Systems and methods for managing snapshots of replicated databases

• US 8,666,942 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Ngo, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waldron, Scott A
• Application Number:
  US13/523,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317074A1
• Time in Patent Office: 628 Days
• Field of Search: 707/634, 707/638, 707/639, 707/649, 707/683, 707/684
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing copies of database data. For instance, in one configuration, prior to the database transactions being committed on either of the source data base and the target database, a first copy of the database can be stored on a target system. Subsequent to said generating the first copy, the data transactions are committed into the target database, and a second copy of the target database is created. Then the target database can be reverted back to a state in which the target database existed at the time of said generating the first copy. The second copy can be accessed without the use of the database application.

Claims

1. A system for performing data management operations in a computer network environment, the system comprising:

a target computer comprising computer hardware, the target computer coupled to a source computer, wherein the source computer has a native database application executing thereon and is coupled to at least one first storage device storing a source database including data generated by the native database application;

at least one second storage device coupled to the target computer, wherein the target computer is configured to;

generate a target database on the second storage device, the target database including a replicated version of at least some of the data in the source database;

perform a first copy operation to generate a first copy of at least a portion of the target database, wherein performing the first copy operation puts the target database into an unclean shutdown state;

subsequent to the first copy operation, commit a plurality of data transactions into the target database, the plurality of data transactions generated by the native database application and represented by a plurality of corresponding log entries, wherein the committing of the plurality of data transactions into the target database occurs prior to the plurality of data transactions being committed into the source database, wherein the data in the source database and the data in the target database are out of sync following the committing of the plurality of data transactions into the target database, and wherein the committing of the plurality of data transactions into the target database puts the target database into a clean shutdown state;

subsequent to the committing of the plurality of data transactions into the target database, perform a second copy operation to generate a second copy of at least a portion of the target database which includes data corresponding to the plurality of committed data transactions, wherein the second copy is generated in the clean shutdown state; and

revert the target database back to the unclean shutdown state in which the target database existed at the time the first copy operation was performed,

wherein the clean shutdown state allows for offline access of the data in the respective target database or second copy without the need for the native database application, and

wherein the unclean shutdown state requires the native database application for offline access of the data in the respective target database or second copy.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of log entries comprises a marker indicative of a time of a known good state of the native database application.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first copy operation and the second copy operation comprise point-in-time snapshot operations.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the target computer further comprises a replication module having a plurality of threads configured to commit the plurality of data transactions.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the target computer comprises at least one application programming interface configured to commit the plurality of data transactions represented by the log entries.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a filter driver is configured to monitor data transactions generated by the native database application and generate the plurality of log entries.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second copy is a read-only copy of the target database.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the generation of the target database occurs without shutting down the native database application.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said first and second copies comprise point-in-time images.

10. A method for managing data in a database system, the method comprising:

storing log entries in one or more target storage devices, wherein said log entries represent uncommitted data transactions generated by a native database application and associated with a source database stored on at least one source storage device;

prior to the data transactions being committed on either of the source data base and the target database, generating a first copy of at least a portion of a target database stored on the one or more target storage devices, wherein generating the first copy puts the target database into an unclean shutdown state;

committing into the target database, subsequent to said generating the first copy, the data transactions represented by the log entries, wherein said committing into the target database occurs prior to the data transactions being committed into the source database, and wherein the data in the source database and the data in the target database are out of sync following said committing into the target database, and wherein said committing into the target database puts the target database into a clean shutdown state;

generating, subsequent to said committing into the target database, a second copy of at least a portion of the target database which includes data corresponding to the committed data transactions, wherein the second copy is generated in the clean shutdown state; and

reverting the target database back to the unclean shutdown state in which the target database existed at the time of said generating the first copy,

wherein the clean shutdown state allows for offline access of the data in the respective target database or second copy without the need for the native database application, and

wherein the unclean shutdown state requires the native database application for offline access of the data in the respective target database or second copy.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said generating the first copy is performed based on a marker in one of the log entries indicating a known good state of the native database application.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

quiescing the native database application at a time of the known good state of the native database application; and

inserting the marker in the one of the log entries.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the log entries are transmitted between the at least one source storage device and the one or more target storage devices.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first copy and the second copy comprise point-in-time snapshot copies.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said storing is performed without shutting down the native database application.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein said first and second copies comprise point-in-time images.