Computer data storage physical backup and logical restore
First Claim
1. In a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem, a method of backing up and restoring a file, said method comprising:
- a) in response to a back-up request specifying the file, selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem, and b) in response to a restore request specifying a particular version of the file contained in the backup version of the storage unit in the secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem, issuing a restore command to the primary data storage subsystem for fetching the backup version of the storage unit containing the particular version of the file and writing the backup version of the storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage, and extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the primary data storage subsystem.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data storage system is constructed to rapidly respond to a physical backup request for backup of a physical storage unit such as a disk volume or cylinder. A user, however, may request backup of a logical data structure such as a file having a rather complex mapping to a number of physical storage components such as a number of disk tracks. For backup and restore of such a logical data structure, a backup agent requests an application interface routine to backup a physical storage unit that includes the logical data structure. The application interface routine issues a corresponding physical backup request to the data storage system, and creates a catalog of information about content of the physical storage unit that would be needed for restoring the logical data structure from the backup version of the physical storage unit. Later, if and when the backup agent requests the restoration of the logical data structure, the application interface routine looks up the logical data structure in the catalog, issues a physical restore request to the data storage system to retrieve a backup version of the physical storage unit from backup data storage and load it into spare data storage, extracts the logical data structure from the physical storage unit in the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation, and restores the logical data structure into the current version of data storage.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. In a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem, a method of backing up and restoring a file, said method comprising:
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a) in response to a back-up request specifying the file, selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem, and b) in response to a restore request specifying a particular version of the file contained in the backup version of the storage unit in the secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem, issuing a restore command to the primary data storage subsystem for fetching the backup version of the storage unit containing the particular version of the file and writing the backup version of the storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage, and extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the primary data storage subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem, a method of backing up and restoring a file, said method comprising:
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a) in response to a back-up request specifying the file, selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem, and b) in response to a restore request specifying a particular version of the file contained in the backup version of the storage unit in the secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem, issuing a restore command to the primary data storage subsystem for fetching the backup version of the storage unit containing the particular version of the file and writing the backup version of the storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage, and extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the primary data storage subsystem;
which includes the secondary data storage subsystem performing a background compaction process which includes deleting from the storage unit files that were not requested to be backed up.
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12. In a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem, a method of backing up a file, said method comprising:
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a) in response to a back-up request specifying the file, selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem;
b) in response to receipt of the backup command, the primary data storage subsystem copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem; and
c) in response to receipt of the backup version of the storage unit from the primary data storage subsystem, the secondary data storage subsystem compacting the storage unit for storage in the secondary storage by not writing, to the secondary storage, a contiguous unused portion of the storage unit received from the primary data storage subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem, a method of backing up a file, said method comprising:
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a) in response to a back-up request specifying the file, selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem;
b) in response to receipt of the backup command, the primary data storage subsystem copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem; and
c) in response to receipt of the backup version of the storage unit from the primary data storage subsystem, the secondary data storage subsystem compacting the storage unit for storage in the secondary storage by not writing, to the secondary storage, a contiguous unused portion of the storage unit received from the primary data storage subsystem;
which includes the secondary data storage subsystem performing a background compaction process which includes deleting from the storage unit files that were not requested to be backed up.
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18. In a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem, a method of backing up and restoring a file, said method comprising:
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a) in response to a back-up request for backing up the file, selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem; and
creating a catalog of information about files contained in the storage unit; and
b) in response to a restore request for restoring the file, accessing the catalog of information about files contained in the storage unit, in order to obtain information about the file, and using the information about the file for restoring the file from the backup version of the storage unit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. In a data processing system including a data storage system having primary storage and secondary storage for storing backup versions of files stored in the primary storage, a method of backing up a storage unit containing a file and restoring the file from the backed-up storage unit, said method comprising:
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a) sending a backup command to the data storage subsystem for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from the primary storage to the secondary storage to create a backup version of the storage unit in the secondary storage; and
creating a catalog of information about files contained in the backup version of the storage unit; and
b) restoring the file by accessing the catalog to find the information about the file, and using the information about the file in a restoration process including issuing a restore command to the data storage system for writing the backup version of the storage unit from secondary storage to spare data storage in the data storage system, and extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A machine readable program storage device containing a computer program that is executable by a host computer in a data processing system including a primary data storage subsystem and a secondary data storage subsystem for backup and restoration of a file,
said computer program being executable, in response to a backup request specifying the file, for selecting a storage unit containing the file, and sending a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage in the primary data storage subsystem to the secondary data storage subsystem to create a backup version of the storage unit in secondary storage in the secondary data storage subsystem; - and
said computer program being executable, in response to a restore request specifying the file, for issuing a restore command to the primary data storage subsystem for writing the backup version of the storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage, and extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the primary data storage subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A machine readable program storage device containing a computer program that is executable by a host computer in a data processing system having a data storage system for backing up a storage unit containing a file and restoring the file from the backed-up storage unit,
a) said computer program being executable for sending a backup command to the data storage system for backing up the storage unit by copying a current version of the storage unit from primary storage to secondary storage to create a backup version of the storage unit in the secondary storage, and creating a catalog of information about files contained in the storage unit; - and
b) said computer program being executable for restoring the file by accessing the catalog to find the information about the file, and using the information in the catalog in a restoration process including issuing a restore command to the data storage system for writing the backup version of the storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage in the data storage system, and extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the data storage system. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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36. A data processing system comprising, in combination:
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a host computer;
a primary data storage subsystem linked to the host computer to provide primary storage for programs executed on said host computer; and
a secondary data storage subsystem linked to the primary data storage subsystem for receiving and storing backup data from the primary data storage subsystem;
wherein the primary data storage subsystem is programmed to respond to a backup command from the host computer for transferring a copy of a specified storage unit from the primary storage to the secondary data storage subsystem for storing a backup copy of the storage unit in the secondary storage;
wherein the primary data storage subsystem is programmed to respond to a restore command from the host computer for transferring a specified backup copy of a storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage; and
wherein the host computer is programmed to respond to a request from a user or application program for backup of a specified file by issuing a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backup of a storage unit containing the file, and the host computer is programmed to respond to a request from the user or application program for restoration of the file by issuing a restore command to the primary data storage subsystem for transfer of a specified backup copy of the storage unit containing the file from the secondary storage to the spare data storage, and for extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the primary data storage subsystem. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 43)
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41. A data processing system comprising, in combination:
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a host computer;
a primary data storage subsystem linked to the host computer to provide primary storage for programs executed on said host computer; and
a secondary data storage subsystem linked to the primary data storage subsystem for receiving and storing backup data from the primary data storage subsystem;
wherein the primary data storage subsystem is programmed to respond to a backup command from the host computer for transferring a copy of a specified storage unit from the primary storage to the secondary data storage subsystem for storing a backup copy of the storage unit in the secondary storage;
wherein the primary data storage subsystem is programmed to respond to a restore command from the host computer for transferring a specified backup copy of a storage unit from the secondary storage to spare data storage; and
wherein the host computer is programmed to respond to a request from a user or application program for backup of a specified file by issuing a backup command to the primary data storage subsystem for backup of a storage unit containing the file, and the host computer is programmed to respond to a request from the user or application program for restoration of the file by issuing a restore command to the primary data storage subsystem for transfer of a specified backup copy of the storage unit containing the file from the secondary storage to the spare data storage, and for extracting the file from the spare data storage by performing a logical-to-physical translation to identify storage components of the file in the spare data storage, and by copying the storage components of the file from the spare data storage to create a current version of the file in the primary storage of the primary data storage subsystem;
wherein the primary data storage subsystem is programmed for performing an instant remote copy function permitting backup data to be copied from the primary storage to the secondary data storage subsystem as a background process while concurrently servicing host requests for access to the primary storage, and wherein the secondary data storage subsystem is programmed for compacting the backup data received from the primary data storage subsystem and storing compacted backup data in the secondary storage. - View Dependent Claims (42)
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Specification