Systems and methods for storage modeling and costing

• US 9,405,471 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2015
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Prahlad, Anand, Kavuri, Srinivas, Madeira, Andre Duque, Lunde, Norman R., Bunte, Alan G., May, Andreas, Schwartz, Jeremy Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): PORTKA, GARY J
• Application Number:
  US14/797,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20160048337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 386 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• 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 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• 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 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• 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: G06F 3/0686 : Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 : Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 : Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 : Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 : Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 : Archiving or backup

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for data storage. A hierarchical storage management architecture is presented to facilitate data management. The disclosed system provides methods for evaluating the state of stored data relative to enterprise needs by using weighted parameters that may be user defined. Also disclosed are systems and methods evaluating costing and risk management associated with stored data.

Claims

1. A method of controlling computing devices in a data storage system, the method comprising:

directing with a first storage computing system comprising one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, a second storage computing system comprising one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, to perform or initiate a first storage operation in which at least a portion of primary data stored on at least a first storage resource is copied to secondary data stored on at least a second storage resource,

wherein the first and second storage computing systems are arranged in a hierarchy, and wherein the second storage computing system identifies the second storage resource with a first identifier;

sending from the second storage computing system to the first storage computing system the first identifier associated with the second storage resource;

directing a third storage computing system comprising one or more computing device comprising computer hardware to perform or initiate a second storage operation in which at least a portion of primary data stored on at least a third storage resource is copied to secondary data stored on at least the second storage resource,

wherein the first and third storage computing systems are arranged in a hierarchy, and wherein the third storage computing system identifies the second storage resource with a second identifier;

sending from the third storage computing system to the first storage computing system the second identifier associated with the second storage resource;

determining with the first storage computing system that the first identifier and the second identifier are both associated with the second storage resource; and

generating, with a computing device comprising computer hardware, display data usable to generate a graphical user interface including graphical information representative of storage operations associated with the second storage computing system and storage operations associated with the third storage computing system, the display data generated based at least in part on completion of the first and second storage operations.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first storage computing system comprises a storage manager, and the second and third storage computing systems comprise different client computing devices.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first storage resource comprises a primary storage device, the third storage resource comprises a primary storage device, and the second storage resource comprises a secondary storage device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second and third storage computing systems belong to different data storage cells.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first storage computing system comprises a first storage manager of a first data storage cell, the second storage computing system comprises a second storage manager of a second data storage cell, and the third storage computing system comprises a third storage manager of a third data storage cell.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first storage computing system comprises a storage manager, and the second and third storage computing system comprise different media agents.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the display data includes both data associated with SRM operations and data associated with HSM operations.

8. The method of claim 1 the second storage resource is identified with a first name by the second storage computing system, and identified with second name by the third storage computing system that is different than the first name.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining that the first identifier and the second identifier are associated with the second storage resource is based on network identifiers.

10. A system comprising:

first, second, and third storage computing systems each comprising one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware,

wherein the second storage computing system is configured to perform or initiate a first storage operation in which at least a portion of primary data stored on at least a first storage resource is copied to secondary data stored on at least a second storage resource,

wherein the first and second storage computing systems are arranged in a hierarchy, and wherein the second storage computing system identifies the second storage resource with a first identifier;

wherein the second storage computing system is configured to send to the first storage computing system the first identifier;

wherein the third storage computing system is configured to perform or initiate a second storage operation in which at least a portion of primary data stored on at least a third storage resource is copied to secondary data stored on at least the second storage resource, wherein the first and third storage computing systems are arranged in a hierarchy, and wherein the third storage computing system identifies the second storage resource with a second identifier;

wherein the third storage computing system is configured to send to the first storage computing system the second identifier;

wherein the first storage computing system is further configured to determine that the first identifier and the second identifier are both associated with the second storage resource; and

wherein the first storage computing system is further configured to generate display data usable to generate a graphical user interface including graphical information representative of storage operations associated with the second storage computing system and storage operations associated with the third storage computing system, the display data generated based at least in part on completion of the first storage operation and the second storage operation.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the first storage computing system comprises a storage manager, the second and third storage computing systems comprise different client computing devices, and the first storage computing system is configured to direct the second and third storage computing systems to perform the first and second storage operations, respectively.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the first and third storage resources comprises primary storage devices and the second storage resource comprises a secondary storage device.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the second and third storage computing systems belong to different data storage cells.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the first storage computing system comprises a first storage manager of a first data storage cell, the second storage computing system comprises a second storage manager of a second data storage cell, and the third storage computing system comprises a third storage manager of a third data storage cell.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the first data storage cell is a storage resource management (SRM) data storage cell and the second storage cell is a hierarchical storage management (HSM) data storage cell.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the display data includes both data associated with SRM operations and data associated with HSM operations.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the first storage computing system comprises a storage manager, and the second and third storage computing system comprise different media agents.

18. The system of claim 10 the second storage resource is identified with a first name by the second storage computing system, and identified with second name by the third storage computing system that is different than the first name.

19. The system of claim 10 wherein said determining that the first identifier and the second identifier are associated with the second storage resource is based on network identifiers.