Client-side repository in a networked deduplicated storage system

• US 10,191,816 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2015
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Vijayan, Manoj Kumar, Attarde, Deepak Raghunath, Joshi, Hetalkumar N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Torgrimson, Tyler J
• Application Number:
  US14/673,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20150205681A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques

Abstract

A storage system according to certain embodiments includes a client-side repository (CSR). The CSR may communicate with a client at a higher data transfer rate than the rate used for communication between the client and secondary storage. During copy operations, for instance, some or all of the data being backed up or otherwise copied to secondary storage is stored in the CSR. During restore operations, copies of the data stored in the CSR is accessed from the CSR instead of from secondary storage, improving performance. Remaining data blocks not stored in the CSR can be restored from secondary storage.

Claims

1. A method for restoring data to a client system from one or more secondary storage devices, the method comprising:

performing with a media agent executing in or more computer processors, a secondary copy operation that copies a plurality of data blocks associated with one or more primary storage devices in a client system to one or more secondary storage devices located remotely from the one or more primary storage devices;

copying at least a portion of the data blocks and a first copy of hash signatures associated with the portion of the data blocks to a client-side repository comprising at least computer memory, wherein the client-side repository is different than the one or more secondary storage devices;

populating an index in communication with the media agent with a second copy of the hash signatures associated with the plurality of the data blocks stored in the one or more secondary storage devices;

receiving a request to restore data to the client system;

querying the client-side repository with the second copy of the hash signature from the index to determine whether the first copy of the hash signature is stored in the client-side repository;

if the querying the client-side repository with the second copy of the hash signature indicates that client-side repository is populated with the first hash signature, accessing the at least one data block associated with the restore data from the client-side repository;

if the querying the client-side repository with the second copy of the hash signature indicates that the client-side repository is not populated with the first hash signature, accessing the at least one data block associated with the restore data from the one or more secondary storage devices; and

monitoring the usage of the client-side repository and the one or more secondary storage devices and pruning the data in the client-side repository based at least in part on the percentage of data restored from the client-side repository.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the client system communicates with the client-side repository via a local area network and the client system communicates with the one or more secondary storage devices via a wide area network.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising consulting age information to determine the time of the creation of the secondary copy in secondary storage of at least one data block associated with the restore data.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the age information comprises a copy session identifier identifying a particular copy session associated with the at least one data block associated with the restore data.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the age information is indicative of when the at least one data block associated with the restore data was stored at the one or more secondary storage devices.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the age information is indicative of when the at least one data block associated with the restore data was stored at the one or more secondary storage devices relative to when one or more other data blocks were stored at the one or more secondary storage devices.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the age information provides an indication as to the likelihood that the at least one data block associated with the restore data was pruned from the client-side repository.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the media agent performs the query of the client-side repository when the age information satisfies a threshold age.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary copy of the plurality of data blocks were previously copied to the one or more secondary storage devices during a backup operation.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary copy of the plurality of data blocks were previously copied to the one or more secondary storage devices during a replication operation.

11. A storage system comprising:

computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors;

one or more primary storage devices that store a plurality of data blocks created by a client system;

one or more secondary storage devices located remotely from the one or more primary storage devices, the one or more secondary storage devices storing a secondary copy of the plurality of data blocks;

a client-side repository comprising at least computer memory that is different than the one or more secondary storage devices, the client-side repository stores copies of at least a portion the data blocks copied to the one or more secondary storage devices and stores a first copy of the hash signatures associated with the portion of the data blocks;

an index comprising at least computer memory, the index storing at least a second copy of the hash signatures associated with the plurality of the data blocks stored in the one or more secondary storage devices;

a media agent that executes on at least one of the one or more processors, the media agent configured to receive a request to restore data to the client system, the media agent further configured to;

identify at least one of the second copy of the hash signatures that are associated with at least one data block of the restore data;

query the client-side repository with the at least one of the second copy of the hash signatures to determine whether the first copy of the hash signature is stored in the client-side repository, and

if the query of the client-side repository with the second copy of the hash signature indicates that client-side repository is populated with the first hash signature, the media agent retrieves the at least one data block associated with the restore data from the client-side repository; and

if the query of the client-side repository with the second copy of the hash signature indicates that the client-side repository is not populated with the first hash signature, the media agent retrieves the at least one data block associated with the restore data from the one or more secondary storage devices; and

a storage manager that monitors the usage of the client-side repository and the one or more secondary storage devices and pruning the data in the client-side repository based at least in part on the percentage of data restored from the client-side repository.

12. The storage system of claim 11 wherein the client system communicates with the client-side repository via a local area network and the client system communicates with the one or more secondary storage devices via a wide area network.

13. The storage system of claim 11 wherein the media agent consults age information to determine the time of the creation of the secondary copy in secondary storage of at least one data block associated with the restore data.

14. The storage system of claim 13 wherein the age information comprises a copy session identifier identifying a particular copy session associated with the at least one data block associated with the restore data.

15. The storage system of claim 13 wherein the age information is indicative of when the at least one data block associated with the restore data was stored at the one or more secondary storage devices.

16. The storage system of claim 13 wherein the age information is indicative of when the at least one data block associated with the restore data was stored at the one or more secondary storage devices relative to when one or more other data blocks were stored in the one or more secondary storage devices.

17. The storage system of claim 13 wherein the age information provides an indication as to the likelihood that the at least one data block associated with the restore data was pruned from the client-side repository.

18. The storage system of claim 13 wherein the media agent performs the query of the client-side repository when the age information satisfies a threshold age.

19. The storage system of claim 11 wherein the secondary copy of the plurality of data blocks were previously copied to the one or more secondary storage devices during a backup operation.

20. The storage system of claim 11 wherein the secondary copy of the plurality of data blocks were previously copied to the one or more secondary storage devices during a replication operation.