Systems and methods for performing storage operations in a computer network

• US 8,688,931 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Gokhale, Parag, Vijayan, Manoj Kumar, Ngo, David, Devassy, Varghese, Prahlad, Anand
• Primary Examiner(s): ELMORE, STEPHEN C
• Application Number:
  US13/750,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20130205165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 431 Days
• Field of Search: 711/154, 711/156, 711/162, 707/639, 707/649, 714/6.3, 714/6.32
• US Class Current: 711/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for performing storage operations on electronic data in a network. In response to the initiation of a storage operation and according to a first set of selection logic, a media management component is selected to manage the storage operation. In response to the initiation of a storage operation and according to a second set of selection logic, a network storage device to associate with the storage operation. The selected media management component and the selected network storage device perform the storage operation on the electronic data.

Claims

1. A method for performing backup operations on data in a network, the method comprising:

as implemented by one or more computer systems comprising computer hardware,

storing in an index an indication of an association of a first storage controller module with a plurality of shared physical storage devices and an indication of an association of a second storage controller module with the plurality of shared physical storage devices;

storing a failover policy for use in selecting a failover storage controller module to use in place of the first storage controller module in the event of a failure of the first storage controller module;

selecting the first storage controller module of the plurality of storage controller modules to manage a first data backup operation;

selecting at least a first shared physical storage device of the plurality of shared physical storage devices to transfer first data associated with the first data backup operation to;

selecting the second storage controller module of the plurality of storage controller modules to manage a second data backup operation;

selecting at least the first shared physical storage device of the plurality of physical storage devices to transfer second data associated with the second data backup operation to;

performing the first data backup operation on the first data, wherein said performing the first data backup operation comprises transferring the first data with at least the first storage controller module to at least the first shared physical storage device; and

performing the second data backup operation on the second data, wherein said performing the second data backup operation comprises transferring the second data with at least the second storage controller module to at least the first shared physical storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subsequent to a detected failure of the first storage controller module, accessing the failover policy to determine that the failover storage controller module should be used to perform a third data backup operation on third data,

performing the third data backup operation, wherein said performing the third data backup operation comprises transferring the third data with at least the failover storage controller module to at least one of the plurality of shared physical storage devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the failover policy comprises selection logic for selecting the failover storage controller module.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the failover policy comprises a list of storage controller modules that serve as failover candidates.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating, with the first storage controller module, a first index of the first data transferred to the first shared physical storage device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating, with the second storage controller module, a second index of the second data transferred to the first shared physical storage device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating, with the first storage controller module, a first index of the first data transferred to the first shared physical storage device;

creating, with the second storage controller module, a second index of the second data transferred to the first shared physical storage device; and

transferring copies of the first and second indexes to a storage manager.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating, with the first storage controller module, a first index of the first data transferred to the first shared physical storage device;

creating, with the second storage controller module, a second index of the second data transferred to the first shared physical storage device; and

transferring copies of the first and second indexes to the first shared physical storage device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first storage controller module further comprises load balancing the first and second storage controller modules.

10. A system for performing backup operations on data in a computer network, the system comprising:

a first storage controller computer, the first storage controller computer comprising computer hardware configured to perform a first set of storage operations on data, the storage operations stored in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium;

a second storage controller computer, the second storage controller computer comprising computer hardware configured to perform a second set of storage operations on data, the second set of storage operations stored in the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, the first and second storage controller computers sharing and in communication with a plurality of shared physical storage devices;

a storage manager computer, the storage manager computer comprising computer hardware configured to access an index, the index containing an indication of an association of the first storage controller computer with the plurality of shared physical storage devices and an indication of an association of the second storage controller computer with the plurality of shared physical storage devices;

wherein the storage manager computer is further configured to store a failover policy, the failover policy defining a failover storage controller computer to use in place of the first storage controller computer in the event of a failure of the first storage controller computer;

wherein the storage manager computer is further configured to select at least the first storage controller computer for the performance of a first data backup operation that transfers first data to a first shared physical storage device of the plurality of shared physical storage devices; and

wherein the storage manager computer is further configured to select at least the second storage controller computer for the performance of a second data backup operation that transfers second data to the first shared physical storage device,

wherein the first storage controller computer performs the first data backup operation on the first data to transfer the first data to at least the first shared physical storage device; and

wherein the second storage controller computer performs the second data backup operation on the second data to transfer the second data with at least the second storage controller computer to at least the first shared physical storage device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the failover policy comprises selection logic for selecting the failover storage controller computer.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the failover policy comprises a list of storage controller computers that serve as failover candidates.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage manager computer is further configured to:

subsequent to a detected failure of the first storage controller computer, access the failover policy to determine that the failover storage controller computer should be used to perform a third data backup operation on third data,

wherein the failover storage controller computer performs the third data backup operation on the third data to transfer the third data with at least the failover storage controller computer to at least one of the plurality of shared physical storage devices.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising a first index of the first data transferred to the shared physical storage device with the first storage controller computer.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first index is created by the first storage controller computer.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising a second index of the second data transferred to the shared physical storage device with the second storage controller computer.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second index is created by the second storage controller computer.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a first index of the first data transferred to the shared physical storage device;

a second index of the second data transferred to the shared physical storage device; and

a third index associated with the storage manager computer that comprises the first and second indexes.

19. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a first index of the first data transferred to the shared physical storage device, the first index stored in memory associated with the first storage controller computer;

a second index of the second data transferred to the shared physical storage device, the second index stored in memory associated with the second storage controller computer; and

a third index stored on the first shared physical storage device that comprises the first and second indexes.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage manager computer is further configured to select the first storage controller computer based at least in part on load balancing the first and second storage controller computers.