Restoring computing environments, such as autorecovery of file systems at certain points in time

• US 9,092,378 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2014
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumarasamy, Paramasivam, Mitkar, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHMAN, MOHAMMAD N
• Application Number:
  US14/493,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20150012499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 308 Days
• Field of Search: 707/769
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• 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]

Abstract

A method and system for restoring a computing environment from a secondary data store, and facilitating such restoration, is described. In some examples, the system copies the configuration parameters of a computing environment, such as a file system, as well as the data within the file system, and transfers the copies to secondary storage for later restoration. For example, the system may generate an xml file of the configuration parameters of the computing environment when a backup operation of the computing environment is performed, and store the xml file along with copies of the data from the computing environment in secondary storage.

Claims

1. At least one computer-readable medium, excluding a transitory propagating signal, and carrying instructions, which when executed by at least one data processor, restores a computing environment of a source device to a previous state of the computing environment, comprising:

causing a state of the computing environment of the source device to be transferred to a secondary storage server or a cloud-based computing system,

wherein the cloud-based computing system hosts a bootable computer-readable storage medium,

wherein the state of the computing environment corresponds to at least one set of data and configuration information associated with the computing environment, and

wherein the secondary storage server hosts a virtual machine and accesses, via the virtual machine, the bootable computer-readable storage medium at the cloud-based computing system;

receiving a request to restore the computing environment of the source device to a previous state,

wherein the previous state corresponds to an identified one of multiple sets of data and configuration information associated with the computing environment of the source device,

wherein the request to restore the computing environment of the source device to a previous state is received via a restoration interface, and,

wherein the restoration interface is configured to enable selection of the identified one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information;

causing the identified one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information to be retrieved; and

,

causing the previous state of the computing environment of the source device to be restored based on the retrieved one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information.

2. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

causing configuration files for the computing environment to be created at different points in time;

causing data stored within the computing environment to be stored at the different points in time; and

,

causing the generated configuration file and the copied data to be transferred to the secondary storage server at the different points in time.

3. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the identified one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information includes an xml file containing one or more system parameters of the computing environment.

4. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the restoration interface is configured to automatically retrieve the identified one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information in response to user selection via the secondary storage server, and wherein the computing environment of the source device includes a file system and at least one set of data within the file system of the source device.

5. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the restoration interface is configured to monitor a storage capacity of the secondary storage server and the cloud-based computing system.

6. A method to restore a computing environment of a source device to a previous state of the computing environment, comprising:

providing a user-accessible restoration interface for allowing a user to restore the computing environment of the source device to one of multiple previous states of the computing environment;

wherein differing states of the computing environment of the source device were previously transferred to a secondary storage component or a cloud-based computing system,

wherein the cloud-based computing system hosts a bootable computer-readable storage medium,

wherein the each of the differing state of the computing environment respectively correspond to at a differing set of data and configuration information associated with the computing environment, and

wherein the secondary storage component hosts a virtual machine and accesses, via the virtual machine, the bootable computer-readable storage medium at the cloud-based computing system;

receiving, at the restoration interface, a request to restore the computing environment of the source device to a previous state,

wherein the previous state corresponds to an identified one of multiple sets of data and configuration information associated with the computing environment of the source device, and,

wherein the restoration interface is configured to enable selection of the identified one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information;

based on the received request, causing the identified one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information to be retrieved; and

,

causing the previous state of the computing environment of the source device to be restored based on the retrieved one of the multiple sets of data and configuration information.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising causing restoration via the restoration interface using an xml file containing system configuration parameters of the computing environment.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising causing restoration via the restoration interface using an xml file containing system configuration parameters of the source computing environment that is stored by the secondary storage component.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising causing a secondary copy of the data associated with the source computing environment to be retrieved through the secondary storage component.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

performing the restoration using an xml file containing system configuration parameters of the source computing environment that is stored in the cloud-based computing system, and

retrieving a secondary copy of the set of data associated with the source computing environment through the secondary storage component.

11. A method for recovering a computing environment to a previous backup state, the method comprising:

providing a restoration interface configured to enable a user to select a configuration file, from multiple configuration files, to restore the computing environment,

wherein the restoration interface is configured to permit the user to selectively restore the computing environment to one of multiple, previous backup states,

wherein each of the previous backup states of the computing environment represents a point in time for the computing environment,

wherein each of the previous backup states includes a configuration file and a set of data associated with the computing environment for that point in time;

receiving, via the restoration interface, user selection of a selected configuration file from the multiple configuration files,

wherein the selected configuration file corresponds to a selected point in time at which to restore the computing environment,

wherein a cloud-based computing system hosts a bootable computer-readable storage medium, and

wherein a secondary storage component hosts a virtual machine and accesses the cloud-based computing system through the virtual machine; and

causing restoration of the computing environment from the selected configuration file,

wherein the secondary storage component initially stages the restoration via the selected configuration file and via the cloud-based computing system accessed through the virtual machine, before restoring the computing system to the selected point in time.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

provisioning the restoration interface; and

configuring the provisioned interface using an xml file containing configuration parameters associated with a previous state of a file system of the computing environment.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

booting the computer-readable storage medium to provision a host machine; and

configuring the host machine using an xml file containing configuration parameters associated with the selected point in time of the computing environment.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the restoration component is configured to restore the computing environment to the previous state by:

booting the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium previously hosted by the cloud-based computing system to provision a host machine; and

configuring the host machine using an xml file containing a system configuration associated with the previous state of the computing environment.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the restoration interface is configured to selectively provide a status of sets of data that are scheduled for transfer or that are pending transfer to the cloud-based computing system or to the secondary storage component, and

wherein the restoration interface is configured to monitor a storage capacity of the cloud-based computing or a storage capacity of the secondary storage component.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein when a network connection with the computing environment is unavailable, the restoration component is configured to transfer a previous state of the computing environment to the computer-readable medium to enable a bootable recovery of the computing environment.

17. A system for recovering a computing environment to a previous backup state, the system comprising:

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory;

a secondary storage component, wherein the secondary storage component is configured to transfer previous states of the computing environment to a cloud-based computing system,

wherein each of the previous states of the computing environment represents a point in time for the computing environment,

wherein the cloud-based computing system hosts a bootable non-transitory computer-readable storage medium,

wherein each of the previous states includes a configuration file and a set of data associated with the computing environment for a point of time,

wherein the secondary storage component hosts a virtual machine and accesses the cloud-based computing system through the virtual machine;

a primary storage component, wherein the primary storage component is configured to transfer the state of the computing environment through the secondary storage component; and

a restoration component, wherein the restoration component is configured to retrieve the previous states of the computing environment through the secondary storage component,

wherein the memory includes one or more of the components.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the restoration component includes a restoration interface configured to enable a user to select a configuration file from a plurality of configuration files to restore the computing environment,

wherein the restoration interface is configured to selectively provide a status of sets of data that are scheduled for transfer or that are pending transfer to the cloud-based computing system or to secondary storage component, and

wherein the restoration interface is configured to monitor a storage capacity of the cloud-based computing system or a storage capacity of the secondary storage component.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the restoration component is further configured to restore the computing environment to a previous backup state by:

provisioning the restoration interface; and

configuring the provisioned interface using an xml file containing configuration parameters associated with the previous state of the file system, and

wherein when a network connection between the system and a client is unavailable, the restoration component is configured to transfer a previous state of the computing environment to the non-transitory computer-readable medium to enable a bootable recovery of the client at a location of the client.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the restoration component is further configured to restore the computing environment to the previous state by:

booting the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium previously hosted by the cloud-based computing system to provision a host machine; and

configuring the host machine using an xml file containing configuration parameters associated with the previous state of the computing environment.