USING AN ENHANCED DATA AGENT TO RESTORE BACKED UP DATA ACROSS AUTONOMOUS STORAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• US 20160112407A1
• Filed: 10/21/2014
• Published: 04/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Nara, Prasad, Klose, Michael F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,444,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1402 Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• 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 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0637 Permissions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 : Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

An exemplary system preserves the autonomy of two or more distinct storage management systems all the while enabling backed up data to be restored from a first storage management system (the “local system”) to a specially-configured client in a second storage management system (the “remote system”). For example, backed up data in the local system (e.g., a secondary copy of production data) may be transferred, in a restore operation, from secondary storage in the local storage management system, which originated the data, to a client of the remote storage management system (the “remote client”). As a specially-configured “restore-only client,” the remote client is limited to receiving backed up data from the local storage management system, via restore operation(s) managed by the local storage manager. The remote client remains a full-fledged client in its home system, the remote storage management system.

Claims

1. A system for restoring a secondary copy of data generated in a local storage management system to a client in a remote storage management system, the system comprising:

a data agent installed on a remote client, wherein the data agent is configured as both

(i) a restore-only client of the local storage management system managed by a local storage manager, and

(ii) a full-fledged client of the remote storage management system managed by a remote storage manager;

wherein the data agent is configured to participate in a restore operation managed by the local storage manager,

wherein the source of data for the restore operation is a secondary copy of data generated by a local client in the local storage management system,

wherein the destination of the restore operation is the data agent, and

wherein the secondary copy is transmitted to the data agent by a media agent component of the local storage management system.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the remote client is configured as a restore-only client in the local storage management system at least in part based on an authentication certificate issued by the local storage manager and stored by the remote client before the restore operation may begin.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the remote client is configured as a restore-only client in the local storage management system at least in part based on a registry key issued by the remote storage manager and stored by the remote client before the restore operation may begin.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the data agent is configured to communicate directly with the local storage manager in regard to the restore operation based at least in part on an authentication certificate issued by the local storage manager and stored by the remote client before the restore operation may begin.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the data agent is configured to communicate directly with the local storage manager in regard to the restore operation based at least in part on a registry key issued by the remote storage manager and stored by the remote client before the restore operation may begin.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the data agent is configured to receive at least one instruction from the local storage manager in regard to the restore operation based at least in part on the restore-only configuration of the remote client.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the data agent is configured to communicate directly with the media agent component of the local storage management system in regard to the restore operation based at least in part on the restore-only configuration of the remote client.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein a component configured as a restore-only client in the local storage management system may be a destination for restored data from the local storage management system and may not be a source of data for storage management operations in the local storage management system.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein a component configured as a full-fledged client in the remote storage management system may be a source of data for storage management operations in the remote storage management system and may not be a source of data for storage management operations in the local storage management system.

10. A method for restoring a secondary copy of data generated in a first storage management system to a client in a second storage management system, the method comprising:

configuring a data agent as both

(i) a restore-only client of a first storage management system managed by a first storage manager, and

(ii) a full-fledged client of a second storage management system managed by a second storage manager;

participating, by the data agent, in a cross-system restore operation managed by the first storage manager,

wherein the source of data for the restore operation is a secondary copy of data generated by a first client in the first storage management system, and

wherein the destination of the restore operation is the data agent;

transmitting, the secondary copy to the data agent, by a media agent component of the first storage management system.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the configuring of the data agent as a restore-only client in the first storage management system is based on an authentication certificate issued by the first storage manager to the data agent.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the configuring of the data agent as a restore-only client in the first storage management system is based on a registry key issued by the second storage manager to the data agent.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the data agent is configured to communicate directly with the first storage manager in regard to the cross-system restore operation based at least in part on an authentication certificate issued by the first storage manager to the data agent.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the data agent is configured to communicate directly with the first storage manager in regard to the cross-system restore operation based at least in part on a registry key issued by the second storage manager to the data agent.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the data agent is configured to receive at least one instruction from the first storage manager in regard to the cross-system restore operation based at least in part on the restore-only configuration of the data agent.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the data agent is configured to communicate directly with the media agent component of the first storage management system in regard to the cross-system restore operation based at least in part on the restore-only configuration of the data agent.

17. A method for restoring backed up data across autonomous storage management systems, the method comprising:

restoring a secondary copy of data from a first storage device component of a first storage management system to a second client, wherein the data was originated by a first client component of the first storage management system, and wherein the second client is configured as both (i) a full-fledged client of the second storage management system, and (ii) a restore-only client of the first storage management system;

wherein the restoring operation is based at least in part on;

(i) moving the secondary copy of data to a data agent on the second client, by a media agent component of the first storage management system,

(ii) processing the secondary copy of data, by the data agent on the second client, and

(iii) storing the processed data, by the data agent on the second client, to an associated storage device.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the restoring operation is managed by the first storage manager that also manages the first storage management system.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the restoring operation is further based on:

(a) requesting, by the first storage manager, configuration data about the second client from a second storage manager which manages the second storage management system,

(b) transmitting, by the first storage manager to the second storage manager, an authentication certificate for the second client to use in the first storage management system,

(c) generating, by the second storage manager, a registry key for the second client, wherein the registry key associates the second client and the first storage manager,

(d) transmitting, by the second storage manager to the second client, the authentication certificate and the registry key; and

wherein, based on the authentication certificate and the registry key, the second client communicates directly with the first storage manager at least once during the restoring operation.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the restoring operation is further based on:

storing, by the second client, an authentication certificate issued by the first storage manager and a registry key that associates the second client with the first storage manager; and

wherein, based on the authentication certificate and the registry key, the second client communicates directly with the first storage manager at least once during the restoring operation.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

after the restoring operation, natively accessing, by an entity executing on the second client, the processed data stored to the associated storage device, wherein the entity is at least one of an application, a file system, and a virtual machine.