Archiving applications in information management systems

• US 9,848,046 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2014
• Issued: 12/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Mehta, Bhavyan Bharatkumar, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Chatterjee, Tirthankar, Ahn, Jun H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Whipple, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROTOLO, ANTHONY T
• Application Number:
  US14/540,988
• Publication Number:
  US 20160142482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons

Abstract

According to certain aspects, an information management system can include a client computing device residing in a primary storage subsystem configured to: identify a first application to archive to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem, the first application being one of a plurality of applications installed on the client computing device; identify first data associated with the first application, the first data stored in the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device; forward an executable instance of the first application and the first data to a first secondary storage controller computer to copy the executable instance of the first application and the first data to the one or more secondary storage devices; and delete the first application from the one or more primary storage devices.

Claims

1. An information management system configured to archive applications residing on one or more client computing devices comprising:

one or more secondary storage controller computers including computer hardware, the one or more secondary storage controller computers configured to copy data for storage from a primary storage subsystem to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem; and

a client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem and comprising computer hardware, the client computing device configured to;

identify a first application to archive to the one or more secondary storage devices, the first application being one of a plurality of applications installed on the client computing device;

identify first data associated with the first application, the first data stored in the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

cause the first application to be archived by forwarding an executable instance of the first application and the first data to a first secondary storage controller computer of the one or more secondary storage controller computers, wherein the first secondary storage controller computer copies the executable instance of the first application and the first data to the one or more secondary storage devices;

delete the first application from the one or more primary storage devices;

detect an update to the archived first application;

determine, based on an operating system installed on the client computing device being iOS, that it is not possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application;

in response to determining that it is not possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application, cause both the executable instance of the first application and the first data associated with the first application to be restored to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

apply the update to the restored first application; and

cause the updated restored first application to be re-archived.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the client computing device is further configured to:

receive a request to restore the first application;

determine at least a portion of the copied data associated with the first application on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

instruct the one or more secondary storage controller computers to copy the at least a portion to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instance of the first application comprises a binary file.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the client computing device is configured to identify the first application based on one or more of:

frequency of use, application type, amount of application data, amount of application storage space, and location of the client computing device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein an application of the plurality of applications is associated with a geographical area or location, and wherein the client computing device is configured to identify the application as the first application in response to determining that a location of the client computing device is not in the geographical area or location.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the client computing device is one or more of:

a mobile phone and a tablet device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the client computing device is further configured to maintain a list of applications identified for archival, the list comprising one or more of:

application identifier, application version, and archive identifier.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the client computing device is further configured to generate a placeholder for the first application, the placeholder comprising information for restoring at least a portion of the executable instance of the first application and the first data that is associated with the first application.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the client computing device is further configure to generate an icon for the first application to be displayed in a user interface of the client computing device, the icon indicating that the first application has been archived to the one or more secondary storage devices.

10. A method of archiving applications residing on one or more client computing devices, the method comprising:

using a client computing device residing in a primary storage subsystem and comprising computer hardware;

identifying a first application to archive to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem, the first application being one of a plurality of applications installed on the client computing device, wherein data associated with the first application is stored on one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

identifying first data associated with the first application, the first data stored in one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

archiving the first application by forwarding an executable instance of the first application and the first data to a first secondary storage controller computer of one or more secondary storage controller computers including computer hardware, the one or more secondary storage controller computers configured to copy data for storage from the primary storage subsystem to the one or more secondary storage devices residing in the secondary storage subsystem, wherein the first secondary storage controller computer copies the executable instance of the first application and the first data to the one or more secondary storage devices;

deleting the first application from the one or more primary storage devices;

detecting an update to the archived first application;

determining, based on an operating system installed on the client computing device being iOS, that it is not possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application;

in response to determining that it is not possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application, restoring both the executable instance of the first application and the first data associated with the first application to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

applying the update to the restored first application; and

re-archiving the updated restored first application.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a request to restore the first application;

determining at least a portion of the copied data associated with the first application on the one or more secondary storage devices; and

instructing the one or more secondary storage controller computers to copy the at least a portion to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the executable instance of the first application comprises a binary file.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the identification of the first application is based on one or more of:

frequency of use, application type, amount of application data, amount of application storage space, and location of the client computing device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein an application of the plurality of applications is associated with a geographical area or location, the method further comprising identifying the application as the first application in response to determining that a location of the client computing device is not in the geographical area or location.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the client computing device is one or more of:

a mobile phone and a tablet device.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising maintaining a list of applications identified for archival, the list comprising one or more of:

application identifier, application version, and archive identifier.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a placeholder for the first application, the placeholder comprising information for restoring at least a portion of the executable instance of the first application and the first data that is associated with the first application.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating an icon for the first application to be displayed in a user interface of the client computing device, the icon indicating that the first application has been archived to the one or more secondary storage devices.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising re-archiving the updated restored first application upon determining that the first application has not been accessed for a threshold period of time.

20. The method of claim 10, further comprising detecting the update to the archived first application based on a user request to update the first application.

21. A method of archiving applications residing on one or more client computing devices, the method comprising:

using a client computing device residing in a primary storage subsystem and comprising computer hardware;

identifying a first application to archive to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem, the first application being one of a plurality of applications installed on the client computing device, wherein data associated with the first application is stored on one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

identifying first data associated with the first application, the first data stored in one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

archiving the first application by forwarding an executable instance of the first application and the first data to a first secondary storage controller computer of one or more secondary storage controller computers including computer hardware, the one or more secondary storage controller computers configured to copy data for storage from the primary storage subsystem to the one or more secondary storage devices residing in the secondary storage subsystem, wherein the first secondary storage controller computer copies the executable instance of the first application and the first data to the one or more secondary storage devices;

deleting the first application from the one or more primary storage devices;

detecting an update to the archived first application;

determining, based on an operating system installed on the client computing device being Android, that it is possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application;

in response to determining that it is possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application, restoring the executable instance of the first application, but not the first data associated with the first application, to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

applying the update to the restored first application; and

re-archiving the updated restored first application.

22. An information management system configured to archive applications residing on one or more client computing devices comprising:

one or more secondary storage controller computers including computer hardware, the one or more secondary storage controller computers configured to copy data for storage from a primary storage subsystem to one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem; and

a client computing device residing in the primary storage subsystem and comprising computer hardware, the client computing device configured to;

identify a first application to archive to the one or more secondary storage devices, the first application being one of a plurality of applications installed on the client computing device;

identify first data associated with the first application, the first data stored in the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

cause the first application to be archived by forwarding an executable instance of the first application and the first data to a first secondary storage controller computer of the one or more secondary storage controller computers, wherein the first secondary storage controller computer copies the executable instance of the first application and the first data to the one or more secondary storage devices;

delete the first application from the one or more primary storage devices;

detect an update to the archived first application;

determine, based on an operating system installed on the client computing device being Android, that it is possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application;

in response to determining that it is possible to update only the executable instance of the first application without also updating the first data associated with the first application, cause the executable instance of the first application, but not the first data associated with the first application, to be restored to the one or more primary storage devices associated with the client computing device;

apply the update to the restored first application; and

cause the updated restored first application to be re-archived.