Data restore systems and methods in a replication environment

• US 8,352,422 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2010
• Issued: 01/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Prahlad, Anand, Agrawal, Vijay H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruiz, Angelica
• Application Number:
  US12/749,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20110246430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,015 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2066 Optimisation of the communication load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1748 De-duplication implemented within the file system, e.g. based on file segments de-duplication techniques in storage systems for the management of data blocks G06F3/0641
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11

Abstract

Stubbing systems and methods are provided for intelligent data management in a replication environment, such as by reducing the space occupied by replication data on a destination system. In certain examples, stub files or like objects replace migrated, de-duplicated or otherwise copied data that has been moved from the destination system to secondary storage. Access is further provided to the replication data in a manner that is transparent to the user and/or without substantially impacting the base replication process. In order to distinguish stub files representing migrated replication data from replicated stub files, priority tags or like identifiers can be used. Thus, when accessing a stub file on the destination system, such as to modify replication data or perform a restore process, the tagged stub files can be used to recall archived data prior to performing the requested operation so that an accurate copy of the source data is generated.

Claims

1. A method for restoring data in a continuous data replication system, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first point in time and with a first computing device, a request to restore data of one or more snapshots of replication data of a destination storage device, the snapshots representing point in time copies of the replication data taken at points in time earlier than the first point in time,

the replication data having a plurality of first stub files replicated from a source system and a plurality of second stub files that were not replicated from the source system and are instead indicative of select data blocks that were replicated from the source system to the destination storage device and were then later migrated to a secondary storage device from the destination storage device, wherein the second stub files include metadata that is used to locate the corresponding migrated select data blocks in the secondary storage device;

mounting the one or more snapshots, at least some of the one or more snapshots comprising one or more of the first stub files, one or more of the second stub files, and one or more non-stub file data blocks;

identifying the second stub files captured by the one or more snapshots;

using the metadata of the identified second stub files, recalling to a staging area the select data blocks from the secondary storage device corresponding to each of the identified second stub files; and

following said recalling, restoring the replication data from the one or more snapshots at least in part by;

restoring the select data blocks that were recalled to the staging area and not the second stub files of the one or more snapshots that correspond to the recalled select data blocks;

restoring the first stub files of the one or more snapshots; and

restoring the non-stub file data from the one or more snapshots,

the restored replication data comprising each of the first stub files of the one or more snapshots and comprising none of the second stub files of the one or more snapshots.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying comprises identifying a tag associated with each of the second stub files but not associated with any of the first stub files.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the staging area is located on the secondary storage device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the staging area is located on the destination storage device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple ones of said second stub files reference a common data block on the secondary storage device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the replication data is application-specific data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more snapshots are associated with a time of a known good state of the application-specific data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the one or more snapshots of the replication data at a time identified by a consistency point marker created by the source system.

9. A system for restoring data in a continuous data replication environment, the system comprising:

a first storage device comprising data replicated from a source storage system, the replicated data comprising first stub files replicated from the source storage system and second stub files that were not replicated from the source storage system and are instead indicative of select data blocks that were replicated from the source storage system to the first storage device and were then later migrated to a secondary storage device from the first storage device, wherein the second stub files include metadata that is used to locate the corresponding migrated select data blocks in the secondary storage device;

a restore module configured to mount a snapshot of the replicated data, the snapshot representing a point-in-time image of the replicated data, the snapshot comprising one or more of the first stub files, one or more of the second stub files, and one or more non-stub file data blocks, wherein the restore module is further configured to identify the second stub files captured by the one or more snapshots; and

a migration module in communication with the restore module, the migration module being configured to recall to a staging area, using the metadata of the identified second stub files, the select data blocks from the secondary storage device corresponding to each of the identified second stub files,

and wherein the restore module is further configured to restore the replication data represented by the snapshot at least in part by;

restoring the select data blocks that were recalled to the staging area and not the second stub files of the snapshot that correspond to the recalled select data blocks;

restoring the first stub files of the snapshot; and

restoring the non-stub file data from the snapshot, the restored replication data comprising each of the first stub files and comprising none of the second stub files of the snapshot.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second stub files comprise priority tag information not contained by any of the first stub files.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the snapshot represents application data in a known good state.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the snapshot is associated with a time at which the application data on a source storage device was in the known good state.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a replication module including the restore module, the replication module being configured to generate the snapshot.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein first storage device includes the staging area.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the first stub files represent data archived from the source storage system.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the migration module is configured to recall from the secondary storage device a single data block for multiple ones of the second stub files.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the restored replication data includes the select data blocks from the secondary storage device.

18. A system for restoring data in a continuous data replication environment, the system comprising:

means for storing data replicated from a source storage system, the replicated data comprising first stub files replicated from the source storage system and second stub files that were not replicated from the source storage system and are instead indicative of select data blocks that were replicated from the source storage system to the means for storing and were then later migrated to a secondary storage device from the means for storing, wherein the second stub files include metadata that is used to locate the corresponding migrated select data blocks in the secondary storage device;

means for mounting a snapshot of the replicated data, the snapshot representing a point-in-time image of the replicated data, the snapshot comprising one or more of the first stub files, one or more of the second stub files, and one or more non-stub file data blocks, wherein said mounting means further identifies the second stub files captured by the one or more snapshots; and

means for recalling to a staging area, using the metadata of the identified second stub files, the select data blocks from the secondary storage device corresponding to each of the identified second stub files, and wherein said mounting means further restores the replication data represented by the snapshot at least in part by;

restoring the select data blocks that were recalled to the staging area and not the second stub files of the snapshot that correspond to the recalled select data blocks;

restoring the first stub files of the snapshot; and

restoring the non-stub file data from the snapshot, the restored data comprising each of the first stub files and comprising none of the second stub files.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the restored data comprises each of the select data blocks.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for replicating the data from the source storage system to said storing means.