Stored data reverification management system and method

• US 9,020,990 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2012
• Issued: 04/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Brockway, Brian, Gokhale, Parag, Lu, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Debbie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Meng, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US13/615,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20130006927A1
• Time in Patent Office: 957 Days
• Field of Search: 707/823, 707/822, 707/821
• 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:

a volume of data comprising a group of files, wherein the volume of data is stored in first storage media; and

a storage manager comprising computer hardware, the storage manager configured to;

generate a copy of the volume of data and store the copy in at least second storage media;

generate a first set of metadata associated with the volume of data stored in the first storage device and store the first set of metadata in a first index, the first index accessible by the storage manager;

generate a second set of metadata associated with the copy and store the second set of metadata in a second index stored separately from the volume of data the second index stored accessible by the storage manager;

perform, based on a predetermined verification policy time period, a copy verification that the copy of the volume of data on the second storage media is an accurate copy of the volume of data on the first storage media by comparing the first set of metadata stored separately from the volume of data and the second set of metadata stored separately from the volume of data;

verifying the second storage media based at least in part on information associated with the copy verification; and

on determining that a life span of the second storage media outlives an associated life expectancy, identifying characteristics of the second storage media that are indicative of the predetermined verification policy time period being too short;

modifying a future verification time period for at least third storage media that shares the identifying characteristics of the second storage media to extend the usage of the third storage media.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage manager is further configured to determine a verification schedule that indicates the future verification time period, wherein the storage manager is configured to compare the first and second sets of metadata according to the verification schedule.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the verification schedule is based at least partially on a data type of the copy.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage manager is configured to repair the copy of the volume of data on determining that the first and second sets of metadata are not substantially equivalent.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage manager is further configured to update a verification table to indicate whether the first and second sets of metadata are substantially equivalent.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage manager is further configured to access a usage history of the second storage media, wherein the usage history comprises at least a number of storage operations performed on the second storage media.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the usage history comprises an average amount of data per storage operation written on the second storage media.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein on determining that the first and second sets of metadata are not substantially equivalent, the storage manager is further configured to:

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

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

store the copy of the volume data in the other storage media.

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

generating with a storage manager comprising computer hardware, a copy of a volume of data stored in a at least first storage media;

storing the copy in at least a second storage media;

generating a first set of metadata associated with the volume of data stored in the first storage media;

storing the first set of metadata in a first index, the first index accessible by the storage manager;

generating a second set of metadata associated with the copy;

storing the second set of metadata in a second index, the second index stored accessible by the storage manager;

with storage manager, performing, based on a predetermined verification policy time period, a copy verification that the copy of the volume of data on the second storage media is an accurate copy of the volume of data on the first storage media by comparing the first set of metadata and the second set of metadata;

verifying the second storage media based at least in part on information associated with the copy verification;

on determining that a life span of the second storage media outlives an associated life expectancy, identifying characteristics of the second storage media that are indicative of the predetermined verification policy time period being too short; and

modifying a future verification time period for at least third storage media that shares the identifying characteristics of the second storage media to extend the usage of the third storage media.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a verification schedule, wherein the comparing the first and second sets of metadata is performed according to the verification schedule.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the verification schedule is based at least partially on a data type of the copy.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising repairing the copy of the volume of data on determining that the first and second sets of metadata are not substantially equivalent.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising updating a verification table to indicate whether the first and second sets of metadata are substantially equivalent.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising accessing a usage history of the second storage media, wherein the usage history comprises at least a number of storage operations performed on the second storage media.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the usage history comprises an average amount of data per storage operation written on the second storage media.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein on determining that the first and second sets of metadata are not substantially equivalent, the method further comprises:

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

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

storing the copy of the volume data in the other storage media.