System and method to support single instance storage operations

• US 20060224846A1
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Vijayan Retnamma, Manoj Kumar, Amarendran, Arun Prasad
• Application Number:
  US11/269,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224846A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/00 Accessing, addressing or allocating within memory systems or architectures digital input from, or digital output to record carriers, e.g. to disk storage units, G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0686 Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 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]

Abstract

Systems and methods for single instance storage operations are provided. Systems constructed in accordance with the principals of the present invention may process data containing a payload and associated metadata. Often, chunks of data are copied to traditional archive storage wherein some or all of the chunk, including the payload and associated metadata are copied to the physical archive storage medium. In some embodiments, chunks of data are designated for storage in single instance storage devices. The system may remove the encapsulation from the chunk and may copy the chunk payload to a single instance storage device. The single instance storage device may return a signature or other identifier for items copied from the chunk payload. The metadata associated with the chunk may be maintained in separate storage and may track the association between the logical identifiers and the signatures for the individual items of the chunk payload which may be generated by the single instance storage device.

Claims

1. A method for performing a storage operation on a computer network comprising:

receiving a request to perform the storage operation on a first set of data;

analyzing the first set of data;

characterizing the first set of data into a first portion and a second portion based on characteristics observed in the analyzing step;

copying the first portion of the data to a first single instance storage location; and

associating an identifier with the first portion of data stored at the first single instance storage location.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating a database associated with a management component of a storage operation cell with the identifier information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the copying further comprises routing the first portion of the data to the first single instance storage location via a media agent.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second portion of the data is metadata relating to the second portion of data.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the first portion of the data is payload data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first portion of data is copied to the first single instance location, based at least in part, on the characterization step.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first portion of the data is copied item by item to the first single instance storage location.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising associating an identifier with the first portion of data stored at the first single instance storage location.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein an identifier is associated with the first portion of data stored at the first single instance storage location, the method further comprising correlating the identifier associated with the first portion of data with an identifier associated with the second portion of data.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the characterization further comprises:

characterizing the first portion of data into first and second sub-portions of data;

wherein the first sub-portion of the first portion of data is suitable for single instance storage and the second sub-portion of the first portion is suitable for conventional storage.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the copying further comprises copying the second sub-portion of the first portion of data to a first storage device.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the copying further comprises copying the second sub-portion of the first portion of data to a first storage device.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

copying the second sub-portion of the first portion of data to a first storage device;

copying the second sub-portion of the first portion of data to the first storage device; and

updating a database associated with a management component of a storage operation cell to reflect copy operations associated with the data.

14. A method for recreating data stored in a storage network comprising:

receiving a request to retrieve a portion data stored in a storage network;

identifying a location of the of the portion of data, wherein at least some of the portion of data is located in a single instance storage device;

retrieving from the single instance storage device data identified in the identifying step;

consulting the retrieved data to determine whether additional data relating to the retrieved data is available; and

recreating the data portion based, at least in part, on data retrieved from the single instance storage device.

15. The method of claim 16 further comprising retrieving additional data from the single instance storage device if it is determined in the consulting step that additional data relating to the retrieved data is available.