Single snapshot for multiple agents

• US 10,853,176 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2018
• Issued: 12/01/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumarasamy, Paramasivam, Vallabhaneni, Brahmaiah, Bangalore, Prashanth Nagabhushana, Nallathambi, Vimal Kumar, Zakharkin, Dmitriy Borisovich
• Primary Examiner(s): Shanmugasundaram, Kannan
• Application Number:
  US15/888,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20180232278A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1402 Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
• 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 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0614 Improving the reliability of storage systems
• 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 data storage system according to certain aspects can share a single snapshot for multiple applications and/or agents. For example, the data storage system can receive snapshot commands from multiple applications and/or agents, and can group them for a single snapshot (e.g., based on time of receipt of the snapshot commands). Data associated with the multiple applications and/or agents may reside on a single LUN or volume. The data storage system can take a single snapshot of the LUN or volume, and generate metadata regarding which portion of the snapshot is related to which application. The single snapshot can be stored in one or more secondary storage devices. The single snapshot may be partitioned into portions relating to different applications and stored separately.

Claims

1. A method of generating a snapshot of data, the method comprising:

receiving a first snapshot request from a first client computing device, wherein the first snapshot request is a request to take a snapshot of first data, the first snapshot request having a first time of receipt;

receiving a second snapshot request from a second client computing device, wherein the second snapshot request is a request to take a snapshot of second data, the second snapshot request having a second time of receipt after the first time, wherein the first and second data are stored on different logical volumes;

grouping, using one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, the first and second snapshot requests together in response to a determination that the second time of receipt is within a specified period of time after the first time of receipt, wherein the specified period of time is specified in an information management policy;

obtaining a snapshot storing the first and second data associated with the grouped first and second snapshot requests;

and

storing the snapshot in a secondary storage subsystem.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first snapshot request is associated with a first application executing on the first client computing device and the second snapshot request is associated with a second application executing on the second client computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising quiescing the first and second applications prior to said obtaining the snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first snapshot is associated with a first agent executing on the first client computing device and the second snapshot request is associated with a second agent executing on the second client computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing the snapshot in the secondary storage subsystem comprises:

generating, using the one or more computing devices, mapping data identifying a first portion of the snapshot associated with the first client computing device and a second portion of the snapshot associated with the second client computing device;

partitioning the snapshot into the first and second portions; and

storing the first and second portions in the secondary storage subsystem.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a third snapshot request is designated as a master snapshot request, the third snapshot request having an earliest respective time of receipt within the specified period of time.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing the mapping data in one or more of:

a system table or a system catalog.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a request to restore the first data from the snapshot in the secondary storage subsystem; and

restoring the first data based on the mapping data.

9. An information management system configured to generate a snapshot of data, the system comprising:

one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware; and

a snapshot manager installed on the one or more computing devices and configured to;

receive a first snapshot request to take a snapshot of first data associated with a first information management component, the first snapshot request having a first time of receipt;

receive a second snapshot request to take a snapshot of second data associated with a second information management component, the second snapshot request having a second time of receipt after the first time, wherein the first and second data are stored on different logical volumes;

group the first and second snapshot requests together into a grouped snapshot request in response to a determination that the second time of receipt is within a specified period of time after the first time of receipt, wherein the specified period of time is specified in an information management policy;

execute a snapshot corresponding to the grouped snapshot request; and

generate data identifying a first portion of the snapshot associated with the first information management component and identifying a second portion of the snapshot associated with the second information management component.

10. The information management system of claim 9, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to determine that the first and second data reside on the same primary storage subsystem, and wherein the grouping of the first and second snapshot requests is in response to the determination that the second time of receipt is within the specified period of time after the first time of receipt and based on the determination that the first and second data reside on the same primary storage subsystem.

11. The information management system of claim 9, wherein the first information management component comprises a first application and the second information management component comprises a second application.

12. The information management system of claim 9, wherein the first information management component comprises a first data agent executing on a first client device and the second information management component comprises a second data agent executing on a second client device.

13. The information management system of claim 9, wherein the snapshot manager installed on the one or more computing devices is further configured to:

generate data identifying a first portion of the snapshot associated with the first information management component and identifying a second portion of the snapshot associated with the second information management component;

partition the snapshot into a plurality of portions corresponding to at least the first and second information management components associated with the grouped snapshot requests; and

store the plurality of portions in a secondary storage subsystem.

14. The information management system of claim 9, wherein a third snapshot request is designated as a master snapshot request, the third snapshot request having an earliest respective time of receipt within the specified period of time.

15. The information management system of claim 11, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to quiesce the first and second applications prior to obtaining the grouped snapshot.

16. The information management system of claim 13, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to store the data identifying the first and second portions in one or more of:

a system table or a system catalog.

17. The information management system of claim 13, wherein the snapshot manager is further configured to:

receive a request to restore the first data from the grouped snapshot in the secondary storage subsystem; and

restore the first data the from the first portion of the grouped snapshot based on the data identifying the first and second portions.