Stored data reverification management system and method

• US 8,346,825 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2009
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Brockway, Brian, Gokhale, Parag, Lu, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): MENG, JAU SHYA
• Application Number:
  US12/610,673
• Publication Number:
  US 20100100528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,156 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/823
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2029/0409 Online test
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A system and method are provided for verifying data copies and reverifying the copies over the life span of media according to a verification policy. Characteristics of media and use of media are tracked to provide metrics which may be used to dynamically reevaluate and reassign verification policies to optimize media usage. Copies that fail verification operations may be repaired by repeating a storage operation for recent copies or by substituting a close temporal copy of the failed copy.

Claims

1. A system for verifying data in a data storage environment, the system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

a data package comprising a group of files, wherein the data package is stored on a first media device;

a storage manager executing in the one or more computer processors, the storage manager configured to;

initiate the copying of the data package to a second media device;

at a first point in time, perform a first verification to verify the copy of the data package on the second media device is an accurate copy of the data package on the first media device;

access a verification policy that sets forth at least a verification time period associated with the copy of the data package, wherein the verification time period defines a second point in time after the first point in time, to perform at least a second verification of the copy of the data package on the second media device;

vary the verification time period set forth in the verification policy based on at least a usage history of the second media device to determine a third point in time that is different than the second point in time, wherein the usage history comprises at least a number of storage operations performed on the second media device; and

at the third point in time, performing the second verification to verify the copy of the data package stored on the second media device is an accurate copy of the data package stored on the first media device by comparing first metadata associated with the data package with second metadata associated with the copy of the data package, wherein information associated with the second verification is used to verify the second media device, and wherein the information associated with the second verification is further used to vary the verification time periods of future verifications to extend the life of the second media device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the outcome of verifying the copy of the data package and at least one physical storage characteristic of the second media device are tracked to generate a metric, wherein the metric is applied to evaluate the verification time period.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the storage manager is further configured to vary the verification time period based on predicting use of the second media device.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein when a verification fails, the storage manager is configured to repair the copy of the data package.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the first metadata is stored in a header of the data package.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the second metadata is stored in a header associated with the copy of the data package.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the usage history comprises an average amount of data per storage operation written on the second media device.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the verification time period is further based on a data type of the copy of the data package.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein when the second verification of the copy of the data package fails, the storage manager is configured to:

identify at least one storage characteristic of the second media device;

identify at least one other media device sharing the at least one storage characteristic; and

modify the verification time period associated with the copy of the data package stored on the at least one other media device.

10. A method for verifying copied data, the method comprising:

packaging with one or more computer processors, a plurality of files into a data package, the data package further comprising first metadata associated with the plurality of files;

copying the data package to a second media device;

at a first point in time, performing a first verification to verify the copy of the data package on the second media device is an accurate copy of the data package on the first media device;

accessing a verification policy that sets forth at least a verification time period associated with the copy of the data package, wherein the verification time period defines a second point in time after the first point in time, to perform at least a second verification of the copy of the data package on the second media device;

varying the verification time period set forth in the verification policy based on at least a usage history of the second media device to determine a third point in time that is different than the second point in time, wherein the usage history comprises at least a number of storage operations performed on the second media device; and

at the third point in time, performing the second verification to verify the copy of the data package is an accurate copy by comparing the first metadata associated with the data package with second metadata associated with the copy of the data package, wherein information associated with the second verification is used to verify the second media device, and wherein the information associated with the second verification is further used to vary the verification time periods of future verifications to extend the life of the second media device.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising tracking the outcome of verifying the copy and at least one physical storage characteristic of the second media device to generate a metric and varying the verification time period based at least in part on the metric.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising varying the verification time period based on predicting use of the second media device.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein when the second verification fails, repairing the copy of the data package.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the first metadata is stored in a first header that is associated with the data package.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the second metadata is stored in a second header that is associated with the copy of the data package.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the usage history comprises an average amount of data per storage operation on the second media device.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the verification time period is further based on a data type of the copy of the data package.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein when the second verification of the copy of the data package fails:

identifying at least one storage characteristic of the second media device;

identifying at least one other media device sharing the at least one storage characteristic; and

modifying the verification time period associated with the copy of the data package stored on the at least one other media device.