Client based backups and backup indexing

• US 9,659,021 B1
• Filed: 11/20/2013
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zak, Dorota, Dobrean, Adrian, Owens, Kenneth William, Papadakis, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Debbie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mobin, Hasanul
• Application Number:
  US14/085,511
• Time in Patent Office: 1,280 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06

Abstract

Systems and methods for backing up a client or a client'"'"'s data are disclosed. A client is configured with an agent that enables data of the client to be backed up to a device without a backup server. Indexing information is also stored with the backup.

Claims

1. A method for backing up data of a client, the method comprising:

initializing a backup operation to backup data associated with a client device;

identifying a destination device for a backup of the data;

creating indexing information for the backup, wherein the indexing information includes metadata for each file included in the backup;

creating a backup save set of the data associated with the client device based on parameters without a backup server, wherein the save set and the indexing information are included in a backup that is stored on the destination device, wherein the backup is configured such that the backup can be restored without a backup server and is configured to be incorporated into backups managed by the backup server, wherein the backup is configured to be restored by the backup server when incorporated into the backups managed by the backup up server; and

storing the backup on the destination device, wherein a path name of the backup on the destination device includes at least some of the parameters used in creating the backup.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the parameters for the backup operation, the parameters including one or more of the destination device, an identifier that identifies an application associated with the backup, a plug-in id, a subspace, a root index, or a name of the client device that initialized the backup.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a timestamp for the operation, wherein the timestamp is included at least in the indexing information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the indexing information includes records for each file in the save set and wherein the indexing information or the save set is created by an atomic operation.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing the backup in a directory identified by the path name.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a lock file while the backup is being created; and

removing the lock file after the backup is completed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple backups are stored on the destination device, further comprising performing a lookup operation for a particular backup using a lookup strategy to improve performance of the lookup operation, wherein the lookup strategy is at least one of a caching strategy, a timestamp strategy, a lookup by backup strategy, a subspace strategy, or a root index strategy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device determines where and how the backup is stored.

9. A system for enabling a client to backup of data of the client on a destination device such that the backup is created independently of a backup server, the system comprising:

an agent installed on a client that includes a processor, the agent configured to perform a backup operation of data associated with the client to generate a backup of the data, the agent configured to;

perform a backup operation of the data of the client based on one or more parameters that are received by the agent or that are automatically identified by the agent without a backup server, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a destination device;

create indexing information on the destination device, the indexing information including a timestamp;

creating a save set of the data on the destination device, wherein the backup includes the save set and the indexing information and is uniquely associated with the timestamp, wherein a pathname of the backup on the destination device includes at least some of the one or more parameters used in performing the backup operation; and

storing the save set on the destination device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameters include one or more of the destination device, a plugin-id, a client-name, an index, a subspace or a root index.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the agent generates the timestamp by causing an atomic file creation to be performed such that the timestamp is unique.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the backup is stored in a directory identified by the path name.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the agent is configured to create a lock file in the directory with the indexing information file and the save set, wherein the lock file and the indexing information file and the save set are related by the timestamp, wherein the agent is configured to remove the lock file after the backup is completed successfully, wherein the backup is deemed unreliable if the lock file remains in a directory associated with the backup.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the agent comprises an index lookup module configured to enhance at least lookup operations for one of the backups stored on the destination device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the index lookup module includes:

a timestamp module configured to perform a lookup request in the backups based on a time provided to the agent via a user interface, wherein the agent presents results of the lookup request sorted according to the time provided to the agent;

a lookup by strategy module that performs the lookup request based on how the backups were created or based on the applications associated with the backups;

a subspace module that performs the lookup request based on a subspace associated with the backup; and

a root index module that performs the lookup request based on the root index associated with the backups.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the agent is configured to group the backups of the data of the client according to a subspace or a root index and the agent is configured to perform backup operations, lookup operations, and delete operations based on one or more of the parameters.

17. A method for performing a backup operation for data of a client, the method comprising:

presenting a user interface on a display device associated with a client;

receiving input via the user interface, wherein the input includes at least one of the parameters for performing the backup operation;

performing the backup operation without a backup server, wherein the parameters identify at least destination device for a backup of the data of the client, the backup including an indexing information file and a save set file;

creating the indexing information file in a directory of the destination device and the save set file in the directory;

obtaining a timestamp when the indexing information file or the save set file is created, wherein the timestamp is unique to the backup; and

storing the save set in the directory with the indexing information file without involving a backup server, wherein at least some of the parameters used in performing the backup operation are included in a pathname of the save set on the destination device and wherein the save set is configured to be incorporated into backups maintained by the backup server.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein some of the parameters are included in a path of the directory, further comprising ensuring that the backup is complete and valid using a lock file that is associated with the timestamp and that is removed from the directory when the backup operation is completed.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing a lookup operation for at least one backup stored on the destination device, wherein the lookup operation is based on at least one strategy to improve a performance of the lookup operation, the at least one strategy including a strategy based on the timestamp, a strategy based on how the backup was created, a strategy based on a subspace of the indexing information file, or a strategy based on a root index of the indexing information file.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the parameters include one or more of the destination device, a plugin-id, a client-name, an index, a subspace or a root index.