Streamed database archival process with background synchronization

• US 7,260,590 B1
• Filed: 12/27/2000
• Issued: 08/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Williams, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz; Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cindy
• Application Number:
  US09/752,607
• Time in Patent Office: 2,428 Days
• Field of Search: 707/204, 707/200, 707/202, 707/203, 707/1
• US Class Current: 707/615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1474 in transactions G06F16/20 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A streamed database archival process with background synchronization. Archive logs are streamed asynchronously such that a plurality of files can be transferred simultaneously from a host operational database to a backup archive database. By streaming the logs, the backup database is kept up to date and backlogs can quickly be resolved. Furthermore, an automatic recovery process is run in the background. This process automatically detects files on the backup database which may have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. The process recopies those missing or corrupted files from the host database without any human intervention.

Claims

1. A method of archiving a database, comprising:

storing a plurality of archive logs comprising a plurality of transactions on an operational database;

transmitting a plurality of asynchronous streams to a backup database wherein a first asynchronous stream of said plurality of asynchronous streams is transmitted asynchronously with respect to a second asynchronous stream of said plurality of asynchronous streams, wherein each asynchronous stream of the plurality of asynchronous streams corresponds to a particular archive log of the plurality of archive logs, and wherein a predetermined number of the plurality of asynchronous streams, that is set by a user in a config file, are transmitted simultaneously in parallel; and

updating the backup database with the plurality of transactions.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

comparing a plurality of files corresponding to a the backup database to a plurality of files of the operational database to determine whether there are any corrupt or missing files;

automatically transferring files from the operational database to the backup database which have been corrupted or deleted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting runs in cron.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising running streaming rsynchs for copying data from the operational database to the backup database.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising constructing an array of the plurality of archive logs which are to be transferred from the operational database to the backup database.

6. A method of performing automatic recoveries on an archived database, comprising:

comparing files residing on an operational database to files residing on a backup database;

determining whether there are any missing files by checking for files which exist on the operational database and which do not exist on the backup database;

recopying files from the operational database over to the backup database which are missing;

determining whether there are any corrupted files by checking for files which have a different size on the operational database as compared to corresponding file residing on the backup database;

recopying files from the operational database to the backup database which have become corrupted, wherein the automatic recovery process is run by a program automatically in the background without requiring initiation and is run independent of a complete system backup; and

transferring a predetermined plurality of the recopied files as asynchronous streams transferred in parallel from the operational database to the backup database.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of files are streamed according to an rsync command.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the comparing comprises performing a rolling checksum.

9. An archival system, comprising:

a backup database for storing a plurality of archive logs which represent data stored on an operational database;

a memory for storing instructions on how data is to be transferred from the operational database to the backup database, wherein the instructions include commands which cause the operational database to stream a plurality of archive logs asynchronously to be copied over to the backup database such that the backup database is updated with the data wherein a first asynchronous stream of a predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams is transmitted asynchronously with respect to a second asynchronous stream of said predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams corresponds to a particular archive log of the plurality of archive logs, and wherein the predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams are transmitted simultaneously in parallel.

10. The archival system of claim 9 comprising instructions stored in memory which automatically compares files on the operational database against files stored on the backup database to determine whether there are any missing or corrupted files and which automatically recopies files from the operational database to the backup database which have been deleted or corrupted.

11. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for transferring data from an operational database to a backup database for archival of data, comprising:

storing a plurality of archive logs comprising a plurality of transactions on the operational database;

transmitting a predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams to the backup database wherein a first asynchronous stream of said predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams is transmitted asynchronously with respect to a second asynchronous stream of said predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams, wherein each asynchronous stream of the predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams corresponds to a particular archive log of the plurality of archive logs, and wherein the predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams are transmitted simultaneously in parallel; and

updating the backup database with plurality of transactions.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprising:

comparing a plurality of files corresponding to a said backup database to a plurality of files of an operational database to determine whether there are any corrupt or missing files;

automatically transferring files from the operational database to the backup database which have been corrupted or deleted.

13. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for performing automatic recoveries on an archived database, comprising:

comparing files residing on an operational database to files residing on a backup database;

determining whether there are any missing files by checking for files which exist on the operational database and which do not exist on the backup database;

recopying files from the operational database over to the backup database which are missing;

determining whether there are any corrupted files by checking for files which have a different size on the operational database as compared to corresponding file residing on the backup database;

recopying files from the operational database to the backup database which have become corrupted, wherein the automatic recovery process is run by a program automatically in the background without requiring initiation and is run independent of a complete system backup; and

transferring a plurality of the recopied files as asynchronous streams transferred in parallel from the operational database to the backup database.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of files are streamed according to an rsync command.

15. An apparatus for archiving a database, comprising:

means for storing a plurality of archive logs comprising a plurality of transactions on an operational database;

means for transmitting a predetermined plurality of synchronous streams to a backup database wherein a first asynchronous stream of said predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams is transmitted asynchronously with respect to a second asynchronous stream of said predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams corresponds to a particular archive log of the plurality of archive logs, and wherein the predetermined plurality of asynchronous streams are transmitted simultaneously in parallel; and

means for updating the backup database with plurality of transactions.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

means for comparing a plurality of files corresponding to the backup database to a plurality of files of an operational database to determine whether there are any corrupt or missing files;

means for automatically transferring files from the operational database to the backup database which have been corrupted or deleted.

17. An apparatus for performing automatic recoveries on an archived database, comprising:

means for comparing files residing on an operational database to files residing on a backup database;

means for determining whether there are any missing files by checking for files which exist on the operational database and which do not exist on the backup database;

means for recopying files from the operational database over to the backup database which are missing;

means for determining whether there are any corrupted files by checking for files which have a different size on the operational database as compared to corresponding file residing on the backup database;

means for recopying files from the operational database to the backup database which have become corrupted, wherein the automatic recovery process is run by a program automatically in the background without requiring initiation and is run independent of a complete system backup; and

means for transferring a plurality of the recopied files as asynchronous streams transferred in parallel from the operational database to the backup database.