Systems and methods for backing up data files

• US 6,526,418 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1999
• Issued: 02/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Keepitsafe
• Original Assignee: LiveVault Corp. (Iron Mountain Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chatier, Dan, Campbell, Jim, Webb, John, Gonsalves, Manuel, Midgley, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US09/465,411
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/10, 707/100, 707/202, 707/204, 707/8, 707/203, 711/162, 714/5, 714/2, 714/4, 713/201, 713/176, 709/214-216, 709/236
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

The invention provides systems and methods for continuous back up of data stored on a computer network. To this end the systems of the invention include a synchronization process that replicates selected source data files data stored on the network and to create a corresponding set of replicated data files, called the target data files, that are stored on a back up server. This synchronization process builds a baseline data structure of target data files. IN parallel to this synchronization process, the system includes a dynamic replication process that includes a plurality of agents, each of which monitors a portion of the source data files to detect and capture, at the byte-level, changes to the source data files. Each agent may record the changes to a respective journal file, and as the dynamic replication process detects that the journal files contain data, the journal files are transferred or copied to the back up server so that the captured changes can be written to the appropriate ones of the target data files.

Claims

1. A system for backing up at least one source data file, comprising a data server having

storage for the at least one source data file, and

an agent operating on the data server and capable of dynamically detecting changes to the at least one source data file and capable of recording detected changes within a journal file,

a back up server having storage for at least one back up file,

a dynamic replication process, responsive to data within the journal file for writing the changes to the at least one back up file to mirror changes made to the at least one source data file,

a long term storage system for recording that at least one back up file to a storage medium in response to the operation of the dynamic replication process, thereby storing at least one version of the at least one back up file on the storage medium, and

a catalog process for recording metadata representative of locations of the at least one version of the at least one back up file on the storage medium, to create an index for accessing the at least one version of the at least one back up file.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the catalog process includes means for storing security metadata associated with the at least one version of the at least one back up file and representative of user access rights for the at least one version of the at least one back up file.

3. A system according to claim 2, further including a secure restore process for determining the access rights of a party requesting to restore a version of the at least one back up file, and for comparing the access right of the party with the access rights associated with the version of the at least one back up file to be restored.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the secure restore process includes means, responsive to the comparison of access rights of the party and access rights associated with the version of the at least one back up file, to determine whether the party may view metadata associated with the version of the at least one back up file.

5. A system according to claim 3, wherein the secure restore process includes means, responsive to the comparison of access rights of the party and access rights associated with the version of the at least one back up file, to determine whether the party may restore the version of the at least one back up file.

6. A system for creating back up files for data files stored on a computer network, comprising

a data server having a source data file,

a backup process for identifying changes in the source data file and for writing the changes to a target data file to mirror changes made to the source data file,

a long term storage system for recording the target file to a storage medium in response to the operation of the back up process, thereby storing versions of the target file on the storage medium,

a catalog process for recording metadata representative of locations of the versions of the target files on the storage medium and security data associated with the versions of the target data file and representative of user access rights for the versions of the target data file, and

a secure restoration process for employing the security data to analyze access rights in response to a request to access the versions of the target file.

7. A system for backing up at least one source data file, comprising

a data server having storage for at least one source data file,

a back up process for identifying changes in the at least one source data file and for writing the changes to at least one back up file to mirror changes made to the at least one source data file,

a long term storage system for recording the at least one back up file to a storage medium in response to the operation of the back up process, thereby storing at least one version of the at least one back up file on the storage medium,

a catalog process for recording metadata representative of locations of the at least one version of the at least one back up file on the storage medium and security data associated with the at least one version of the at least one back up file and representative of user access rights for the at least one version of the at least one back up file, and

a secure restoration process for employing the security data to analyze access right in response to a request to access the at least one version of the at least one back up file.

8. A system for backing up at least one source data file, the system comprising:

a data serving having

storage for the at least one source data file, and

an agent operating on the data server and capable of dynamically detecting changes to the at least one source data file and capable of recording detected changes within a journal file;

a back up server having storage for at least one back up file;

a dynamic replication process responsive to data within the journal file for modifying the at least one back up file based on the journal file;

a long term storage system for recording the at least one back up file to a storage medium in response to the operation of the dynamic replication process, thereby storing at least one version of the at least one back up file on the storage medium; and

a catalog process for recording metadata representative of locations of the at least one version of the at least one back up file on the storage medium, to create an index for accessing the at least one version of the at least one back up file, wherein the catalog process is capable of storing securing metadata associated with the at least one version of the at least one back up file and representative of user access rights for the at least one version of the at least one back up file.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a secure restore process for determining the access rights of a party requesting to restore a version of the at least one back up file and comparing the access rights of the party with the access rights associated with the version of the at least one back up file to be restored.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein responsive to the comparison of access rights of the party and access rights associated with the version of the at least one back up file, the secure restore process is capable of determining whether the party may view metadata associated with the version of the at least one back up file.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein, responsive to the comparison of access rights of the party and access rights associated with the version of the at least one back up file, the secure restore process is capable of determining whether the party may restore the version of the at least one back up file.