Cluster file server proxy server for backup and recovery

• US 9,201,887 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Earl, Min-Chih Lu, Gruszka, Jerzy, Buchman, Matthew D., Boda, Koteswara R.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAM LINH T
• Application Number:
  US13/631,231
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• Field of Search: 707/639, 707/640, 707/648, 707/649, 707/679, 707/682, 707/831
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

A remote snapshot is taken of a data associated with a node within a cluster of nodes by using a snapshot facility of an operating system. A set of backup data components is recorded. The data is remotely restored by interpreting the remote snapshot with the set of backup data components.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication that a remote node within a cluster of nodes is to be backed up, wherein;

the remote node does not have a restore agent, does not have a backup client and does not have dedicated backup software;

the remote node is a node not local in either physical space or virtual space; and

the cluster of nodes provides failover clustering services provided by an operating system for the cluster of nodes;

wherein the failover clustering services are provided by the operating system to;

improve highly available capability for server services; and

avoid single node failure;

taking a remote snapshot of a data associated with the remote node by using a remote backup snapshot facility, wherein;

the remote backup snapshot facility is included in a basic distribution of the operating system; and

the remote backup snapshot facility does not need to be installed on top of any software provided by the basic distribution of the operating system;

recording a set of backup data components close to a time associated with taking the remote snapshot; and

remotely restoring the data by interpreting the remote snapshot with the set of backup data components to reconstruct a local restore of the operating system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising provisioning a node proxy from amongst the cluster of nodes to reconstruct.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the node proxy may be one or more of:

a physical node within the cluster of nodes; and

a proxy virtual machine on a node within the cluster of nodes.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the cluster is a Microsoft Windows 8 Cluster.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the remote node is not the node proxy.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the node proxy can backup and restore for any node in the cluster.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining whether the data is served by a Scale Out file server.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein

the snapshot facility used is a Microsoft Cluster Shared Volume Shadow Provider if the data is served by a Scale Out file server, and wherein

the snapshot facility used is a Microsoft File Share Shadow Copy Provider if the data is served by a generic file server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the snapshot facility is configured for a local node to take a snapshot in order to restore the snapshot locally.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the snapshot facility is configured for a local node to take a snapshot of data that the local node is an owner for.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the snapshot is one or more of:

a copy-on-write snapshot; and

a shadow snapshot.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising deduplicating the snapshot using a deduplication engine.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the data comprises one or more of:

a file in a file share; and

an entire file share.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising establishing credentials for the remote node for reconstruction and wherein the set of data components comprises the credentials.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein establishing credentials for the remote node comprises providing a helper service running with a desired Microsoft Cluster Administration credentials.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising interfacing with a Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation (“

WMI”

) management API to determine ownership of the data.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising provisioning a node proxy from amongst the cluster of nodes to reconstruct, and wherein:

the snapshot facility used is a Microsoft CSV Shadow Copy Provider if the data is served by a Scale Out file server;

the snapshot facility used is a local file system backup if the node proxy is an owner of the data and the data is served by a generic server; and

the snapshot facility used is a Microsoft File Share Shadow Copy Provider if the node proxy is not an owner of the data and the data is served by a generic file server.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive an indication that a remote node within a cluster of nodes is to be backed up, wherein;

the remote node does not have a restore agent, does not have a backup client and does not have dedicated backup software;

the remote node is a node not local in either physical space or virtual space; and

the cluster of nodes provides failover clustering services provided by an operating system for the cluster of nodes;

wherein the failover clustering services are provided by the operating system to;

improve highly available capability for server services; and

avoid single node failure;

take a remote snapshot of a data associated with the remote node by using a remote backup snapshot facility, wherein;

the remote backup snapshot facility is included in a basic distribution of the operating system; and

the remote backup snapshot facility does not need to be installed on top of any software provided by the basic distribution of the operating system;

record a set of backup data components close to a time associated with taking the remote snapshot; and

remotely restore the data by using the remote snapshot with the set of backup data components to reconstruct a local restore of the operating system;

and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

19. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving an indication that a remote node within a cluster of nodes is to be backed up, wherein;

the remote node does not have a restore agent, does not have a backup client and does not have dedicated backup software;

the remote node is a node not local in either physical space or virtual space; and

the cluster of nodes provides failover clustering services provided by an operating system for the cluster of nodes;

wherein the failover clustering services are provided by the operating system to;

improve highly available capability for server services; and

avoid single node failure;

taking a remote snapshot of a data associated with the remote node within a cluster of nodes by using a remote backup snapshot facility, wherein;

the remote backup snapshot facility is included in a basic distribution of the operating system; and

the remote backup snapshot facility does not need to be installed on top of any software provided by the basic distribution of the operating system;

recording a set of backup data components close to a time associated with taking the remote snapshot; and

remotely restoring the data by interpreting the remote snapshot with the set of backup data components to reconstruct a local restore of the operating system.