Method and apparatus for automatically archiving data items from backup storage

• US 8,239,348 B1
• Filed: 08/14/2008
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Bezbaruah, Angshuman, Panchbudhe, Ankur, Sridharan, Srineet, van Ingen, Neils S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Badawi, Sherief
• Application Number:
  US12/191,785
• Time in Patent Office: 1,454 Days
• Field of Search: 707/661, 707/665, 707/671, 707/677, 707/674, 707/672, 707/667, 707/673, 707/640
• US Class Current: 707/667
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446

Abstract

A method and apparatus for automatically archiving data items from backup storage without having to first restore the data items is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises processing at least one data item in backup storage using a mapping, wherein the mapping indicates at least one location of the at least one data item and ingesting the at least one data item into an archive database.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

automatically archiving data items from a backup image stored in backup storage, wherein

the automatically archiving is performed without restoring the data items from the backup image, and

the automatically archiving comprises

mounting the backup image, wherein

the backup image is not archived,

generating a mapping of the backup image, wherein

the mapping is generated based on the backup image subsequent to the backup image being mounted,

extracting at least one data item of the data items from the backup image using the mapping of the backup image, wherein

extraction of the at least one data item does not restore the at least one data item, and

the mapping indicates a location of the at least one data item within the backup image,

migrating the at least one data item to an ingest interface, and archiving the at least one data item into an archive database, wherein

the ingest interface is configured to archive the at least one item into the archive database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the generating the mapping uses a granular access technique.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein

the generating the mapping comprises

selecting a mapping technique based on a data format of the at least one data item, wherein

the mapping technique determines the location of the at least one data item within the backup image, and

the generating the mapping uses the mapping technique.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein

the extracting the at least one data item from the backup image uses a granular access technique.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the mapping in the archive database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting further comprises:

copying the backup image into a disk-staging area; and

extracting the at least one data item from the backup image in the disk-staging area using a granular access technique.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the archiving the at least one data item further comprises:

indexing the at least one data item.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein

the backup image comprises a plurality of data items,

the plurality of data items comprise the at least one data item, and

the plurality of data items comprise historical data that pre-dates an archive system of the archive database.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a backup process, wherein

the backup process produces the backup image, and

the automatically archiving does not comprise the performing the backup process.

9. A method comprising:

migrating data from a backup image stored in a magnetic tape backup into an archive database, wherein

the migrating is performed without restoring the data items from the backup image, and

the migrating comprises

mounting the backup image, wherein

the backup image is not archived,

generating a mapping of the backup image, wherein

the mapping is generated based on the backup image subsequent to the backup image being mounted,

extracting at least one data item of the data items from the backup image using the mapping of the backup image, wherein

extraction of the at least one data item does not restore the at least one data item, and

the mapping indicates a location of the at least one data item within the backup image,

migrating the at least one data item to an ingest interface, and

archiving the at least one data item in an archive database through an ingest interface function, wherein

the ingest interface is configured to archive the at least one item into the archive database.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating the mapping further comprises:

examining the backup image to determine a mapping technique used to generate the mapping, wherein

the at least one data item of the backup image comprises a data format, and

the mapping technique corresponds to the data format.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the examining the backup image further comprises

determining the data format of the at least one data item to be at least one of an email backup, a file-level backup or an aggregate data backup.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein

the mounting the backup image further comprises

streaming the backup image from the magnetic tape backup as a backup stream, and

the extracting the at least one data item further comprises identifying the at least one data item from the backup stream.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing the mapping in the archive database.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the backup image comprises historical data that pre-dates an archive system of the archive database.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to implement a method comprising

automatically archiving data items from a backup image stored in backup storage, wherein

the processor is configured to implement the automatically archiving without restoring the data items from the backup image, and

the processor is configured to implement the automatically archiving by virtue of being configured to implement a migration module configured to

mount the backup image, wherein

 

the backup image is not archived,

extract at least one data item of the data items from the backup image using a mapping of the backup image, wherein

 

the extraction of the at least one data item does not restore the at least one data item, and

 

the mapping indicates a location of the at least one data item within the backup image, and

migrate the at least one data item to an ingest interface,

a mapping module configured to generate the mapping,

wherein

the mapping is generated based on the backup image, subsequent to the backup image being mounted, and

an ingest filter configured to generate the ingest interface,

wherein

the ingest interface is configured to archive the at least one item into an archive database.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein

the backup image comprises a plurality of data items,

the plurality of data items comprise the at least one data item,

the mapping comprises locations of the plurality of data items, and

the locations indicate relationships between one or more of the plurality of data items.

17. A system, comprising:

an administrator computer, comprising

a migration module configured to

automatically archive data items from a backup image stored in backup storage, without restoring the data items from the backup image, and

the migration module is further configured to

mount the backup image, wherein

 

the backup image is not archived,

extract at least one data item of the data items from the backup image using a mapping of the backup image, wherein

 

the extraction of the at least one data item does not restore the at least one data item, and

 

the mapping indicates a location of the at least one data item within the backup image, and

migrate the at least one data item from the backup image to an ingest interface, and

a mapping module configured to generate the mapping of the backup image,

wherein

the mapping is generated based on the backup image, subsequent to the backup image being mounted, and

an archive computer, comprising

an ingest filter configured to generate the ingest interface, wherein

the ingest interface is configured to archive the at least one item into an archive database.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising

a tape drive comprising magnetic tape configured as the backup storage to store the backup image, wherein

the backup image is streamed from the magnetic tape to form a backup stream.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the migration module is further configured to extract the at least one data item from the backup stream using the mapping.