Systems and methods of information backup

• US 20050172093A1
• Filed: 11/22/2004
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jain, Manmohan
• Granted Patent: US 9,002,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• 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 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2056 by mirroring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2003/0697 device management, e.g. handlers, drivers, I/O schedulers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system for backing up and restoring information, includes at least one computer system including information to be backed up and restored, a storage device for receiving at least part of the information to be backed up and for storing and backing up the information. A controller includes a scheduling system for allowing a user to input into a job queue, a master job indicating one or more portions of the information of the at least one computer system to be backed up or restored, and a job control system that splits the master job into a plurality of smaller jobs and inputs the plurality of smaller jobs into the job queue.

Claims

1. A system for backing up and restoring information, comprising:

at least one computer system including information to be backed up and restored;

a storage device for receiving at least part of the information to be backed up and for storing and backing up the information; and

a controller including a scheduling system for allowing a user to input into a job queue, a master job indicating one or more portions of the information of the at least one computer system to be backed up or restored, and

a job control system that splits the master job into a plurality of smaller jobs and inputs the plurality of smaller jobs into the job queue.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein when the user inputs a master job into the job queue, the user specifies a time for the master job to run, and wherein a job engine periodically scans the job queue for jobs to be run and when it is time for the master job to run, the system splits the master job into the plurality of smaller jobs.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of smaller jobs correspond to backup or restore of a single source entity.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the master job is a backup or restore of the complete computer system and the single source entity is one of a file system and a database of the complete computer system.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the storage device comprises a tape device.

6. The system as recited in claim 5, wherein the tape device comprises a tape library.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one computer system comprises a server system.

8. The method of backing up and restoring information on a computer system, comprising:

inputting into a job queue a master job directing at least one of a backup and a restore to be performed on at least a portion of the information on the computer system at a defined time;

scanning the job queue for a master job to be performed, and when it is time for the master job to be performed, splitting the master job into a plurality of smaller jobs and inputting the plurality of smaller jobs into the job queue;

scanning the job queue for the smaller jobs and when one of the plurality of smaller jobs is detected, determining if a storage device is available; and

starting one of the plurality of smaller jobs for each storage device that is available.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising, as a smaller job is completed, providing an indication that the storage device that was used is again available, and starting another smaller job using the available storage device.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the step of scanning of the job queue for the smaller jobs, the step of starting the one of the plurality of smaller jobs and the step of providing the indication are repeatedly performed until each of the smaller jobs is completed.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the master job includes instructions for perfonming at least one operation before or after the master job is performed.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein an operation to be performed after the master job is performed, is performed after a last smaller job corresponding to the master job is performed.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein an operation to be performed before the master job is performed, is perfonmed before a first smaller job corresponding to the master job is performed.

14. A computer recording medium including computer executable code for backing up and restoring information, comprising:

code for allowing a user to input into a job queue, a master job indicating one or more portions of the information to be backed up or restored; and

code for splitting the master job into a plurality of smaller jobs and inputting the plurality of smaller jobs into the job queue.

15. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the code for allowing the user to input a master job into the job queue, allows the user to specify a time for the master job to run.

16. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 15, further comprising code for periodically scanning the job queue for jobs to be run and when it is time for the master job to run, splitting the master job into the plurality of smaller jobs.

17. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 14, wherein each of the plurality of smaller jobs correspond to backup or restore of a single source entity.

18. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the master job is a backup or restore of a complete computer system and the single source entity is one of a file system and a database of the complete computer system.

19. The computer recording medium including computer executable code for backing up and restoring information on a computer system, comprising:

code for inputting into a job queue a master job directing at least one of a backup and a restore to be performed on at least a portion of the information on the computer system at a defined time;

code for scanning the job queue for a master job to be performed, and when it is time for the master job to be performed, splitting the master job into a plurality of smaller jobs and inputting the plurality of smaller jobs into the job queue;

code for scanning the job queue for the smaller jobs and when one of the plurality of smaller jobs is detected, determining if a storage device is available; and

code for starting one of the plurality of smaller jobs for each storage device that is available.

20. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 19, further comprising code for, as a smaller job is completed, providing an indication that the storage device that was used is again available, and starting another smaller job using the available storage device.

21. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the scanning of the job queue for the smaller jobs, the starting the one of the plurality of smaller jobs and the providing the indication are repeatedly performed until each of the smaller jobs is completed.

22. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the master job includes instructions for performing at least one operation before or after the master job is performed.

23. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 19, wherein an operation to be performed after the master job is performed, is performed after a last smaller job corresponding to the master job is performed.

24. The computer recording medium as recited in claim 19, wherein an operation to be performed before the master job is performed, is performed before a first smaller job corresponding to the master job is performed.