SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING CATALOGS FOR SNAPSHOTS

• US 20150178167A1
• Filed: 02/04/2014
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Malhotra, Gaurav, Kulkarni, Niteen, Gupta, Sourabh
• Granted Patent: US 9,612,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for generating catalogs for snapshots may include (1) identifying an initial snapshot and a subsequent snapshot for a protected volume, (2) providing identifiers of the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot to a storage vendor application programming interface (API), (3) receiving, from the storage vendor API, an indication of at least one difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot, and (4) synthetically generating a catalog for the subsequent snapshot based on a preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot such that the synthetically generated catalog reflects the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicated by the storage vendor API. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating catalogs for snapshots, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

identifying an initial snapshot and a subsequent snapshot for a protected volume;

providing identifiers of the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot to a storage vendor application programming interface (API);

receiving, from the storage vendor API, an indication of at least one difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot;

synthetically generating a catalog for the subsequent snapshot based on a preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot such that the synthetically generated catalog reflects the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicated by the storage vendor API.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein synthetically generating the catalog for the subsequent snapshot is performed without mounting the subsequent snapshot on a client.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, from the storage vendor API, the indication of the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot occurs in response to a request for the indication of the difference.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the request for the indication of the difference comprises a request for all files that were at least one of modified, deleted, and created between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicates a change in file metadata.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the identifier of the initial snapshot comprises an identifier of a most recent snapshot;

the identifier of the subsequent snapshot comprises a command to create a new snapshot.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein synthetically generating the catalog for the subsequent snapshot comprises conserving storage space by omitting the creation of data in the catalog for the subsequent snapshot that is unchanged from the preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein synthetically generating the catalog for the subsequent snapshot comprises associating the indication of the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot with the preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing requests for data in the synthetically generated catalog that is unchanged from the preexisting catalog to the preexisting catalog.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the difference indicates a file path of a file that was at least one of created, modified, and deleted.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein synthetically generating the catalog for the subsequent snapshot comprises modifying the preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot such that the synthetically generated catalog reflects the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicated by the storage vendor API.

12. A system for generating catalogs for snapshots, the system comprising:

an identification module, stored in memory, that identifies an initial snapshot and a subsequent snapshot for a protected volume;

a provisioning module, stored in memory, that provides identifiers of the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot to a storage vendor application programming interface (API);

a reception module, stored in memory, that receives, from the storage vendor API, an indication of at least one difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot;

a generation module, stored in memory, that synthetically generates a catalog for the subsequent snapshot based on a preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot such that the synthetically generated catalog reflects the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicated by the storage vendor API;

at least one physical processor that executes the identification module, the provisioning module, the reception module, and the generation module.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the generation module synthetically generates the catalog for the subsequent snapshot without mounting the subsequent snapshot on a client.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the reception module receives, from the storage vendor API, the indication of the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot in response to a request for the indication of the difference.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the request for the indication of the difference comprises a request for all files that were at least one of modified, deleted, and created between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the indication of the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicates a change in file metadata.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the identifier of the initial snapshot comprises an identifier of a most recent snapshot;

the identifier of the subsequent snapshot comprises a command to create a new snapshot.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the generation module synthetically generates the catalog for the subsequent snapshot in part by conserving storage space by omitting the creation of data in the catalog for the subsequent snapshot that is unchanged from the preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the generation module synthetically generates the catalog for the subsequent snapshot in part by associating the indication of the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot with the preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

identify an initial snapshot and a subsequent snapshot for a protected volume;

provide identifiers of the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot to a storage vendor application programming interface (API);

receive, from the storage vendor API, an indication of at least one difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot;

synthetically generate a catalog for the subsequent snapshot based on a preexisting catalog for the initial snapshot such that the synthetically generated catalog reflects the difference between the initial snapshot and the subsequent snapshot indicated by the storage vendor API.