SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING AN IMAGE LEVEL SNAPSHOT AND FOR RESTORING PARTIAL VOLUME DATA

• US 20110066599A1
• Filed: 11/22/2010
• Published: 03/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Pawar, Rahual, Varadharajan, Prakash, Kumar, Avinash, Ngo, David, Prahlad, Anand
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,565 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/679
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/128 Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion use of snapshots for error detection or correction G06F11/14, G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1844 Management specifically adapted to replicated file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/86 Mapping to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/805 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for performing an image level copy of an information store. The present invention comprises performing a snapshot of an information store that indexes the contents of the information store, retrieving data associated with the contents of the information store from a file allocation table, copying the contents of the information store to a storage device based on the snapshot, and associating the retrieved data with the copied contents to provide file system information for the copied contents.

Claims

1. A method for restoring one or more electronic files indexed by one or more snapshots in a computer system, the method comprising:

receiving a request to restore to an information store one or more files stored in a storage device, wherein the storage device is different from the information store;

querying with one or more computer processors the storage device for one or more snapshots that index the one or more files over time;

retrieving the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files from the storage device; and

for each of the one or more snapshots that indexes the one or more files, restoring a portion of the one or more files contained within each snapshot that is most recent in time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the restoring the portion of the one or more files comprises:

restoring the one or more files from an initial snapshot; and

replacing portions of the restored one or more files changed after the initial snapshot with portions of the one or more files from a later snapshot until the most recent portions of the one or more files are restored.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the restoring the portion of the one or more files comprises:

restoring one or more portions of the one or more files from a final snapshot; and

restoring a different one or more portions of the one or more files from a previous snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing to be displayed a list of one or more files that can be restored.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein querying the storage device for one or more snapshots comprises searching a data structure for one or more locations of the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files.

6. A method for restoring one or more files indexed by one or more snapshots, the method comprising:

receiving a request to restore to an information store one or more files indexed by one or more snapshots over time, wherein the one or more snapshots are stored within a storage device different from the information store; and

retrieving with one or more computer processors the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files from the storage device; and

for each of the one or more snapshots that indexes the one or more files, restoring a portion of the one or more files contained within the snapshot that is most recent in time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the restoring the portion of the one or more files comprises:

restoring the one or more files from an initial snapshot; and

replacing portions of the restored one or more files changed after the initial snapshot with portions of the one or more files from a later snapshot until the most recent portions of the one or more files are restored.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the restoring the portion of the one or more files comprises:

restoring one or more portions of the one or more files from a final snapshot; and

restoring a different one or more portions of the one or more files from a previous snapshot.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising causing to be displayed a list of one or more files that can be restored.

10. An electronic file storage system configured to restore one or more electronic files indexed by one or more snapshots in a computer system, the system comprising:

a storage manager module executing in one or more processors and configured to;

receive a request to restore to an information store one or more files stored in a storage device, wherein the storage device is different from the information store;

query with one or more processors the storage device for one or more snapshots that index the one or more files over time; and

retrieve the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files from the storage device, wherein

for each of the one or more snapshots that indexes the one or more files, the storage manager module is further configured to restore a portion of the one or more files contained within each snapshot that is most recent in time.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage manager module is further configured to:

restore the one or more files from an initial snapshot; and

replace portions of the restored one or more files changed after the initial snapshot with portions of the one or more files from a later snapshot until the most recent portions of the one or more files are restored.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage manager module is further configured to:

restore one or more portions of the one or more files from a final snapshot; and

restore a different one or more portions of the one or more files from a previous snapshot.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage manager module is further configured to search a data structure for one or more locations of the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files.

14. An electronic file storage system configured to restore one or more files indexed by one or more snapshots, the system comprising:

a storage manager module configured to receive a request to restore to an information store one or more files indexed by one or more snapshots over time, wherein the one or more snapshots are stored within a storage device different from the information store; and

a media agent module executing in one or more computer processors and configured to retrieve the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files from the storage device, wherein

for each of the one or more snapshots that indexes the one or more files, the storage manager module is further configured to restore a portion of the one or more files contained within the snapshot that is most recent in time.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the storage manager module is further configured to:

restore the one or more files from an initial snapshot;

replace portions of the restored one or more files changed after the initial snapshot with portions of the one or more files from a later snapshot until the most recent portions of the one or more files are restored.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the storage manager module is further configured to:

restore one or more portions of the one or more files from a final snapshot; and

restore a different one or more portions of the one or more files from a previous snapshot.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the storage manager module is further configured to search a data structure for one or more locations of the one or more snapshots that index the one or more files.