Search filtered file system using secondary storage, including multi-dimensional indexing and searching of archived files

• US 9,063,938 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2013
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumarasamy, Paramasivam, Varadharajan, Prakash, Attarde, Deepak Raghunath, Bedadala, Pavan Kumar Reddy, Kilaru, Satish Chandra
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, ANHTAI V
• Application Number:
  US13/792,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20130262394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 835 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/183 Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS network file access protocols H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2264 Multidimensional index structures

Abstract

Techniques for enabling user search of content stored in a file archive include providing a search interface comprising a search rules portion and an action rules portion, receiving a file archive search criterion comprising at least one search rule, and searching the file archive using the search criterion. The techniques also include generating a set of files filtered using the search criterion and performing an action specified in the action rules portion on a file included in the set of files.

Claims

1. A method of multi-dimensional indexing of a file being archived to secondary storage in an information management system, comprising:

receiving, by a media agent component of the information management system that has been identified for archiving a file, a command to begin multi-dimensional indexing of the file being archived;

performing multi-dimensional indexing of the file, by the media agent, in response to receiving the command, wherein the multi-dimensional indexing comprises;

(i) generating, by the media agent, a file attribute index for the file,

wherein the file attribute index includes extrinsic information about the file and is independent of contents of the file, and

(ii) creating, by the media agent, a content index for the file,

wherein the content index is based on at least one of;

text content, and image content, and audio content within the file;

archiving the file to secondary storage, by the media agent,

wherein the file archiving operation includes dividing the file into multiple independently accessible smaller portions of the file being archived,

wherein any one independently accessible smaller portion of the file being archived is identified at least once in at least one of the file attribute index and the content index, and

may be later restored from secondary storage, to a user, without also restoring the other independently accessible smaller portions of the file being archived;

storing, by the media agent, the file attribute index to a first location, the content index to a second location, and the archived file to a third location; and

based on the multi-dimensional indexing of the archived file, providing to a user of the information management system a fast-forward progression through a plurality of the independently accessible smaller portions of the archived file without individually restoring each portion in the plurality from secondary storage,

wherein the fast-forward progression is based on searching of at least one of the file attribute index and the content index within the information management system.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

based on the multi-dimensional indexing, restoring a first independently accessible portion of the archived file to a user-device component of the information management system without restoring the other independently accessible portions of the archived file, wherein the restoring is based on searching of at least one of the file attribute index and the content index within the information management system.

3. The method of claim 1

further comprising:

providing a user of the information management system with a unified search utility that is based on multi-dimensional indexing of a plurality of archived files in the information management system, including the archived file; and

restoring from secondary storage only those archived files or independently accessible portions thereof that satisfy the user'"'"'s search criteria, based on a respective file attribute index and content index associated with each archived file in the information management system.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the file attribute index and the content index are located on a user-device component of the information management system;

and

wherein the archived file is located on a secondary storage component which is distinct from the user-device component.

5. An apparatus for indexing a file being archived to secondary storage in an information management system, the apparatus comprising:

a non-transitory computer memory; and

a hardware processor for executing instructions stored in the non-transitory memory;

wherein the instructions comprise;

a file attribute index module configured to generate a file attribute index for the file being archived, and for storing the generated file attribute index on a user device where the file is located before being archived;

a content index module configured to generate a content index for the file being archived identifying attributes of content within the file being archived and for storing the content index on an administrator'"'"'s device different from the user device; and

a media file system module for archiving the file to a secondary storage device after the content index and the file attribute index are generated,

wherein the archiving comprises dividing the file being archived into multiple smaller portions of the archived file, and

wherein, based on searching of the file attribute index and the content index;

(A) any one of the smaller portions of the archived file is independently accessible from a user device, such that the one of the smaller portions of the archived file may be restored from the secondary storage device to the user device, without the other smaller portions of the archived file also being restored from secondary storage, and

(B) a fast-forward progression through the multiple smaller portions of the archived file may be provided at the user device without individually restoring the multiple smaller portions of the archived file.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the content index module includes:

a pattern recognition module that extracts content information in an image using a pattern recognition mechanism.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the

content index module extracts content information from an audio file being archived.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further including:

a linked list generation module that generates a linked list of pointers indicating locations of the independently accessible smaller portions of the archived file.

9. A method of enabling a user search of content stored in a file archive, from a user-device component of an information management system, based on multi-dimensional indexing of a plurality of files archived to the file archive, the method comprising:

providing a search interface comprising a search rules portion and an action rules portion;

receiving a file archive search criterion comprising at least one search rule;

searching the file archive using the search criterion and indexing information about the plurality of files in the file archive, wherein the indexing information comprises, for each respective file in the plurality of files in the file archive;

(i) a file attribute index generated by a media agent when the respective file was archived to the file archive, and (ii) a content index generated by at least one of the media agent and a user-device when the respective file was archived to the file archive;

generating a set of file identifiers, filtered using the search criterion, from among the plurality of files in the file archive; and

performing an action specified in the action rules portion on an archived file included in the set of file identifiers,

wherein the action rules portion comprises providing a fast-forward progression through a plurality of smaller portions of the archived file without individually restoring the smaller portions of the archived file,

wherein the fast-forward progression is based on searching of at least one of the file attribute index and the content index of the archived file, and

wherein any one of the smaller portions of the archived file is indexed at least once, during the archiving of the file to the file archive, in at least one of the file attribute index and the content index of the archived file.

10. The method of claim 9, further

wherein a given one of the smaller portions of the archived file is independently accessible from the user-device component, such that the given one of the smaller portions of the archived file may be restored from secondary storage to the user-device component without the other smaller portions of the archived file also being restored from secondary storage.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the action rules portion further comprises at least one of a play action, a preview action, a list action and an open action.

12. An apparatus for enabling a user search of content stored in a file archive of an information management system, from a user-device component, based on multi-dimensional indexing of a plurality of files archived to the file archive, the apparatus comprising:

means for providing a search interface comprising a search rules portion and an action rules portion;

means for receiving a file archive search criterion comprising at least one search rule;

means for searching the file archive using the search criterion using indexing information about the plurality of files in the file archive, wherein the indexing information comprises, for each respective file in the plurality of files in the file archive;

(i) a file attribute index generated when the respective file was archived to the file archive, and (ii) a content index also generated when the respective file was archived to the file archive;

means for generating a set of file identifiers, filtered using the search criterion, from among the plurality of files in the file archive; and

means for performing an action specified in the action rules portion on an archived file included in the set of file identifiers,

wherein the action rules portion comprises providing a fast-forward progression through a plurality of smaller portions of the archived file without individually restoring the smaller portions of the archived file,

wherein the fast-forward progression is based on searching of at least one of the file attribute index and the content index of the archived file, and

wherein any one of the smaller portions of the archived file is indexed at least once, during the archiving of the file to the file archive, in at least one of the file attribute index and the content index of the archived file.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

means for mounting the set of files to a drive accessible by the user using a network file system (NFS) interface.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein

a given one of the smaller portions of the archived file is independently accessible from the user-device component, such that the given one of the smaller portions of the archived file may be restored from secondary storage to the user-device component without the other smaller portions of the archived file also being restored from secondary storage.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, excluding transitory propagating signals, storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement a method of enabling a user search of content stored in a file archive, from a user-device component of an information management system, based on multi-dimensional indexing of a plurality of files archived to the file archive, the method comprising:

providing a search interface comprising a search rules portion and an action rules portion;

receiving a file archive search criterion comprising at least one search rule;

searching the file archive using the search criterion and indexing information about the plurality of files in the file archive, wherein the indexing information comprises, for each respective file in the plurality of files in the file archive;

(i) a file attribute index generated by a media agent when the respective file was archived to the file archive, and (ii) a content index generated by at least one of the media agent and a user-device when the respective file was archived to the file archive;

generating a set of file identifiers, filtered using the search criterion, from among the plurality of files in the file archive; and

performing an action specified in the action rules portion on an archived file included in the set of file identifiers,

wherein the action rules portion comprises providing a fast-forward progression through a plurality of smaller portions of the archived file without individually restoring the smaller portions of the archived file,

wherein the fast-forward progression is based on searching of at least one of the file attribute index and the content index of the archived file,

wherein any one of the smaller portions of the archived file is indexed at least once, during the archiving of the file to the file archive, in at least one of the file attribute index and the content index of the archived file, and

is independently accessible from the user-device component, such that the one of the smaller portions of the archived file may be restored from secondary storage to the user-device component without the other smaller portions of the archived file also being restored from secondary storage.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises:

mounting the set of files to a drive accessible by the user using a network file system (NFS) interface.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the action rules portion further comprises at least one of a play action, a preview action, a list action and an open action.