Method and apparatus for recreating placeholders

• US 8,046,331 B1
• Filed: 05/25/2007
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Ghait, Kishor S., Sanghavi, Mugdha, Nash, Andrew, Gunda, Laxmikant Vithal
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwa; Shyue Jiunn
• Application Number:
  US11/807,003
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11

Abstract

A method and apparatus for recreating placeholders comprising selecting at least one object of information in an archive, determining a source location for the selected at least one object of information, accessing the selected at least one object of information, and recreating a placeholder from the selected at least one object of information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, executed on a computer, comprising:

selecting at least one object of information, wherein

the at least one object of information is in an archive;

determining a source location for the at least one object of information by accessing metadata, using the computer, wherein

the metadata is related to the at least one object of information,

an original placeholder for the at least one object of information had been created and placed at the source location, when the at least one object of information was migrated into the archive,

the original placeholder was a stub file that replaced the contents of the at least one object of information, and

the original placeholder comprised at least

an archive identifier,

an item identifier, and

a checksum; and

recreating a placeholder for the at least one object of information, using the computer, wherein

the placeholder is recreated at the source location, and

the placeholder is recreated using the metadata.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the archive comprises:

metadata related to each object of information stored therein, wherein

the metadata related to the each object of information stored therein comprises the metadata.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the metadata comprises:

a source location identifier that identifies a location for storage of the placeholder.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein

the placeholder is located on a first computer, and

the archive is located on a second computer.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the second computer comprises a storage system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one object of information is an at least one file.

7. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable medium, coupled to said processor; and

instructions, encoded in said computer-readable medium, for recreating a placeholder for an archived object of information and configured to cause said processor to

store at least one object of information, wherein

the at least one object of information is configured to be selected for processing,

determine a source location for the at least one object of information by accessing metadata, wherein

the metadata is related to the at least one object of information,

an original placeholder for the at least one object of information had been created and placed at the source location, when the at least one object of information was migrated into the archive,

the original placeholder was a stub file that replaced the contents of the at least one object of information, and

the original placeholder comprised at least

an archive identifier,

an item identifier, and

a checksum, and

recreate a placeholder for the at least one object of information, wherein

the placeholder is recreated at the source location, and

the instructions configured to cause said processor to recreate the placeholder are configured to use

the metadata, and

the at least one object of information.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the instructions configured to cause said processor to store the at least one object of information further comprise instructions configured to cause said processor to:

store metadata related to each object of information of a plurality of object of information, wherein

the plurality of object of information comprise

the at least one object of information, and

the metadata related to the each object of information comprises the metadata.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the metadata comprises:

a source location identifier that identifies a location for storage of the placeholder.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein

the placeholder is located on a first computer, and

the archive is located on a second computer.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the second computer comprises a storage system.

12. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the at least one object of information is at least one file.

13. An apparatus comprising:

an archive, wherein

the archive is located in a first computer, and

the archive is configured to store at least one object of information that is selected for processing; and

a placeholder recreation module, wherein

the placeholder recreation module is located in a second computer,

the first computer and second computer are coupled by a communications network, and

the placeholder recreation module is configured to

determine a source location for the at least one object of information by accessing metadata, wherein

the metadata is related to the at least one object of information,

an original placeholder for the at least one object of information had been created and placed at the source location, when the at least one object of information was migrated into the archive,

the original placeholder was a stub file that replaced the contents of the at least one object of information, and

the original placeholder comprised at least

 

an archive identifier,

 

an item identifier, and

 

a checksum, and

recreate a placeholder for the at least one object of information,

the placeholder is recreated at the source location, and

the placeholder recreation module is configured to recreate the placeholder using

the metadata, and

the at least one object of information.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

selecting at least one object of information, wherein

the at least one object of information is in an archive;

determining a source location for the at least one object of information by accessing metadata, wherein

the metadata is related to the at least one object of information,

an original placeholder for the at least one object of information had been created and placed at the source location, when the at least one object of information was migrated into the archive,

the original placeholder was a stub file that replaced the contents of the at least one object of information, and

the original placeholder comprised at least

an archive identifier,

an item identifier, and

a checksum; and

recreating a placeholder for the at least one object of information, wherein

the placeholder is recreated at the source location, and

the placeholder is recreated using the metadata,

the original placeholder is created when an object of information is migrated into the archive.