System and method for performing a snapshot and for restoring data
First Claim
1. A computer-readable storage medium whose stored contents cause a data storage system to perform a method of tracking a plurality of representations of a data store at various points in time, the method comprising:
- creating a first representation of a data store at a first time, wherein the first representation includes information identifying a first set of data objects within the data store at the first time and locations of the identified first set of data objects at the first time;
copying the identified first set of data objects and the first representation of the data store to a location remote from the location of the data store;
creating a second representation of the data store at a second time after the first time, wherein the second representation includes information identifying a second set of data objects within the data store at the second time and locations of the identified second set of data objects at the second time;
comparing the first representation to the second representation to identify data objects that changed from the initial time to the second time;
creating a data structure mapping the changed data objects to portions of the representations of the data store that identify the locations of the changed data objects;
copying the created data structure and the changed data objects to a location remote from the data store;
wherein the data structure maps the changed data objects to individual data blocks storing the changed data objects.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a method for tracking a plurality of snapshots of an information store. The present invention comprises performing a first snapshot of an information store that indexes the contents of the information store, copying the contents of the information store to a first storage device, using the first snapshot, and updating a replication volume table indicating the storage of the contents of the first information store using the first snapshot on the first storage device. A second snapshot is performed of the information store that indexes the contents of the information store, the contents of the information store are copied to a second storage device using the second snapshot and the replication volume table is updated to indicate the storage of the contents of the first information store using the second snapshot on the second storage device.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A computer-readable storage medium whose stored contents cause a data storage system to perform a method of tracking a plurality of representations of a data store at various points in time, the method comprising:
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creating a first representation of a data store at a first time, wherein the first representation includes information identifying a first set of data objects within the data store at the first time and locations of the identified first set of data objects at the first time; copying the identified first set of data objects and the first representation of the data store to a location remote from the location of the data store; creating a second representation of the data store at a second time after the first time, wherein the second representation includes information identifying a second set of data objects within the data store at the second time and locations of the identified second set of data objects at the second time; comparing the first representation to the second representation to identify data objects that changed from the initial time to the second time; creating a data structure mapping the changed data objects to portions of the representations of the data store that identify the locations of the changed data objects; copying the created data structure and the changed data objects to a location remote from the data store; wherein the data structure maps the changed data objects to individual data blocks storing the changed data objects. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method in a computing system for tracking snapshots taken of a volume of data, wherein a snapshot is a point-in-time representation of the volume of data, the method comprising:
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creating a first snapshot stored in a memory of a computer of the volume of data, wherein the first snapshot includes information identifying data objects within the volume of data at a first time and information identifying a location of the identified data objects at the first time; mapping the data objects within the volume of data to the first snapshot, wherein the mapping includes updating a first data structure that contains entries associating data objects with corresponding portions of the first snapshot that include the information identifying the location of the identified data objects at the first time; creating a second snapshot stored in a memory of a computer of the volume of data, wherein the second snapshot includes information identifying data objects within the volume of data at a second time after the first time and information identifying a location of the identified data objects at the second time; comparing the first snapshot with the second snapshot to determine data objects that changed after the first time; mapping the changed data objects to the second snapshot, wherein the mapping the changed data objects includes updating a second data structure that includes entries associating the changed data objects with corresponding portions of the second snapshot that include the information identifying the location of the changed data objects at the second time; copying the changed data objects and the second snapshot of the volume of data to a location remote from the volume of data; wherein mapping the data objects within the volume of data to the snapshots includes mapping individual files or folders within the volume of data to corresponding portions of the snapshots. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification