View generator for managing data storage

• US 9,684,739 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2007
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Ogata, Scott, Starling, Jennifer, Auchmoody, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Uddin, Md. I
• Application Number:
  US11/747,567
• Time in Patent Office: 3,693 Days
• Field of Search: 707683, 707736, 707737, 707E17014, 709223, 709225, 709229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing

Abstract

Views of files in an archival data storage system are generated by a backup view generator. A storage application generates and stores archival data in an archive system, the archival data corresponding to client data stored on a server or in memory associated with one or more client nodes. The storage application also generates backup files of the archival data which may be stored in a local memory. A set of metadata attributes are associated with each of the backup files. The backup views are generated by comparing metadata values in a view definition file to the sets of attributes associated with the backup files. Generated backup views can be exported for processing, including searching the backup views or displaying the backup views in a user interface.

Claims

1. A method for generating different views of archived data or backups, comprising:

repeatedly producing backups of data in a client system, wherein the backups are stored in a data storage management system in a memory separately from the data which is stored by a server in the client system, wherein the backups are natively stored as files and directories, wherein a set of metadata attributes is associated with the backups, the files and directories of the backups being stored according to a first retention policy, wherein the backups correspond to different points in time and wherein new backups are added to the backups over time;

receiving user input specifying one or more user-defined criteria for determining which files or directories included in the backups are to be part of a backup view, such that those files or directories that meet the user-defined criteria are determined to be part of the backup view;

generating a view definition file that includes the files or directories that are determined to be part of the backup view according to the user-defined criteria, the view definition file including metadata values corresponding to the user-defined criteria, wherein the view definition file is configured to serve as a basis for generating the backup view;

generating the backup view from the backups by;

applying the view definition file to the backups to compare the metadata values of the view definition file to the set of metadata attributes associated with the backups and

searching the backups to identify files in the backups that satisfy the user-defined criteria used to generate the view definition file,

wherein one or more files resulting from the search are associated with the backup view, and wherein the one or more files associated with the backup view is the portion of the data included in the backups that satisfies the user-defined criteria included in the view definition file;

storing the generated backup view and corresponding metadata for an associated retention period in the memory of the data storage management system, wherein the specified files or directories in the generated backup view are stored according to a second retention policy that is different than the first retention policy used for the backups;

receiving a request for the backup view for processing, wherein processing the requested backup view includes processing data in the backup to identify and display the one or more files that are included in the backup view;

periodically applying the view definition file to the backups after the view definition file has been created such that the same backup view is updated to include files or directories that were backed up after the view definition file was generated in addition to the files and directories that were backed up before the view definition file was generated; and

exporting the backup view to a client device such that the files and directories included in the backup view are searchable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the backups and the associated metadata attributes are generated by a high efficiency storage application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data in the backups are logically related to each other, but comprise portions of backups of a plurality of different physical systems.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a view definition file comprises receiving the user input including one or more of the metadata values.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the view definition file includes a setting for a retention period that defines a period of time for retaining the backup view generated from the view definition file and wherein the backup view includes files from different backups.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a backup based on the view definition file, wherein the generated backup includes the one or more files.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the view definition file is usable as a basis for generating both the backups and the backup view.

20. A physical computer-readable media carrying computer-executable instructions that, when executed, carry out the processes recited in claim 1.

8. In a data protection system that stores backups of data of a system, there being a set of metadata attributes associated with each of the backups, a method for generating different views of the backups, the method comprising:

requesting user input for defining a first backup view of the backups and defining a second backup view of the backups, the user input including metadata values, the backups being stored according to at least a first retention policy, the backups stored separately from the data, wherein new backups are included with the backups over time;

receiving user input specifying one or more user-defined criteria for determining which files or directories are to be part of the first backup view, such that those files or directories that meet the user-defined criteria are determined to be part of the first backup view;

in response to receiving the user-defined criteria, generating a first view definition file that includes those one or more files or directories that are determined to be part of the first backup view according to the user-defined criteria, the view definition file being configured to generate the first backup view of files and directories included in the backups, and generating a second view definition file that is configured to generate a second backup view of the files and directories included in the backups, wherein the first backup view and the second backup view are generated from the same backups and include different files;

generating the first backup view from the backups by applying the first view definition file to the backups to compare the metadata values included in the first view definition file to the set of metadata attributes associated with the backups and searching the backups in order to identify one or more files from the files and directories included in the backups to include in the first backup view, wherein the first backup view provides a view of one or more files in the backups whose metadata attributes match the metadata values contained in the first view definition file, and wherein the one or more files of the backups included in the first backup view are configured for processing and viewing by a backup view processing application;

generating the second backup view from the backups by applying the second view definition file to the backups to compare the metadata values included in the second view definition file to the set of metadata attributes associated with the backups and searching the backups in order to identify one or more files from the backups to include in the second backup view, wherein the second backup view provides a view of one or more files in the backups whose metadata attributes match the metadata values contained in the second view definition file, and wherein the one or more files of the backups included in the second backup view are configured for processing and viewing by a backup view processing application;

storing the first backup view and the second backup view in a memory, wherein the specified files or directories in at least the first backup view are stored according to a second retention policy that is different than the first retention policy used for the backups; and

receiving a request for the first backup view, wherein processing the first backup view includes processing the files and directories in the backups to identify the one or more files stored in the memory of the data protection system and associated with the first backup view,

periodically updating the first backup view and the second view by applying the first and second view definition files to the backups including the new backups such that the first backup view and the second backup view include files from backups that are created after the generation of the first and second view definition files;

wherein the first backup view and the second backup view are configured to rearrange the backups according to a logical function such that the first and second backup views correspond to a rearranged backup to simplify access to the data included in the backups, wherein the logical function relates the data in the first and second backup views in a logical structure.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user input includes one or more of:

a setting for a retention period that defines a period of time for retaining the generated backup view;

an identifier for the generated backup view;

a listing of files, directories or both to be included in the generated backup view;

a user identifier;

a date range;

a file type;

or

a file size.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein generating first the backup view comprises providing the first view definition file to a storage application and the storage application generating the first backup view based on the first view definition file.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the generated first backup view and metadata associated with the generated first backup view in memory.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that a retention period for the generated first backup view is expired and deleting the generated first backup view from memory.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a request for the generated first backup view from a processing application and providing the generated first backup view and the metadata associated with the generated first backup view to the processing application for processing.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the processing application processes the generated first backup view and metadata associated with the generated first backup view by one or more of displaying the generated first backup view in a user interface and searching the first generated backup view, wherein displaying the generated first backup view includes displaying the one or more files of the backups included in the first backup view.

15. A data storage management system communicably connected to one or more client systems and an archive storage system, wherein the data storage management system stores backups of the data of the one or more client systems and wherein the data of the one or more client systems is stored in a memory of the one or more client systems and made available to clients by servers, the data management system comprising:

a storage application for generating and storing archive data to the archive storage system, wherein the archive data includes a copy of client data generated by the client systems, the storage application also generating backups of the client data, wherein a set of metadata attributes is associated with each of the backups and wherein each of the backups is stored as files and directories in the data storage management system, the files and directories of the backups being stored according to a first retention policy, wherein the data storage management system is separate from the client systems;

a receiver for receiving user input specifying one or more user-defined criteria for determining which files or directories are to be part of a backup view, such that those files or directories that meet the user-defined criteria are determined to be part of the backup view;

a first backup view definition file including those one or more files or directories that are determined to be part of the backup view according to the user-defined criteria, the first backup view definition file including metadata values, the first backup view definition file defined from user input and configured to fabricate a first view of some of the files and directories included in backups according to the user input;

a second backup view definition file including metadata values, the second backup view definition file defined from user input and configured to fabricate a second view of some of the files and directories included in the backups, wherein the first view and the second view each include files identified from the files and directories included in the backups; and

a backup view generator that generates;

a first backup view of the backups by applying the first view definition file to the backups to compare the first backup view definition file to the set of metadata attributes associated with the backups so as to identify, as a result of the comparison, first files and directories from the backups to be associated with the first backup view, wherein the first backup view represents a portion of the backups and the first backup view identifies some of files and directories associated with one of the client systems and wherein the first backup view is configured to be exported and searched, wherein the files and directories associated with the first backup view is exported and searched, and wherein the backup view generator stores the first backup view and corresponding metadata for an associated retention period, wherein new backups are included with the backups over time;

a second backup view of the backups by applying the second view definition file to the backups to compare the second backup view definition file to the set of metadata attributes associated with the backups so as to identify, as a result of the comparison, second files and directories from the backups to be associated with the second backup view, wherein the second backup view represents a different portion of the backups than the first backup view and wherein the backup view generator stores the second backup view and corresponding metadata for an associated retention period;

wherein the backup view generator periodically updates the first backup view and the second view by applying the first and second view definition files to the backups including the new backups such that contents of the first and second backup view change each time the first and second view definition files are applied to the backups;

and

a memory, wherein the backups, the first and second view definition files and the first and second backup views are stored in the memory, wherein the specified files or directories in at least the first backup view are stored according to a second retention policy that is different than the first retention policy used for the backups.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the storage application comprises a content addressed storage application.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a backup view processing application for processing backup views, wherein the backup view processing application processes the first backup view by searching the backup views for specific information or files.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising presorting the first backup view and the second backup view in anticipation of a request for the first backup view or the second backup view.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the first backup view definition file comprises metadata values, user-specified values, or both, and wherein the backup view generator is operable to synthesize, using a backup view definition file, new backups from existing content included in the client data.