copy, and at the direction of the main storage manager, conduct the restored data to a secondary storage device(s) to create a secondary copy in the first secondary copy file format.

Claims

1. An information management system configured to perform data protection operations in the event of lost connectivity with a storage manager, the system 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;

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;

detect a reestablishment of connectivity to the main storage manager; and

subsequent to reestablishment of connectivity to the main storage manager, restore the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format to obtain restored data that is no longer in the second secondary copy file format.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary storage computing device is further configured to, subsequent to the restore of the secondary copy, and at the direction of the main storage manager, conduct the restored data to the one or more secondary storage devices to create a secondary copy in the first secondary copy file format.

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

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

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

6. 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.

7. 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.

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 secondary storage devices.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one client computing device comprises a plurality of client computing devices, wherein the secondary copy application is installed on each of the plurality of client computing devices, and wherein the secondary copy application on respective client computing device of the plurality of client computing devices is configured to perform a secondary copy operation in which the primary data generated by the respective client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in the second secondary copy file format.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one secondary storage computing device is further configured to:

conduct the restored data to the one or more secondary storage devices in a secondary copy operation; and

receive from the main storage manager a unique job ID for the secondary copy operation.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the failover storage manager has limited functionality in comparison to the main storage manager.

14. A method of performing data protection operations in the event of lost connectivity with a storage manager, the method 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;

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;

detecting a reestablishment of connectivity to the main storage manager; and

subsequent to reestablishment of connectivity to the main storage manager, restoring, by the failover storage manager, the secondary copy stored in the second secondary copy file format to obtain restored data that is no longer in the second secondary copy file format.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, subsequent to the restore of the secondary copy, and at the direction of the main storage manager, conducting, by the secondary storage computing device, the restored data to the one or more secondary storage devices to create a secondary copy in the first secondary copy file format.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the main storage manager is geographically remote from the information management cell.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the failover storage manager executes on the at least one secondary storage computing device.

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

19. The method of claim 14, 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.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one client computing device comprises a plurality of client computing devices, wherein the secondary copy application is installed on each of the plurality of client computing devices, and wherein the secondary copy application on respective client computing device of the plurality of client computing devices is configured to perform a secondary copy operation in which the primary data generated by the respective client computing device is stored as a secondary copy in the second secondary copy file format.