File and block information management

• US 20080162595A1
• Filed: 03/18/2005
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Kushwah, Ajay Pratap Singh, Joshi, Mayank, Kumar, Pashupati, Kaushik, Akhil, Bijani, Yogita, Periyagaram, Subramaniam, Suryanarayanan, Rangarajan, Xing, Jian
• Application Number:
  US11/084,067
• Publication Number:
  US 20080162595A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Information is managed by monitoring an output from an application. A change is intercepted. The change is associated with a file, if file versioning has been selected. The change is to a block, if block versioning has been selected. The change is saved.

Claims

1. A method for information management comprising:

monitoring an output from an application, wherein the output causes a change to be made to data that is protected by backup and recovery;

using the monitoring of the output from the application to intercept the change;

wherein the change is associated with a file, if file versioning has been selected; and

wherein the change is to a block, if block versioning has been selected; and

saving the change.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the file has been identified to be monitored.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the block has been identified to be monitored.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising saving metadata if block versioning has been selected, wherein the metadata associates the block being changed with a corresponding file.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising reconstructing to which file the change is associated with, if block versioning has been selected.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein reconstructing includes using metadata associated with the block.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the output is substantially continuously monitored.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the output from the application is from the application to an operating system.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein intercepting the change occurs prior to writing the change to the data that is protected.

8. A system for information management comprising:

a processor configured to;

monitor an output from an application, wherein the output causes a change to be made to data that is protected by backup and recovery;

use the monitoring of the output from the application to intercept the change;

wherein the change is associated with a file, if file versioning has been selected; and

wherein the change is to a block, if block versioning has been selected; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory is configured to save the change.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the memory is remote to the processor.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the file has been identified to be monitored.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the block has been identified to be monitored.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising saving metadata if block versioning has been selected, wherein the metadata associates the block being changed with a corresponding file.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising reconstructing to which file the change is associated with, if block versioning has been selected.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein reconstructing includes using metadata associated with the block.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the output is substantially continuously monitored.

16. A computer program product for information management, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

monitoring an output from an application, wherein the output causes a change to be made to data that is protected by backup and recovery;

using the monitoring of the output from the application to intercept the change;

wherein the change is associated with a file, if file versioning has been selected; and

wherein the change is to a block, if block versioning has been selected; and

saving the change.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, comprising further computer instructions for saving metadata if block versioning has been selected, wherein the metadata associates the block being changed with a corresponding file.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, comprising further computer instructions for reconstructing to which file the change is associated with, if block versioning has been selected.

19. The system computer program product of claim 18 wherein the computer instructions for reconstructing include computer instructions for using metadata associated with the block.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the output is substantially continuously monitored.