Frameworks for providing backup functionalities to different applications

• US 8,635,189 B1
• Filed: 04/22/2010
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Tenzer, Keith J.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAU, DUNG K
• Application Number:
  US12/765,231
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/654
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

Example embodiments provide various techniques for providing a backup functionality to a particular application. In one example, a plug-in module is selected for activation from a number of different plug-in modules. This selected plug-in module is adapted to interface with the particular application. It should be noted that each plug-in module is adapted to interface with a different application. The particular application is quiesced using the selected plug-in module. After the application has been quiesced, the backup functionality is initiated.

Claims

1. A processing system, comprising:

at least one processor to operate a plurality of different applications; and

a machine-readable medium in communication with the at least one processor, the machine-readable medium storing a plurality of backup applications, the plurality of different applications, and instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

accessing a profile that (i) identifies one or more backup applications from the plurality of backup applications to be used in a backup process and an order of execution of the one or more backup applications in the backup process, and (ii) identifies a plurality of plug-in modules to use for the backup process, each plug-in module from the plurality of plug-in modules being configured to interface with a corresponding application from the plurality of different applications;

quiescing multiple applications from the plurality of different applications, including using the plug-in module corresponding to each of the multiple applications to place that application in a state ready to accept a backup functionality;

after each of the multiple applications has been quiesced, (i) selecting the one or more backup applications based on the profile, and (ii) executing the one or more backup applications to perform the backup functionality for each of the multiple applications based on the profile, wherein executing the one or more backup applications includes executing a first backup application to create a snapshot of data associated with each of the multiple applications and executing a second backup application to create a copy of the data based on the snapshot; and

unquiescing each of the multiple applications after the backup functionality for each of the multiple applications is complete by using the plug-in module corresponding to each of the multiple applications.

2. The processing system of claim 1, wherein the profile corresponds to a control file that includes one or more parameters.

3. The processing system of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters includes at least one of volume information, port numbers, passwords, or retention policies.

4. A method of performing a backup process, the method comprising:

accessing a plurality of plug-in modules that interface with a plurality of different applications;

accessing a profile that (i) identifies one or more backup applications from a plurality of backup applications to be used in the backup process and an order of execution of the one or more backup applications in the backup process, and (ii) specifies activation of one or more plug-in modules to use for the backup process, each plug-in module from the one or more plug-in modules being configured to interface with a corresponding application from the plurality of different applications;

quiescing multiple applications from the plurality of different applications, including using the plug-in module corresponding to each of the multiple applications to place that application in a state ready to accept a backup functionality;

after each of the multiple applications have been quiesced, (i) selecting the one or more backup applications based on the profile, and (ii) executing the one or more backup applications to perform the backup functionality for each of the multiple applications based on the profile, wherein executing the one or more backup applications includes executing a first backup application to create a snapshot of data associated with each of the multiple applications and executing a second backup application to create a copy of the data based on the snapshot; and

unquiescing each of the multiple applications after the backup functionality for each of the multiple applications is complete by using the plug-in module corresponding to each of the multiple applications.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein quiescing the multiple applications includes, for each of the multiple applications, executing a first script from the plug-in module to quiesce the corresponding application, and wherein unquiescing each of the multiple applications includes, for each of the multiple applications, executing a second script from the plug-in module to unquiesce the corresponding application.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the backup functionality includes backing up data associated with one or more of the multiple applications.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the backup functionality includes restoring data from a data backup associated with one or more of the multiple applications.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the profile includes a first set of commands that are executed before executing the one or more backup applications and a second set of commands that are executed after completing the backup functionality.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the profile includes a third set of commands that are executed while executing the one or more backup applications.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein quiescing multiple applications includes disabling the multiple applications.

11. A method of performing a backup process, the method comprising:

accessing a profile that (i) identifies one or more backup applications from a plurality of backup applications to be used in the backup process and an order of execution of the one or more backup applications in the backup process, and (ii) identifies a plug-in module from a plurality of plug-in modules to use for the backup process, each plug-in module from the plurality of plug-in modules being configured to interface with a corresponding application from a plurality of different applications;

selecting the plug-in module identified from the profile to provide a backup functionality to the corresponding application;

operating the selected plug-in module to quiesce the corresponding application, so that the corresponding application is in a state ready to accept the backup functionality;

after the corresponding application has been quiesced, initiating the backup functionality for the corresponding application by (i) selecting the one or more backup applications based on the profile, and (ii) executing the one or more backup applications to perform the backup functionality for corresponding application based on the profile, wherein executing the one or more backup applications includes executing a first backup application to create a snapshot of data associated with the corresponding application and executing a second backup application to create a copy of the data based on the snapshot; and

operating the selected plug-in module to unquiesce the corresponding application after the backup functionality has completed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the profile includes a first set of commands that are executed before executing the one or more backup applications and a second set of commands that are executed after completing the backup functionality.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein quiescing the corresponding application includes executing a first script from the selected plug-in module to quiesce the corresponding application, and wherein unquiescing the corresponding application includes executing a second script from the selected plug-in module to unquiesce the corresponding application.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting the plug-in module includes selecting the plug-in module for a database management application, wherein initiating the backup functionality includes backing up data associated with the database management application of the selected plug-in module, and wherein operating the selected plug-in module to quiesce the corresponding application includes:

connecting to the database management application using the plug-in module; and

instructing the database management application to place a database table in a read-only mode using the selected plug-in module.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising initiating a second backup functionality associated with a different application by selecting another plug-in module.

16. A processing system, comprising:

at least one processor to operate a plurality of different applications; and

a machine-readable medium in communication with the at least one processor, the machine-readable medium storing a plurality of backup applications, a plurality of plug-in modules to interface with the plurality of different applications, and instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

accessing a profile that (i) identifies one or more backup applications from a plurality of backup applications to be used in a backup process and an order of execution of the one or more backup applications in the backup process, and (ii) identifies a plug-in module from a plurality of plug-in modules to use for the backup process, each plug-in module from the plurality of plug-in modules being configured to interface with a corresponding application from a plurality of different applications;

selecting the plug-in module identified from the profile to provide a backup functionality to the corresponding application;

operating the selected plug-in module to quiesce the corresponding application, so that the corresponding application is in a state ready to accept the backup functionality;

after the corresponding application has been quiesced, initiating the backup functionality for the corresponding application by (i) selecting the one or more backup applications based on the profile, and (ii) executing the one or more backup applications to perform the backup functionality for corresponding application based on the profile, wherein executing the one or more backup applications includes executing a first backup application to create a snapshot of data associated with the corresponding application and executing a second backup application to create a copy of the data based on the snapshot; and

operating the selected plug-in module to unquiesce the corresponding application after the backup functionality has completed.

17. The processing system of claim 16, wherein the profile corresponds to a control file that includes one or more parameters, the one or more parameters including at least one of volume information, port numbers, passwords, or retention policies.

18. The processing system of claim 17, wherein the operations for quiescing the corresponding application includes executing a first script from the selected plug-in module to quiesce the corresponding application, and wherein the operations for unquiescing the corresponding application includes executing a second script from the selected plug-in module to unquiesce the corresponding application.

19. The processing system of claim 16, wherein the application corresponding to the selected plug-in module is a database management application.

20. The processing system of claim 16, wherein the profile includes a first set of commands that are executed before executing the one or more backup applications and a second set of commands that are executed after completing the backup functionality.