System and method for allocation of organizational resources

• US 8,266,406 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kavuri, Srinivas
• Primary Examiner(s): TSAI, SHENG JEN
• Application Number:
  US11/639,830
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,097 Days
• Field of Search: 711/170
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• 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 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

System and methods for storing electronic data is provided, where the system comprises a storage manager component and a management module associated with the storage manager component. The management module is configured to receive information related to storage activities associated with one or more storage operation components within the storage operation system under the direction of the storage manager component. The management module is adapted to predict storage operation resource allocations based on the received information related to the storage activities.

Claims

1. A method of identifying new storage system resources to be added to a storage system, wherein the method is performed by a computing system having a processor and memory, the method comprising:

determining a number of job failures considered a fault occurrence;

managing backup storage operations between a plurality of clients, and a plurality of storage devices based on a storage policy using a plurality of data agents residing on the plurality of clients and a plurality of media management components associated with the storage devices, further comprising;

packaging data on the plurality of clients with the plurality of data agents, wherein each data agent is configured to package data of a predefined data type,

receiving the packaged data at the plurality of media management components, wherein different media management components are configured to process the packaged data for different types of the storage devices, at least one media management component processing the packaged data for a tape drive and at least one media management component processing the packaged data for a disk drive such that the storage devices contain a backup copy of the data located on the data store,

receiving at a time T₀ information relating to at least a trend of a number of active data agents, a trend of a number of active media management components, and a trend of a number of fault occurrences, wherein the storage system is associated with storage system resources having a total data storage capacity of X units, where X is a positive integer, and the received information includes information regarding the total data storage capacity of the storage system resources;

analyzing, by the computing system, at least the trend of the number of active data agents, the trend of the number of active media management components, and the trend of the number of fault occurrences;

based at least on the trend of the number of active data agents, the trend of the number of active media management components, and the trend of the number of fault occurrences, automatically load balancing the media management components;

based at least on the trend of the number of active data agents, the trend of the number of active media management components, and the trend of the number of fault occurrences further forecasting data storage needs of the storage system, wherein the forecasting includes forecasting a need for X+Y units of total data storage capacity in the storage system, where Y is a positive integer; and

based on the forecasting, identifying new storage system resources to be added to the storage system at a time T, that is after the time T₀, wherein the new storage system resources do not form part of the storage system prior to the identifying,

the new storage system resources have a total data storage capacity of at least Y units, and

the new storage system resources include at least one tape drive or disk drive.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information relating to past operation of the storage system comprises receiving information relating to past operation of the storage system during a specified time period of interest.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the specified time period of interest is specified by a user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein forecasting future data storage needs of the storage system comprises further includes forecasting a trend of operation of the storage system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying new storage system resources to be added to the storage system is based on the trend of operation of the storage system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying new storage system resources to be added to the storage system is based on a comparison of the trend of operation of the storage system with operational requirements or preferences of the storage system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying new storage system resources comprises:

determining a difference, if any, between a current state of storage system operation and storage system operational requirements or preferences;

determining at what point in the future, if any, based on the trend of storage system operation and the comparison, that storage system operation exceeds storage system operational requirements or preferences; and

identifying new storage system resources such that storage system operational requirements or preferences are not exceeded.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing storage system resources specified by a user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing clients or sub-clients.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing storage devices or storage media.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing data transfer paths.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing hierarchically grouped storage systems resources.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information comprises analyzing a growth of storage system resources.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing a growth of one or more of the resources of the group consisting of:

clients or sub-clients, media management components, storage devices and storage media and data transfer paths.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information includes analyzing a growth of storage system resources, and wherein identifying new storage system resources for use in future operation of the storage system is based, at least in part, on analyzing the growth of storage system resources.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the received information comprises analyzing a utilization of storage system resources.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying new storage system resources to be added to the storage system is based, at least in part, on analyzing the utilization of storage system resources.

18. A storage operation system for use in a data storage network, the storage operation system comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a storage manager component configured to manage backup storage operations between a plurality of clients, and of an N number of storage devices of the data storage network based on a storage policy using a plurality of data agents residing on the plurality of clients and a plurality of media management components, wherein

one or more data agents from the plurality of data agents are configured to package data located on a data store associated with a client as directed by the storage manager component prior to a backup storage operation of the data, wherein each data agent is configured to package data of a predefined data type,

the plurality of media management components are configured to receive and process the packaged data from the one or more data agents as directed by the storage manager component, wherein different media management components are configured to process the packaged data for different types of the N storage devices, at least one media management component configured to process the packaged data for a tape drive and at least one media management component configured to process the packaged data for a disk drive such that the N storage devices contain a backup copy of the data located on the data store,

the N storage devices are remotely located from the plurality of clients,

the N storage devices are associated with the storage manager component, where N is greater than 1,

the N storage devices have a total data storage capacity of X units, where X is a positive integer, and

the N storage devices include at least one of a tape drive and a disk drive; and

a reporting module associated with the storage manager component, the reporting module configured to;

determine a number of backup job failures considered a fault occurrence;

receive at a time T₀ information related to the storage operations of the N storage devices associated with the storage manager component, wherein the information related to the storage operations includes at least a trend of a number of active data agents, a trend of a number of active media management components, and a trend of a number of fault occurrences; and

generate performance reports based at least on the trend of the number of active data agents, the trend of the number of active media management components, and the trend of the number of fault occurrences,

automatically load balancing the media management components based on the performance reports,

wherein the performance reports generated by the reporting module forecast a need for X+Y units of total data storage capacity in the data storage network, where Y is a positive integer,

wherein the performance reports generated by the reporting module indicate an M number of new storage devices components to be added to the data storage network at a time T₁ that is after the time T₀, where M is greater than or equal to 1, wherein the M new storage devices have a total data storage capacity of at least Y units, and

wherein the M new storage devices include at least one of a tape drive and a disk drive.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the reporting module generates performance reports based on storage devices specified by a user.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the reporting module generates performance reports based on pre-existing groups of storage devices specified by a user.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the reporting module generates one or more performance reports based on analysis of data relating to clients or sub-clients.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the reporting module generates one or more performance reports based on analysis of data relating to storage devices or storage media.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the reporting module generates one or more performance reports based on analysis of data relating to data transfer paths.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the reporting module generates one or more performance reports based on analysis of data relating to hierarchically grouped storage systems resources.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the reporting module generates one or more performance reports based on analysis of data relating to hierarchically grouped storage systems resources specified by a user.