Application specific rollback in a computer system

• US 6,721,767 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2001
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: De Meno, Randy, Schwartz, Jeremy A., Prahlad, Anand, McGuigan, James J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): Black, Linh
• Application Number:
  US09/876,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20010029517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,042 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-10, 707/100-104, 707/200-204, 709/230-232, 709/330, 700/79, 700/82, 700/87, 700/88, 711/147, 714/1, 714/20
• US Class Current: 707/684
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

An application specific rollback system that includes a software application that performs operations requested by a user to generate application specific data. The software application has an application specific rollback module with an index for assisting in locating different states of the application specific data that were generated by the user requests. Also included in the system is a logical view storage that provides an organizational scheme for storage of the application specific data on one of a plurality of storage media, for migration of the application specific data to other ones of the plurality of storage media, for tracking the migration of the application specific data over time, and for maintaining the index of the software application. The application specific rollback module also provides access to a specific version of the application specific data when requested by a user such that the application specific data from a user selected date is accessible.

Claims

1. An application specific rollback system comprising:

a software application that performs operations requested by a user to generate application specific data;

the software application having an application specific rollback module with an index for assisting in locating different states of the application specific data that were generated by the user requests;

a logical view storage that provides an organizational scheme for storage of the application specific data on one of a plurality of storage media, for migration of the application specific data to other ones of the plurality of storage media, for tracking the migration of the application specific data over time, and for maintaining the index of the software application; and

the application specific rollback module providing access to a specific version of the application specific data when requested by a user such that the application specific data from a user selected date is accessible.

2. The application specific rollback system of claim 1 wherein a state change occurs when application specific data is migrated.

3. The application specific rollback system of claim 1 wherein a state change occurs when application specific data is edited.

4. The application specific rollback system of claim 1 wherein a state change occurs when application specific data that has been infected by a virus is altered by the virus.

5. The application specific rollback system of claim 1 wherein the software application further comprises a scroll bar for scrolling through a list of dates that correspond to state changes in the application specific data.

6. The application specific rollback system of claim 1 wherein the application specific rollback module further comprises a function for providing a copy of the specific version of the application specific data that is requested by the user.

7. The application specific rollback system of claim 6 wherein the copy of the specific version of the application specific data is saved to a storage media other than where the application specific data of interest is currently stored.

8. A method for retrieving information from a computer system comprising:

generating information with a software application;

storing the information through an organizational scheme provided by a logical view storage module such that the information may be migrated through different media devices depending on factors such as access to the information, storage profiles, and file storage history;

selecting a specific date and time in the history of the information when the information existed in a state that is desirable to a user;

requesting the software application to access the information as the information existed at the specified date and time in the history of the information; and

storing the requested information in a new location to begin a new history of the information, the new history beginning with the information as it existed at the specified date and time that was requested by the user.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said selecting a specific date and time in the history of the information comprises scrolling through a list of dates that indicate specific times when the state of the information was changed.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the state change comprises migrating the information from one media device to another media device.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the state change comprises editing the information with the software program.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the state change comprises infecting the information with a computer virus.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the state change comprises the virus altering the content of the application specific data.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein said storing the requested information in a new location comprises storing the information at a different media device.