Secondary storage operation instruction tags in information management systems

• US 9,933,964 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2017
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Mutha, Manas Bhikchand, Bedadala, Pavan Kumar Reddy, Dhatrak, Vinit Dilip, Alonzo, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): ELMORE, STEPHEN C
• Application Number:
  US15/589,593
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 330 Days
• Field of Search: 711162, 711154, 711156, 707610, 707633, 707634, 707637, 707638, 707639, 707640, 707649, 707661, 707673
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

According to certain aspects, a system can include a client computing device configured to: in response to user interaction, store an identifier associated with a first tag in association with a first file; and in response to instructions to perform a secondary copy operation, forward the first file, a second file, and the identifier associated with the first tag. The system may also include a secondary storage controller computer(s) configured to: based on a review of the identifier associated with the first tag, identify the first file as having been tagged with the first tag; electronically obtain rules associated with the first tag; perform on the first file at least a first secondary storage operation specified by the rules associated with the first tag; and perform on the second file at least a second secondary storage operation, wherein the first and second secondary storage operations are different.

Claims

1. A system configured to apply granular secondary storage operation management, the system comprising:

one or more secondary storage controller computers comprising computer hardware configured to copy data from a primary storage subsystem to a secondary storage subsystem;

a plurality of tags wherein at least a first tag is associated with a first file;

a plurality of tag rules, wherein at least a first tag rule is associated with at least a first tag; and

in response to receiving instructions to perform, according to a storage policy, a secondary copy operation on a data set in the primary storage subsystem including at least the first file and a second file one or more secondary storage controller computers are configured to;

electronically access at least a first tag rule associated with the first tag;

perform on the first file at least a first secondary storage operation specified by the first tag rule associated with the first tag; and

perform on the second file at least a second secondary storage operation specified by the storage policy,

wherein the first and second secondary storage operations are different.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tags comprise a tag defined by a system administrator.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tag rules are stored in an index associated with one of the one or more secondary storage controller computers.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a first portion of the plurality of tag rules are stored in a first index associated with a first secondary storage controller computer and a second portion of the plurality of tag rules are stored in a second index associated with a second secondary storage controller computer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a client computing device stores an identifier associated with the first tag with metadata of the first file.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first file is generated by an application executing on a client computing device, and the client computing device is further configured to store an identifier associated with the first tag in association with at least the first file.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a data agent executing on the client computing device provides the plurality of tags to the application.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more secondary storage controller computers are configured to override the storage policy to perform on the first file the at least a first storage operation specified by the first tag rule associated with the first tag.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein a client computing device is configured to create the plurality of tag rules.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein a client computing device is configured to forward the first file and the first tag to one of the secondary storage controller computers by extracting the first tag from metadata of the first file.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least a first secondary storage operation specified by the first tag rule associated with the first tag includes one or more of:

a backup operation, an archiving operation, a migration operation, and a replication operation.

12. A method of applying granular secondary storage operation management, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of tags wherein at least a first tag is associated with a first file stored in a primary storage subsystem;

storing a plurality of tag rules in association with one or more secondary storage controller computers, at least a first tag rule associated with the first tag, wherein the one or more secondary storage controller computers comprising computer hardware configured to copy data from the primary storage subsystem to a secondary storage subsystem;

in response to receiving instructions to perform, according to a storage policy, a secondary copy operation on a data set in the primary storage subsystem including at least the first file and a second file, one or more secondary storage controller computers;

electronically accessing at least the first tag rule associated with the first tag;

performing on the first file at least a first secondary storage operation specified by the first tag rule associated with the first tag; and

performing on the second file at least a second secondary storage operation specified by the storage policy,

wherein the first and second secondary storage operations are different.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of tags comprise a tag defined by a system administrator.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein a first portion of the plurality of tag rules are stored in a first index associated with a first secondary storage controller computer and a second portion of the plurality of tag rules are stored in a second index associated with a second secondary storage controller computer.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein a client computing device stores an identifier associated with the first tag with metadata of the first file.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the first file is generated by an application executing on a client computing device and the method further comprises using the client computing device to store an identifier associated with the first tag in association with at least the first file.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a data agent executing on the client computing device provides the plurality of tags to the application.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more secondary storage controller computers override the storage policy to perform on the first file the at least a first storage operation specified by the first tag rule associated with the first tag.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising, using a client computing device to create the plurality of tag rules.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising extracting the first tag from metadata of the first file.