PROGRESSIVE VIRTUAL LUN

• US 20150012709A1
• Filed: 07/02/2014
• Published: 01/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Catalogic Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Catalogic Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Lad, Kamlesh, Liu, Peter Chi-Hsiung
• Granted Patent: US 10,157,107 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/126
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0868 Data transfer between cache memory and other subsystems, e.g. storage devices or host systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484

Abstract

A system for progressive just-in-time restoration of data from backup media. Backup data may be stored on any kind of media such as DAS disk, object storage, USB drive, network share or tape. The backup data does not need to reside on contiguous media and can span multiple media. An index map is maintained that represents contiguous blocks of backup data of a volume. The backup data may be compressed, encrypted, or de-duplicated. The backup data may be located on different media, object stores, or network shares, or differing geographic locations. To perform a recovery, a virtual LUN is provided to the operating system and applications of the restored computer.

Claims

1. A method for data backup and restoration, comprising:

creating a backup of a source volume;

dividing the backup into a plurality of chunks, each chunk comprising a plurality of blocks;

copying each of the plurality of chunks to a location in a cloud storage;

maintaining an index indicating the location of each of the plurality of chunks in the cloud storage;

providing a virtual volume comprising a data cache and a cloud storage interface;

mounting the virtual volume on a computer system;

receiving at the virtual volume a read request for a first block;

determining from the index a first location in cloud storage associated with a first chunk of the plurality of chunks, the first chunk comprising the first block;

copying the first chunk from the first location in cloud storage to the data cache via the cloud storage interface; and

fulfilling the read request from the data cache.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of chunks is copied concurrently with at least another of the plurality of chunks.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

copying each of the plurality of chunks to an additional location in a cloud storage.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the location in the cloud storage based on its locality to the source volume.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein locality is measured by network latency.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein locality is measured by network bandwidth.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein locality is measured by physical proximity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the index is located in a database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the index is located in the cloud storage.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing duplicates chunks from the plurality of chunks.