Systems and methods for backing up data files

• US 6,779,003 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1999
• Issued: 08/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Keepitsafe
• Original Assignee: LiveVault Corp. (Iron Mountain Incorporated)
• Inventors: Webb, John, Fox, Mark, Midgley, Christopher, Wright, Dave, Hess, Ted, Ranauro, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Amsbury, Wayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAM LINH T
• Application Number:
  US09/465,435
• Time in Patent Office: 1,706 Days
• Field of Search: 710/20, 710/35, 710/29, 710/52, 710/53, 711/110, 707/204, 707/200-203, 709/232, 709/239, 714/13
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/855 Details of asynchronous mirroring using a journal to transfer not-yet-mirrored changes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• 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, the system comprising:

a back up server having storage for at least one back up file corresponding to the at least one source data file,

a data server having

storage for the at least one source data file, and

an agent operating on the server and capable of;

dynamically detecting changes to the at least one source data file as the changes happen, recording the dynamically detected changes in at least one corresponding journal file, and transmitting the at least one journal file to the back up server,

a back up process for transmitting the at least one source data file to the back up server, and

a bandwidth control process for monitoring transmission of data by the back up process and the agent for controlling a rate of delivery of data from the data server to the back up server.

2. A method for backing up at least one source data file, the method comprising:

determining a data transmission capacity between a data server having storage for the at least one source data file and a back up server having storage for at least one back up file corresponding to the at least one source data file;

allocating at least one portion of the data transmission capacity to transmitting data between the data server and the back up server;

dynamically detecting changes to the at least one source data file as the changes happen;

based on the dynamically detected changes, generating at least one journal file corresponding to the at least one source data file; and

,

based on the allocated portion of the data transmission capacity, transmitting the at least one source data file and the at least one journal file to the back up server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining a data transmission capacity between a data server and a back up server comprises:

determining a data transmission capacity between a data server and a back up server

based on monitoring at least one SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) trap associated with at least one of the data server and the back up server.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein allocating at least one portion of the data transmission capacity comprises:

allocating at least one portion of the data transmission capacity based on a limit of data transmission capacity selected by a user.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein allocating at least one portion of the data transmission capacity comprises:

allocating at least one portion of the data transmission capacity based on at least one of;

a quantity of data to be transmitted in a unit of time,

a percentage of data transmission capacity, and

a percentage of a processing speed,

wherein allocating the at least one portion of the data transmission capacity is performed by a user.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

allocating the at least one portion of the data transmission capacity between

transmitting the at least one source data file, and

transmitting the corresponding at least one journal file to the backup server.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

based on the allocated portion of the data transmission capacity, transmitting at least one back up file from the back up server to the data server to restore the corresponding at least one source data file based on the at least one back up file.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing the data in a buffer based on whether the at least one source data file includes data exceeding the allocated portion of the data transmission capacity.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

based on the allocated portion of the data transmission capacity, transmitting data within the buffer to the back up server until all of the data within the buffer is transmitted.

10. A processor program for backing up at least one source data file, the processor program being stored on a processor-readable medium and comprising instructions to cause a processor to:

determine a data transmission capacity between a data server having storage for the at least one source data file and a back up server having storage for at least one back up file corresponding to the at least one source data file;

allocate at least one portion of the data transmission capacity to transmitting data between the data server and the back up server;

dynamically detect changes to the at least one source data file as the changes happen;

based on the dynamically detected changes, generate at least one journal file corresponding to the at least one source data file; and

,

based on the allocated portion of the data transmission capacity, transmit the at least one source data file and the at least one journal file to the back up server.