Database protection using block-level mapping

• US 10,191,819 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2017
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Dornemann, Henry Wallace, Pawar, Rahul S., Ahn, Jun H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vy, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US15/473,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 671 Days
• Field of Search: 711163, 711114, 711165, 711205, 707622, 707680
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; 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], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1727 Details of free space management performed by the file system saving storage space on storage systems G06F3/0608; management of blocks in storage devices G06F3/064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1827 Management specifically adapted to NAS management of storage area networks [SAN] G06F3/067
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/184 implemented as replicated file system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/214 Database migration support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• 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 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 : Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 : in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 : Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 : Management of files
• 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]

Abstract

A system according to certain aspects may include a client computing device including: a database application configured to output a database file in a primary storage device(s), the database application outputting the database file as a series of application-level blocks; and a data agent configured to divide the database file into a plurality of first blocks having a first granularity larger than a second granularity of the application-level blocks such that each of the first blocks spans a plurality of the application-level blocks. The system may include a secondary storage controller computer(s) configured to: in response to instructions to create a secondary copy of the database file: copy the plurality of first blocks to a secondary storage device(s) to create a secondary copy of the database file; and create a table that provides a mapping between the copied plurality of first blocks and corresponding locations on the secondary storage device(s).

Claims

1. A data storage system for protecting database files, the system comprising:

one or more primary storage devices that store a plurality of application-level blocks associated with a database, and one or more secondary storage devices that store a secondary copy of the database with a plurality of storage blocks, the plurality of storage blocks having a first granularity that is larger than a second granularity of the application-specific blocks;

an index stored in memory that maps the plurality of storage blocks with corresponding application-level blocks, wherein each of the plurality of storage blocks in the secondary copy spans a plurality of the application-level blocks;

in response to instructions to retrieve one or more requested application-level blocks associated with of a database file from the secondary copy, one or more secondary storage controller computers comprising computer hardware are configured to;

access the index that provides a mapping between the plurality of requested application-level blocks and corresponding plurality of storage blocks;

retrieve the corresponding plurality of storage blocks from the secondary copy; and

a data agent executing on one or more computer processors and configured to divide the corresponding plurality of storage blocks retrieved from the secondary copy into the one or more requested application-level blocks; and

a database application executing on one or more computer processors, the database application in communication with the data agent, the database application configured to receive the requested application-level blocks from the data agent.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first granularity of the plurality of storage blocks is based on the size of a read operation by the database application.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first granularity of the plurality of storage blocks is a multiple of the size of an application-level block.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the index comprises one or more indexes associated with the one or more secondary storage controller computers.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each block of the corresponding plurality of storage blocks has a unique identifier (ID).

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the index comprises columns relating to at least:

the secondary copy of the database file, a storage block of the corresponding plurality of storage blocks in the secondary copy of the database file, a backup file identifier for a location of the storage block in the one or more secondary storage devices, and a backup file offset for the location of the storage block in the one or more secondary storage devices.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the data agent is further configured to request restore of a database object from the secondary copy of the database file.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the secondary copy of the database file is provided as a file system in a user interface, and the database object is accessed through the file system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a second data agent executing on one or more computer processors, the second data agent is configured to divide the corresponding plurality of storage blocks retrieved from the secondary copy into the one or more requested application-level blocks.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the index is stored separately from the plurality of corresponding storage blocks.

11. A method of protecting database files, the method comprising:

storing a plurality of application-level blocks associated with a database on one or more primary storage devices and storing a secondary copy of the database with a plurality of storage blocks on one or more secondary storage devices, the plurality of storage blocks having a first granularity that is larger than a second granularity of the application-specific blocks;

storing an index in memory that maps the plurality of storage blocks with corresponding application-level blocks wherein each of the plurality of storage blocks in the secondary copy spans a plurality of the application-level blocks;

in response to instructions to retrieve one or more requested application-level blocks of a database file from the secondary copy;

accessing the index with one or more computer processors, the index mapping the plurality of requested application-level blocks with a corresponding plurality of storage blocks stored in the secondary copy;

retrieving the corresponding plurality of storage blocks from the secondary copy; and

dividing, with one or more computer processors, the corresponding plurality of storage blocks retrieved from the secondary copy into the one or more requested application-level blocks; and

receiving at a database application executing on the processor, the requested application-level blocks.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first granularity of the plurality of storage blocks is based on the size of a read operation by the database application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first granularity of the plurality of storage blocks is a multiple of the size of an application-level block.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the index comprises one or more indexes associated with the one or more secondary storage controller computers.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein each copied block of the plurality of storage blocks has a unique identifier (ID).

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the index comprises columns relating to at least:

the secondary copy of the database file, a storage block of the corresponding plurality of storage blocks in the secondary copy of the database file, a backup file identifier for a location of the storage block in the one or more secondary storage devices, and a backup file offset for the location of the storage block in the one or more secondary storage devices.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising, with the data agent, requesting restore of a database object from the secondary copy of the database file.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the secondary copy of the database file is provided as a file system in a user interface, and the database object is accessed through the file system.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein dividing the corresponding plurality of storage blocks retrieved from the secondary copy into the one or more requested application-level blocks is performed by a remotely located pseudo data agent.