Partial sharing of secondary storage files in a data storage system

• US 9,483,489 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Varadharajan, Prakash, Vibhor, Anand, Karandikar, Amey Vijaykumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Casanova, Jorge A
• Application Number:
  US14/152,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20140201142A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

The data storage system according to certain aspects can allow users to share a portion of a file (e.g., a document) in secondary storage. The user may specify a portion of a secondary storage file to share and send a link to the portion to another user. The other user can access the shared portion from the link, and just the shared portion may be restored from secondary storage. The data storage system according to certain aspects can also provide a native view of secondary storage data on a client computer. The index data and/or metadata relating to secondary storage data may be stored in native format (e.g., format of the application(s) that generated the secondary storage data) so that the secondary storage data can be displayed in a native view. The index data and/or metadata may be synchronized on the client without synchronizing the secondary storage data itself.

Claims

1. A method of sharing a portion of a file in secondary storage, the method comprising:

using one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware;

copying a plurality of files residing in a primary storage subsystem to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem to generate secondary copies of each of the plurality of files;

creating index data associated with the secondary copies of the plurality of files, the index data stored in the secondary storage subsystem and including information sufficient to display at least some of the secondary copies of the plurality of files in a native view within a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed to a user of a client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem, the native view configured to include a representation of a file system structure, wherein the at least some of the secondary copies are presented and selectable within the native view;

receiving, from the client computing device, a request to share a portion of the secondary copy of a first file of the plurality of files, the request initiated via selection of the secondary copy of the first file in the native view provided by the GUI;

in response to the request, generating a link to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file, the link including a reference to a secondary copy offset in the secondary copy of the first file that corresponds to a position of the portion within the first file; and

in response to receipt of an indication of a user selection of the link, causing a restore of the portion of the secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices for presentation to a user, without restoring the entire secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the link comprises a start secondary storage offset and an end secondary storage offset corresponding to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the link is authenticated to provide access to only an authorized entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the link is usable to view a preview of the portion of the secondary copy of the first file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the index data comprises content index data associated with the plurality of files, and the link is a link to a portion of the content index data corresponding to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file to be shared.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first file is stored in a native format associated with a software application used to view the first file.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the index data comprises metadata relating to the first file generated by the software application, the method further comprising sending the metadata to the primary storage subsystem, thereby synchronizing the metadata between the secondary storage subsystem and the primary storage subsystem for access by the client computing device in providing the native view.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user selection of the link is by a user of a second client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem, the method further comprising restoring the portion of the secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices to a storage device residing in the primary storage subsystem and associated with the second client computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the request to share the portion of the secondary copy of the first file, receiving search criteria from the client computing device;

based on the search criteria, electronically searching the plurality of files and determining that the first file meets the search criteria; and

sending search results information to the client computing device, the search results information relating to the first file and used to generate a graphical display corresponding to the first file.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the index data comprises content index data associated with the plurality of files, and said searching comprises using the content index data in determining that the first file meets the search criteria.

11. A data storage system configured to share a portion of a file in secondary storage, the system comprising:

one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem; and

computer hardware configured to execute instructions that cause the computer hardware to;

copy a plurality of files residing in a primary storage subsystem to the one or more secondary storage devices residing in the secondary storage subsystem to generate secondary copies of each of the plurality of files;

create index data associated with the secondary copies of the plurality of files, the index data stored in the secondary storage subsystem and including information sufficient to display at least some of the secondary copies of the plurality of files in a native view within a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed to a user of a client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem, the native view configured to include a representation of a file system structure, wherein the at least some of the secondary copies are presented and selectable within the native view;

receive, from the client computing device, a request to share a portion of the secondary copy of a first file of the plurality of files, the request initiated via selection of the secondary copy of the first file in the native view provided by the GUI;

in response to the request, generate a link to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file, the link including a reference to a secondary copy offset in the secondary copy of the first file that corresponds to a position of the portion within the first file; and

in response to receipt of an indication of a user selection of the link, cause a restore of the portion of the secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices for presentation to a user, without restoring the entire secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the link comprises a start secondary storage offset and an end secondary storage offset corresponding to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the link is authenticated to provide access to only an authorized entity.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the link is usable to view a preview of the portion of the secondary copy of the first file.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the index data comprises content index data associated with the plurality of files, and the link is a link to a portion of the content index data corresponding to the portion of the secondary copy of the first file to be shared.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the first file is stored in a native format associated with a software application used to view the first file.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the index data comprises metadata relating to the first file generated by the software application, and wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to send the metadata to the primary storage subsystem, thereby synchronizing the metadata between the secondary storage subsystem and the primary storage subsystem for access by the client computing device in providing the native view.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the user selection of the link is by a user of a second client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem, the instructions further configured to cause the computer hardware to restore the portion of the secondary copy of the first file from the one or more secondary storage devices to a storage device residing in the primary storage subsystem and associated with the second client computing device.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the computer hardware to:

prior to the receipt of the request to share the portion of the secondary copy of the first file, receive search criteria from the client computing device;

based on the search criteria, electronically search the plurality of files and determine that the first file meets the search criteria; and

send search results information to the client computing device, the search results information relating to the first file and used to generate a graphical display corresponding to the first file.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the index data comprises content index data associated with the plurality of files, and the search comprises using the content index data in the determination that the first file meets the search criteria.