DATA RESTORATION OPERATIONS BASED ON NETWORK PATH INFORMATION

• US 20170242871A1
• Filed: 10/05/2016
• Published: 08/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kilaru, Satish Chandra, Kumarasamy, Paramasivam, Dasharatha, Sagar
• Granted Patent: US 10,684,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups

Abstract

A system according to certain aspects improves the process of data restoration and application recovery operations. The system can back up primary data based on network path information associated with a client computing device. When the primary data becomes corrupted or unavailable, a previously backed up copy of the primary data may be used as the primary data to achieve instant application recovery. For example, when a portion of the primary data is requested by a user or an application, the system may identify a corresponding portion in the backed up copy of the primary data and provide the identified portion to the user or the application in a manner transparent to the user or the application. Alternatively, the application running on the client computing device may send a request for the backup copy of the primary data to the secondary storage device upon determining that the requested data is not available.

Claims

1. A method for performing an application recovery operation in a data storage system, the method comprising:

with a media agent comprising one or more hardware processors and in communication with one or more secondary storage devices storing secondary data associated with a client computing device, wherein the secondary data is a copy of primary data stored on one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device,

receiving, from a storage manager, a first request to generate network path information associated with the client computing device, the first request including client information identifying at least a data type of the primary data stored on the one or more primary storage devices;

generating the network path information based on the client information, the network path information identifying a location within the one or more secondary storage devices;

transmitting the generated network path information to the storage manager;

receiving, from the client computing device, a second request to restore the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices associated with the media agent as part of a prior data protection operation onto the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device, the second request including a client command associated with the primary data and the network path information generated by the media agent;

identifying, based on the client command, a subset of the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

identifying, based on the client command, a subset of the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the network path information to be stored in association with an identity of the client computing device in a mapping table.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network path information is a unique string that identifies a network directory accessible by the client computing device according to a network file system (NFS) protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the client command specifies one or more folders or file names requested by the client computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the client command comprises a database query entered by a user of the client computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the media agent is physically separate from the client computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting address information associated with a network file system (NFS) server to the storage manager.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the client information further includes an identity of the client computing device.

9. A system for performing an application recovery operation in a data storage system, the system comprising:

one or more secondary storage devices comprising computer hardware and configured to store secondary data associated with a client computing device, wherein the secondary data is a copy of primary data stored on one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device; and

a first computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and in communication with the one or more secondary storage devices, wherein the first computing device is configured to;

receive, from a second computing device, a first request to generate network path information associated with the client computing device, the first request including client information identifying at least a data type of the primary data stored on the one or more primary storage devices;

generate the network path information based on the client information, the network path information identifying a location within the one or more secondary storage devices;

transmit the generated network path information to the second computing device;

receive, from the client computing device, a second request to restore the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices associated with the first computing device as part of a prior data protection operation onto the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device, the second request including a client command associated with the primary data and the network path information generated by the first computing device;

identify, based on the client command, a subset of the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

transmit the identified subset of the secondary data to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first computing device is further configured to cause the network path information to be stored in association with an identity of the client computing device in a mapping table.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the client command specifies one or more folders or file names requested by the client computing device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the client command comprises a database query entered by a user of the client computing device.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the network path information is a unique string that identifies a network directory accessible by the client computing device according to a network file system (NFS) protocol.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the first computing device is physically separate from the client computing device.

15. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, configure the one or more processors of a first computing device to implement operations for performing an application recovery operation in a data storage system, the first computing device in communication with a client computing device, wherein the secondary data is a copy of primary data stored on one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device, the operations comprising:

receiving, from a second computing device, a first request to generate network path information associated with the client computing device, the first request including client information identifying at least a data type of the primary data stored on the one or more primary storage devices;

generating the network path information based on the client information, the network path information identifying a location within the one or more secondary storage devices;

transmitting the generated network path information to the second computing device;

receiving, from the client computing device, a second request to restore the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices associated with the first computing device as part of a prior data protection operation onto the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device, the second request including a client command associated with the primary data and the network path information generated by the first computing device;

identifying, based on the client command, a subset of the secondary data stored on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

transmitting the identified subset of the secondary data to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device.

16. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise causing the network path information to be stored in association with an identity of the client computing device in a mapping table.

17. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 15, wherein the network path information is a unique string that identifies a network directory accessible by the client computing device according to a network file system (NFS) protocol.

18. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 15, wherein the client command specifies one or more folders or file names requested by the client computing device.

19. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 15, wherein the client command comprises a database query entered by a user of the client computing device.

20. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 15, wherein the first computing device is physically separate from the client computing device.