System and method for dynamically sharing media in a computer network

• US 7,174,433 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2004
• Issued: 02/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Gokhale, Parag, Ngo, David, Vijayan Retnamma, Manoj Kumar, Prahlad, Anand, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Devassy, Varghese
• Primary Examiner(s): Elmore; Stephen C.
• Application Number:
  US10/819,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20050044316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• Field of Search: 711/147, 711/4, 711/118, 711/119, 711/202, 711/220, 709/219, 709/231
• US Class Current: 711/147
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A computerized method for sharing removable storage media in a network, the method comprising associating, in an index entry, a first piece of removable storage media in a first storage device with at least a first storage policy copy and a second storage policy copy; copying, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the first storage policy copy; and copying, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the second storage policy copy.

Claims

1. A computerized method for sharing removable storage media in a network, the method comprising:

associating, in an index entry, a first piece of removable storage media in a first storage device with at least a first storage policy copy and a second storage policy copy;

copying, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the first storage policy copy; and

copying, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the second storage policy copy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein associating, in an index entry, comprises associating in a storage management component index cache entry.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein associating, in an index entry, comprises associating in a media management component index cache entry.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein associating in a media management component index cache entry comprises associating in a media agent index cache entry.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein associating a piece of removable storage media comprises associating a piece of magnetic storage media.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein associating a piece of magnetic storage media comprises associating a tape.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein associating a piece of removable storage media comprises associating a piece of optical storage media.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein associating a piece of optical storage media comprises associating a CD-ROM.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising:

associating, in an index entry, a second piece of removable storage media in a second storage device with at least the first storage policy copy and the second storage policy copy;

copying, to the second piece of removable storage media, data associated with the first storage policy copy; and

copying, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the second storage policy copy.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising:

associating, in an index entry, the first piece of removable storage media with a first media group and a second media group; and

associating, in an index entry, the second piece of removable storage media with the first media group and the second media group.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein associating, in an index entry, comprises associating in a storage management component index cache entry.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein associating, in an index entry, comprises associating in a media management component index cache entry.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein associating in a media management component index cache entry comprises associating in a media agent index cache entry.

14. A system for sharing removable storage media in a network, the system comprising:

a first storage device containing a first piece of removable storage media;

an index entry associating the first piece of removable storage media with at least a first storage policy copy and a second storage policy copy; and

a processor, wherein the processor is programmed to;

copy, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the first storage policy copy; and

copy, to the first piece of removable storage media, data associated with the second storage policy copy.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the index entry comprises a storage management component index cache entry.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the index entry comprises a media management component index cache entry.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the media management component index entry comprises a media agent index cache entry.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the piece of removable storage media comprises associating a piece of magnetic storage media.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the a piece of magnetic storage media comprises associating a tape.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the piece of removable storage media comprises associating a piece of optical storage media.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the piece of optical storage media comprises associating a CD-ROM.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor comprises a storage management component processor.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor comprises a media management component processor.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the media management component processor comprises a media agent processor.

25. The system of claim 24, comprising:

an index entry associating the first piece of removable storage media with a first media group and a second media group; and

an index entry associating the second piece of removable storage media with the first media group and the second media group.

26. The system of claim 14, comprising:

a second storage device containing a second piece of removable storage media;

an index entry associating the second piece of removable storage media with at least the first storage policy copy and the second storage policy copy; and

wherein the processor is programmed to;

copy, to the second piece of removable storage media, data associated with the first storage policy copy; and

copy, to the second piece of removable storage media, data associated with the second storage policy copy.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the index entry comprises a storage management component index cache entry.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the media management component index cache entry comprises a media agent index cache entry.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the index entry comprises a media management component index cache entry.