HIGH AVAILABILITY DISTRIBUTED DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20140201170A1
• Filed: 01/10/2014
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Vijayan, Manoj Kumar, Kochunni, Jaidev Oppath, Agrawal, Saurabh, Narulkar, Abhishek
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,033 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/692
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1748 De-duplication implemented within the file system, e.g. based on file segments de-duplication techniques in storage systems for the management of data blocks G06F3/0641
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

A high availability distributed, deduplicated storage system according to certain embodiments is arranged to include multiple deduplication database media agents. The deduplication database media agents store signatures of data blocks stored in secondary storage. In addition, the deduplication database media agents are configured as failover deduplication database media agents in the event that one of the deduplication database media agents becomes unavailable.

Claims

1. A method of performing a storage operation in a distributed, deduplicated storage system, comprising:

receiving at a first secondary storage computing device of a plurality of secondary storage computing devices a request from a client computing device to backup a file comprising a plurality of data blocks and stored in primary storage, wherein a first deduplication database server of a plurality of deduplication database servers is designated as a failover deduplication database server for a second deduplication database server of the plurality of deduplication database servers, wherein each of the deduplication database servers stores signatures of data blocks stored in secondary storage, wherein the data blocks stored in secondary storage correspond to data blocks stored in primary storage;

in response to the request and using one or more processors, calculating a signature of a particular data block of the plurality of data blocks using a signature function;

identifying the second deduplication database server as the deduplication database server assigned to store the signature of the particular data block;

determining that the second deduplication database server is unavailable; and

querying the first deduplication database server for the signature of the particular data block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each deduplication database server is assigned to store a different group of unique signatures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first deduplication database server is assigned to store a first set of signatures and the second deduplication database server is assigned to store a second set of signatures different from the first set of signatures.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each deduplication database server of the plurality of deduplication database servers is identified as a failover deduplication database server to another one of the plurality of deduplication database servers.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a third deduplication database server as the failover deduplication database server for the first deduplication database server and identifying the second deduplication database server as the failover deduplication database server for the third deduplication database server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein upon determining that the signature of the particular data block resides in the first deduplication database server, storing in secondary storage the location of a copy of the particular data block.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein upon determining that the signature of the particular data block does not exist at the first deduplication database server, storing a copy of the particular data block in the secondary storage and storing the signature of the particular data block and the location of the copy of the particular data block in the first deduplication database server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a signature of each of the plurality of data blocks using the signature function.

9. A distributed deduplicated storage system, comprising:

a plurality of deduplication database servers each configured to store signatures of a plurality of data blocks stored in secondary storage, wherein a first deduplication database server is designated as a failover deduplication database server for a second deduplication database server;

a plurality of secondary storage computing devices each comprising one or more processors and storage, wherein at least one of the plurality of secondary storage computing devices is configured to;

receive a request to backup a file comprising a plurality of data blocks and stored in primary storage,

calculate a signature of a particular data block of the plurality of data blocks using a signature function,

identify the second deduplication database server as the deduplication database server assigned to store the signature of the particular data block,

determine that the second deduplication database server is unavailable; and

query the first deduplication database server for the signature of the particular data block.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each deduplication database server is assigned to store unique signatures of different data blocks.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the first deduplication database server is assigned to store a first set of signatures and the second deduplication database server is assigned to store a second set of signatures different from the first set of signatures.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein each deduplication database server of the plurality of deduplication database servers is identified as a failover deduplication database server to another one of the plurality of deduplication database servers.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising a third deduplication database server identified as the failover deduplication database server for the first deduplication database server, wherein the second deduplication database server is identified as the failover deduplication database server for the third deduplication database server.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one of the plurality of secondary storage computing devices is further configured to store in secondary storage the location of a copy of the particular data block upon determining that the signature of the particular data block resides in the first deduplication database server.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one of the plurality of secondary storage computing devices is further configured to store a copy of the particular data block in the secondary storage and store the signature of the particular data block and the location of the copy of the particular data block in the first deduplication database server upon determining that the signature of the particular data block does not exist at the first deduplication database server.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one of the plurality of secondary storage computing devices is further configured to calculate a signature of each of the plurality of data blocks using the signature function.