CONTINUOUS DATA BACKUP USING REAL TIME DELTA STORAGE

• US 20140201486A1
• Filed: 03/14/2014
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SonicWALL, Inc. (SonicWall Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhu, Shunhui, Yanovsky, Boris, Dunn, William, Cotton, Matthew W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,495,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/83 the solution involving signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A continuous data backup using real time delta storage has been presented. A backup appliance receives a backup request from a backup agent running on a computing machine to backup data on the computing machine. The computing machine is communicatively coupled to the backup appliance. Then the backup appliance performs block-based real-time backup of the data on the computing machine. The backup appliance stores backup data of the computing machine in a computer-readable storage device in the backup appliance.

Claims

1. A method for storing back-up data, comprising:

receiving, by a backup appliance, a backup request from a backup agent running on a computing machine to backup a first data on the computing machine;

performing backup of one or more blocks of the first data on the computing machine to generate back-up data, the back-up data including a portion of a file having a plurality of blocks and hash information; and

storing the back-up data in the backup appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing backup of the one or more blocks of first data based on the time stamp of the queue.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the one or more blocks of first data are greater in size than a threshold value; and

performing backup of the one or more blocks of first data from a data snapshot file.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the one or more blocks of data is modified during back-up; and

placing the one or more blocks of data back in the queue.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving by the backup appliance from the backup agent running on the computing machine the plurality of fixed-size blocks, the hash information of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, and a map of hashes usable to reassemble the plurality of blocks into the file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the backup data comprises the plurality of fixed-size blocks, the hash information of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, one or more versions of each of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, one or more hashes of the one or more versions of each of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, and one or more versions of the map of hashes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the backup appliance is further coupled to a second computing machine to backup data on the second computing machine, the method further comprises:

preventing by the backup appliance a second backup agent running on the second computing machine from accessing the backup data of the first computing machine; and

preventing by the backup appliance the backup agent running on the computing machine from accessing backup data of the second computing machine stored in the backup appliance.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said preventing includes encrypting by the backup appliance the backup data of the computing machine and the backup data of the second computing machine.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the backup appliance compressing the backup data of the computing machine before storing the backup data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data on the computing machine comprises a file set having a plurality of files, the method further including:

the backup appliance storing multiple versions of a map of file sets usable to build different versions of the plurality of files, which are used to rebuild different versions of the file set.

11. A method for storing back-up data, comprising:

receiving, by a backup appliance, a backup request from a backup agent running on a computing machine to backup a first data on the computing machine;

performing backup of one or more blocks of the first data on the computing machine to generate back-up data, the back-up data including a portion of a file having a plurality of blocks and hash information; and

storing the back-up data in the backup appliance.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

performing backup of the one or more blocks of first data based on the time stamp of the queue.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the one or more blocks of first data are greater in size than a threshold value; and

performing backup of the one or more blocks of first data from a data snapshot file.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the one or more blocks of data is modified during back-up; and

placing the one or more blocks of data back in the queue.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving by the backup appliance from the backup agent running on the computing machine the plurality of fixed-size blocks, the hash information of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, and a map of hashes usable to reassemble the plurality of blocks into the file.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the backup data comprises the plurality of fixed-size blocks, the hash information of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, one or more versions of each of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, one or more hashes of the one or more versions of each of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, and one or more versions of the map of hashes.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the backup appliance is further coupled to a second computing machine to backup data on the second computing machine, the method further comprises:

preventing by the backup appliance a second backup agent running on the second computing machine from accessing the backup data of the first computing machine; and

preventing by the backup appliance the backup agent running on the computing machine from accessing backup data of the second computing machine stored in the backup appliance.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said preventing includes encrypting by the backup appliance the backup data of the computing machine and the backup data of the second computing machine.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising the backup appliance compressing the backup data of the computing machine before storing the backup data.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the data on the computing machine comprises a file set having a plurality of files, the method further including:

the backup appliance storing multiple versions of a map of file sets usable to build different versions of the plurality of files, which are used to rebuild different versions of the file set.

21. A method for storing back-up data, comprising:

receiving, by a backup appliance, a backup request from a backup agent running on a computing machine to backup a first data on the computing machine;

performing backup of one or more blocks of the first data on the computing machine to generate back-up data, the back-up data including a portion of a file having a plurality of blocks and hash information; and

storing the back-up data in the backup appliance.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

performing backup of the one or more blocks of first data based on the time stamp of the queue.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining that the one or more blocks of first data are greater in size than a threshold value; and

performing backup of the one or more blocks of first data from a data snapshot file.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining that the one or more blocks of data is modified during back-up; and

placing the one or more blocks of data back in the queue.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving by the backup appliance from the backup agent running on the computing machine the plurality of fixed-size blocks, the hash information of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, and a map of hashes usable to reassemble the plurality of blocks into the file.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the backup data comprises the plurality of fixed-size blocks, the hash information of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, one or more versions of each of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, one or more hashes of the one or more versions of each of the plurality of fixed-size blocks, and one or more versions of the map of hashes.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the backup appliance is further coupled to a second computing machine to backup data on the second computing machine, the method further comprises:

preventing by the backup appliance a second backup agent running on the second computing machine from accessing the backup data of the first computing machine; and

preventing by the backup appliance the backup agent running on the computing machine from accessing backup data of the second computing machine stored in the backup appliance.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said preventing includes encrypting by the backup appliance the backup data of the computing machine and the backup data of the second computing machine.

29. The method of claim 21, further comprising the backup appliance compressing the backup data of the computing machine before storing the backup data.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein the data on the computing machine comprises a file set having a plurality of files, the method further including:

the backup appliance storing multiple versions of a map of file sets usable to build different versions of the plurality of files, which are used to rebuild different versions of the file set.