Managing data with backup server indexing

• US 8,990,160 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2012
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sen, Vijay, Fries, Robert M., Anand, Karandeep Singh
• Primary Examiner(s): ALAM, SHAHID AL
• Application Number:
  US13/478,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20120233125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• Field of Search: 707/669, 707/704, 707/716, 707/803, 707/679, 707/609, 707/661, 707/662, 707/673, 707/705, 707/715, 707/740, 707/948, 707/640, 709/217, 709/201, 705/1.1, 705/14.23, 705/41, 705/39
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/948 Product or catalog

Abstract

Indexing functionality can be shifted to one or more backup servers in a backup system. In one implementation, a backup server can receive one or more data backups from one or more production servers. The backup server can then build or create one or more indexes at the backup server, which correspond to the contents of the one or more data backups. In one implementation, one or more management agents can also identify any appropriate components that might be needed to read the backup data at the backup server pursuant to building the one or more indexes. In either case, the one or more indexes can be used for a wide range of purposes, such as to manage data usage quotas at the one or more production servers, as well as to retrieve data from the backup server based on specific file requests.

Claims

1. A system for performing, at a backup server in a computerized environment in which the backup server backs up data of one or more production servers, a method of managing quota allocations at least in part through indexing the data backups at the backup server, the system comprising one or more computer processors and one or more storage devices having stored thereon computer executable code which, when executed upon the one or more processors, performs the acts of:

receiving data of one or more data backups from one or more production servers at a backup server;

identifying one or more data source components configured to read the received data at the backup server;

indexing the received data at the backup server, such that one or more data properties for the received data are contained in one or more index files; and

passing the one or more identified data properties to one or more management agents, such that the identified one or more data properties are compared to the one or more data quotas.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising an act of caching the one or more indexes at the backup server.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising an act of receiving one or more requests to pass the one or more identified data properties to the one or more management agents as part of a quota checking schedule.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more management agents is installed on any one of the one or more production servers, such that at least a portion of the one or more identified data properties are passed to the one production server.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more data source components comprise one or more application plugins.

6. The system as recited in claim 5, further comprising the acts of:

identifying that the one or more application plugins are required for creating an index of all of the received data; and

requesting the one or more application plugins from the one or more production servers.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, further comprising an act of creating the one or more index files at least in part using the requested one or more application plugins.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more data properties comprise a text index of data contents for the received data.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more data properties comprise a file name for a file and the identity of a user that made one or more data changes.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, further comprising the acts of:

tallying each of the one or more data changes for the user; and

determining at the backup server that the tally for the user is within any of the one or more data quotas.

11. The system as recited in claim 9, further comprising an act of identifying from the comparison that the one or more data changes by the user violate any of the one or more data quotas.

12. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising an act of sending one or more alerts indicating that the any of the one or more data quotas have been violated by the user.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, further comprising an act of sending one or more instructions to delete data created by the user, such that the any of the one or more data quotas are met.

14. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

receiving different data of one or more different backups from any of the one or more production servers or one or more different production servers; and

indexing the received different data at the backup server, such that one or more data properties for the received different data are contained in one or more different index files.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, further comprising an act of passing the one or more data properties for the received different data to one or more different management agents.

16. A system for performing, at a backup server in a computerized environment in which the backup server backs up data at one or more production servers, a method of providing efficient access to backup data at least in part through indexing data the backup data at the backup server, the system comprising one or more computer processors and one or more storage devices having stored thereon computer executable code which, when executed upon the one or more processors, performs the acts of:

creating one or more indexes of backup data received at a backup server from one or more production servers, the one or more created indexes identifying one or more data properties for the received backup data;

receiving one or more requests from one or more management agents for at least a portion of the backup data received at the backup server, the one or more requests including any of the one or more data properties;

scanning the one or more created indexes for the requested data properties; and

sending one or more responses to the one or more management agents.

17. The system as recited in claim 16, further comprising an act of identifying from the received backup data that one or more data source components are needed to read the received backup data at the backup server.

18. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the identification of the one or more data source components is made by one or more management agents at the backup server upon receipt of the backup data.

19. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the one or more responses include any of the requested portion of backup data, an indication that the requested portion of backup data does not exist, or an indication that the requested portion of backup data is not available.