Restore accelerator for serial media backup systems

• US 7,577,786 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2005
• Issued: 08/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Quality Systems Associates, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Quality Systems Associates, Inc.
• Inventors: Matlock, Clarence B. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough; Hyung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, KAUSHIKKUMAR M
• Application Number:
  US11/296,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,349 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/111
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/36 Monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing for digital recording G11B20/00 and s.gr.; for monitoring, testing or measuring of TV recorders of the type covered by H04N5/76 and subgroups, see H04N17/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A method for accelerating a tape backup system restore process receives a list of files that are to be restored and searches a tape catalogue to find tape volume and file sequence numbers for each file in the list of files, where the catalogue is an alphabetical listing of the contents of one or more backup tape volumes. The process appends the tape volume and file sequence numbers for each of the files to the list of files and then sorts the list of files according to tape volume and file sequence number. Accordingly, a list is obtained including the files that are to be restored, ordered according to the location of the files on the backup tape volumes. The restore process is accelerated by restoring files sequentially from this list and skipping over any intermediate files that are not on the list.

Claims

1. A method of retrieving a desired backup file from a tape drive to a restore process, the method comprising the steps of:

a) indexing, by an accelerator in a table, information about locations of backup files previously stored on tape volumes of a tape set;

b) obtaining, from a client, a name of the desired file to be retrieved from one or more respective tape volumes of the tape set;

c) sending, to the tape drive, a read message to read the desired file, the read message indicating that the tape volumes of the tape set are to be sequentially read for retrieval of the desired file;

d) intercepting, by the accelerator, the read message;

e) searching, by the accelerator in the table, using the obtained name of the desired backup file, for location information regarding the desired backup file stored on the tape set, the location information indicating the one or more respective tape volumes of the tape set where the desired file is stored and a number of files on each of the one or more respective tape volumes of the tape set to be skipped before the desired file;

f) sending, by the accelerator, one or more read commands to the tape drive to read the desired backup file from the one or more respective tape volumes using the location information;

g) sending, to the restore process by the accelerator, simulated file header record information stored in the table and associated with file header records to be skipped before the desired file; and

h) retrieving, by the restore process, the desired backup file after the restore process receives the simulated file header record information.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein step e) includes the step of obtaining a file index value indicating a number of files preceding the desired backup file on the one or more respective tapes of the tape set and step f) includes the steps of:

f1) issuing, by the accelerator, an open command to the tape drive on which a first tape of the tape set is mounted;

f2) issuing a read command to the tape drive;

f3) obtaining a file header record from the tape drive in response to the read command;

f4) decrementing the file index value;

f5) issuing a forwarding command to the tape drive; and

f6) repeating steps f4)-f5)until the index value equals zero or the end of the mounted tape is reached;

f7) if the end of the mounted tape is reached, mounting a next tape of the tape set and repeating steps f4)-f5) until the index value equals zero; and

step g) includes the step of providing, to the restore process, the obtained file header record as the file header record of the desired file.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein step h) further comprises the step of obtaining, from the tape drive, file data records corresponding to the file header record at the desired file header location and providing the file data records to the restore process.

4. A method according to claim 3, further comprising the step, prior to step g) of determining whether the file header record corresponds to the desired file.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein step g) includes the step of passing an error code to the restore process if the file header record does not correspond to the desired file.

6. A method according to claim 2, wherein step f3) further includes the steps of:

receiving a beginning of tape record from the tape drive in response to the read command; and

receiving one or more tape header records from the tape drive in response to the read command.

7. A method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps after step f) and before step g) of:

adjusting, by the accelerator, a sequence number in the file header record; and

calculating, by the accelerator for the file data record, a new checksum according to the adjusted sequence number.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of receiving an open tape drive command from the restore process prior to issuing the open tape command in step f1) and receiving a read tape drive command from the restore process prior to issuing the read command at step f2), the method further comprising the step of passing, by the accelerator, the beginning of tape record to the restore process after step f1) and passing, by the accelerator, the one or more tape header records to the restore process after step f2).

9. A method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of adjusting, by the accelerator, a sequence number of one or more of the beginning of tape records and the one or more tape header records before passing the adjusted sequence numbers to the restore process.

10. A method according to claim 8, further comprising, during step h), the steps of:

h1) receiving an end of tape record from the tape drive in response to the read command;

h2) passing the end of tape record to the restore process;

h3) receiving one or more tape trailer records from the tape drive in response to the read command; and

h4) passing the one or more tape trailer records to the restore process.

11. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of adjusting a sequence number of one or more of the end of tape record and the one or more tape trailer records before passing the end of tape record and the one or more tape trailer records to the restore process.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the accelerator acts as a virtual drive such that the accelerator intercepts communication between the restore process and the tape drive, the method further includes reducing, by the accelerator, an amount of data provided to the restore process by modifying information sent to the restore process regarding undesired backup files to be skipped.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein step (h) of sending, by the accelerator, simulated file header record information includes mimicking information that would have been sent to the restore process from the tape drive if the accelerator had not intercepted the read message.

14. A method of file retrieval from a backup tape set including a plurality of tape volumes using an accelerator as an intermediate between a restore process and a tape drive, the method comprising the steps of:

a) indexing, by the accelerator in a table, information indicating locations of backup files previously stored on the backup tape set;

b) receiving an indication of one or more files that are to be retrieved;

c) determining a location of each of the one or more files on the backup tape set;

d) sending, by the restore process to the tape drive, a read message to read the one or more file from the tape set;

e) intercepting, by the accelerator, the read message;

f) searching, by the accelerator in the table, using obtained names of the desired files, for the location information regarding the one or more files on the backup tape set, the location information indicating, for each of the one or more files, a number of files on the backup tape set to be skipped before a respective desired file;

g) sending, by the accelerator, one or more read commands to the tape drive to read each desired file by sequentially mounting and reading respective tapes of the tape set using the location information to skip the indicated number of files; and

h) sending, to the restore process by the accelerator, simulated file header records stored in the table and associated with file header records to be skipped before the respective desired file; and

i) retrieving, by the restore process, a sequence of the desired file header records interspersed with simulated file header records associated with file header records to be skipped.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the indication is a parameter string and step b) includes receiving the parameter string from one of a command file or a command line and parsing the parameter string to obtain a list of the one or more files that are to be retrieved.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein step c) includes the steps of:

c1) obtaining a list of files on the backup tape set from one of a media management product or a spooler listing;

c2) obtaining, from the list of files, a volume number and a file sequence number on the tape volume for each of the one or more files that are to be retrieved; and

c3) generating a sequence of the one or more files that are to be retrieved sorted by the respective volume and file sequence numbers of the files to be retrieved;

wherein

step (i) includes the step of retrieving the one or more files according to the sequence the one or more files.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein steps g) and h) include:

g1) mounting a tape in the backup tape set containing a first file in the sequence on the tape drive;

g2) positioning the tape on the tape drive to the first file in the sequence;

h1) forwarding, to the restore process, file data corresponding to the first file in the sequence; and

repeating steps g2) and h1) for any remaining files in the sequence until the file data corresponding to a last file in the sequence is forwarded to the restore process.

18. A method according to claim 17, wherein step h1) adjusts a file sequence number of the first file and calculates a modified checksum of the first file prior to forwarding the file data to the restore process.

19. A method according to claim 17, wherein the step of repeating steps g2) and h1) is stopped for the one or more remaining files in the sequence if a tape trailer code is received prior to reaching the last file, the method further including the steps of:

halting the restore process;

starting a new restore process; and

repeating steps g1) through h1) and the step of repeating steps g2) and h1) for at least a first remaining file of the one or more remaining files in the sequence.

20. A method according to claim 17, wherein the step of repeating steps g2) and h1) is stopped for the one or more remaining files in the sequence if a tape trailer code is received prior to reaching the last file, the method further including the steps of:

adjusting one or more of a last file sequence number, a last filename, and a last file checksum value in the tape trailer code;

forwarding the tape trailer code to the restore process; and

repeating steps g1) through h1) and the step of repeating steps g2) and h1) for a next tape in the backup tape set, wherein the next tape contains at least a first remaining file of the one or more remaining files in the sequence.

21. A method according to claim 17, further including the step of receiving a file header code, wherein step (g2) skips any files that are not to be retrieved based on the file header code, and step h1) also forwards, to the restore process, an adjusted file header code having a modified file sequence number and a modified checksum.

22. A system for restoring backup data from a sequential data storage medium, the system comprising a general purpose computer and computer software for controlling the general purpose computer, the software including:

a restore process for

receiving requests, from a client, for retrieval of backup data from the sequential data storage medium,

sending open and read commands to the data storage medium,

receiving the backup data, and

providing the backup data to the client; and

a restore accelerator process for

intercepting the open and read commands sent from the restore process to the data storage medium,

gathering information in a table about locations of backup files previously stored on a tape set,

searching in the table for location information regarding the desired backup files stored on the tape set, the location information indicating a number of files on the tape set to be skipped before each respective desired backup file,

sending new open and read commands to the data storage medium to sequentially position the sequential data storage medium to respective locations of the backup data that are to be retrieved based on the location information in the table,

retrieving the backup data from the data storage medium, while skipping intervening data that is not to be retrieved,

modifying one or more file sequence numbers and checksum values of the backup data, and

forwarding to the restore process the backup data including the modified one or more file sequence numbers, checksum values such that simulated file header records stored in the table and associated with file header records to be skipped are retrieved by the restore process in a sequence of the desired file header records interspersed with the simulated file header records associated with file header records to be skipped.

23. A method of retrieving a desired backup file from a tape drive to a restore process, the method comprising the steps of:

indexing, by an accelerator in a table, information about locations of backup files previously stored on a tape or a tape set;

sending, to the tape drive, a read message to read the desired file;

intercepting, by the accelerator, the read message;

searching, by the accelerator in the table, using the obtained name of the desired backup file, for location information regarding the desired backup file stored on the tape or tape set, the location information indicating;

(1) a number of files on the tape to be skipped before the desired file or one or more respective tape volumes of the tape set where the desired files is stored and a (2) number of files on each of the one or more respective tape volumes of the tape set to be skipped before the desired file;

sending, by the accelerator, one or more read commands to the tape drive to read the desired backup file using the location information;

retrieving, by the restore process, the desired file header records and the simulated file header records stored in the table and associated with file header records to be skipped as an interspersed sequence; and

altering, by the accelerator, file management information including simulated file header records to match the information about locations of the desired backup files previously stored on the tape or one or more volumes of the tape set.