Snapshot storage and management system with indexing and user interface

• US 7,568,080 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2003
• Issued: 07/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Ngo, David, May, Andreas, Prahlad, Anand, Lunde, Norman R., Kumar, Avinash, Zhou, Lixin
• Primary Examiner(s): Ellis; Kevin L
• Assistant Examiner(s): RUTZ, JARED IAN
• Application Number:
  US10/681,386
• Publication Number:
  US 20040250033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,121 Days
• Field of Search: 711/114, 711161-162, 714/2, 714/5, 714/6, 714/15, 707/202, 707/204
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• 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 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2003/0697 device management, e.g. handlers, drivers, I/O schedulers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system and method of managing stored data in a storage management system. The storage management system includes a storage manager, a media agent connected to the storage manager, and a primary volume connected to the media agent. A plurality of snapshots are taken of the primary volume. The snapshots are indexed by associating respective information with the snapshot. The indexed snapshots are copied to a recovery volume. In this way, browsing features are enabled for the user. The user may view the snapshots in a hierarchical format, and may even view snapshot data in association with the corresponding application. The resultant recovery volume may be used to replace a primary volume.

Claims

1. A method of creating a quick recovery volume of a primary volume of data in a storage management system, the storage management system including a storage manager, a media agent connected to the storage manager, and a primary volume connected to the media agent, the method comprising:

performing a snapshot operation, wherein performing the snapshot operation includes;

quiescing the primary volume of data;

taking a first snapshot of the primary volume of data;

after the first snapshot is taken, dequiescing the primary volume of data; and

indexing the first snapshot by associating respective information relating to individual files within the primary volume of data with the first snapshot; and

performing a copy operation, wherein the copy operation is performed after the primary volume is dequiesced and includes;

selecting the first snapshot as a source of data to copy to a quick recovery volume, wherein the quick recovery volume includes information about an application that created the data of the primary volume;

parsing the data to be copied to the quick recovery volume;

logically addressing the data to be copied to the quick recovery volume,

performing a block-level copy of the parsed and logically addressed data of the selected first snapshot to the quick recovery volume; and

deleting the selected snapshot after the block-level copy is complete.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the first snapshot to a user, wherein displaying the first snapshot includes displaying information associated with an application that created data tracked by the first snapshot.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein displaying the first snapshot includes displaying at least one of a date of creation of the first snapshot, a persistence of the snapshot, and a location of the snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the first snapshot to a user via a screen corresponding to the application that created the data of the primary volume.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a user one or more files created by the application that created the data of the primary volume; and

receiving a selection from the user to restore the file;

suspending access to the quick recovery volume;

restoring the selected file via the quick recovery volume; and

reinstating access to the quick recovery volume.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

taking a second snapshot of the primary volume of data, wherein the second snapshot only tracks changes to the primary volume of data after the first snapshot was taken; and

selecting the second snapshot as the source of data changed after the first snapshot was taken to copy to the quick recovery volume.

7. A method for periodically copying changing data on a primary volume, the method comprising:

performing a first snapshot of data in a primary volume, wherein the first snapshot tracks blocks of the primary volume;

associating application specific information to the first snapshot,

storing the first snapshot and the associated application specific information to a destination volume, wherein storing the first snapshot and the associated application specific information creates a copy of the primary volume that facilitates a logical connection between the first snapshot of the data and an application that created the data;

monitoring for a change in any one of the blocks tracked by the first snapshot;

performing a second snapshot of a particular block when the monitoring determines that there was a change in the particular block after the first snapshot was performed; and

storing the second snapshot to the destination volume.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

producing a copy of the primary volume using the first snapshot and any copies of blocks that changed after the first snapshot, after at least one block has changed after the first snapshot was performed.