Unified snapshot storage management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10628266-B2
Application number	US-201815968556-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2018
Priority date	Nov 14, 2014
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

An illustrative approach to managing snapshots streamlines how and when snapshots are generated in a storage management system, such that fewer snapshots may be generated without diminishing the scope of data protection. A novel unified-snapshot storage policy may govern snapshots for any number of subclients. A unified-snapshot job based on the unified-snapshot storage policy enables the illustrative storage management system to automatically discover relevant components and generate at most one snapshot per target logical unit number (“LUN”) in a storage array. Each snapshot may comprise the data of any number of subclients and/or clients in the storage management system. Accordingly, one unified-snapshot job may yield a minimum but sufficient number of snapshots comprising data of all subclients associated with the governing unified-snapshot storage policy. An enhanced storage manager may manage the unified-snapshot jobs. One or more enhanced media agents and/or data agents may participate in the unified-snapshot jobs and in subsequent cataloguing of the snapshots.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage management system comprising:
a storage manager that manages storage operations in the storage management system;
a media agent component of the storage management system;
wherein the storage manager is configured to:
discover a first subclient of a first client that generates first primary data that is stored to one or more logical unit numbers among a plurality of logical unit numbers hosted by a storage array,
wherein the first subclient represents a logical grouping of part of the first primary data;

wherein the media agent is configured to:
discover among the plurality of logical unit numbers a first logical unit number that comprises data of the first subclient;

wherein the storage manager is further configured to:
cause at most one snapshot to be generated for the first logical unit number regardless of how many clients and how many subclients store primary data to the first logical unit number;

wherein at least one of the storage manager and the media agent is further configured to:
register a first association between the snapshot and the first subclient; and

wherein the storage manager is further configured to:
cause a secondary copy of the first subclient to be generated from the snapshot and not from the primary data stored in the first logical unit number.

2. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the snapshot is generated in a unified-snapshot job managed by the storage manager.

3. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the snapshot is generated in a unified-snapshot job managed by the storage manager, and
wherein the unified-snapshot job is based on a storage policy that governs the first logical unit number regardless of how many clients and how many subclients store primary data to the first logical unit number.

4. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the secondary copy is one of a backup copy of the first subclient and an archive copy of the first subclient.

5. The storage management system of claim 1 further comprising:
a data agent component of the storage management system; and
wherein the data agent is configured to at least one of:
catalogue the snapshot relative to the first subclient based on the first association, and
associate a file of the first subclient with a datapath to the file in the snapshot.

6. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the media agent is further configured to at least one of:
catalogue the snapshot relative to the first subclient based on the first association, and
associate a file of the first subclient with a datapath to the file in the snapshot.

7. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the snapshot is at least one of: a crash-consistent snapshot and an application-consistent snapshot.

8. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the first logical unit number designates a portion of storage in the storage array.

9. The storage management system of claim 1 wherein the storage manager executes on a first computing device comprising at least one processor and corresponding computer memory;
wherein the first client comprises a second computing device comprising at least one processor and corresponding computer memory; and
wherein the media agent executes on a third computing device comprising at least one processor and corresponding computer memory.

10. An information management system comprising:
a storage manager that manages storage operations in the information management system, including a unified-snapshot job that is based on a storage policy;
a media agent component of the information management system, wherein the media agent is configured to:
cause a storage array to generate a snapshot of a first logical unit number hosted by the storage array, wherein the snapshot results from the unified-snapshot job;

wherein the storage manager is configured to:
select a first subclient that is associated with the storage policy,
wherein the first subclient represents a logical grouping of part of a first client's primary data, and
wherein the first client's primary data is stored in one or more logical unit numbers in the storage array, and

select a second subclient that is associated with the storage policy,
wherein the second subclient represents a logical grouping of part of a second client's primary data, and
wherein the second client's primary data is stored to one or more logical unit numbers in the storage array;

wherein the media agent is further configured to:
discover the first logical unit number, which stores at least some primary data of the first subclient and also stores at least some primary data of the second subclient, and
instruct the storage array to generate and store the snapshot of the first logical unit number,
wherein the snapshot comprises the at least some of the primary data of the first subclient and also comprises the at least some of the primary data of the second subclient; and

wherein at least one of the storage manager and the media agent is further configured to register:
(a) a first association between the snapshot and the first subclient, and
(b) a second association between the snapshot and the second subclient.

11. The information management system of claim 10 wherein the unified-snapshot job generates at most one snapshot for a given logical unit number that comprises data of one or more subclients regardless of the number of clients that store primary data to the respective logical unit number, and
wherein each of the one or more subclients is associated with the storage policy.

12. The information management system of claim 10 further comprising:
a data agent component of the storage management system, wherein the data agent is configured to at least one of:
catalogue the snapshot relative to the first subclient based on the first association, and
associate a file of the first subclient with a datapath to the file in the snapshot.

13. The information management system of claim 10 further comprising:
a first data agent component of the storage management system, wherein the first data agent is associated with the first client and is configured to:
catalogue the snapshot relative to the first subclient based on the first association; and
a second data agent component of the storage management system, wherein the second data agent is associated with the second client and is configured to:
catalogue the snapshot relative to the second subclient based on the second association.

14. The information management system of claim 10 wherein the media agent is further configured to at least one of:
catalogue the snapshot relative to the first subclient based on the first association, and
associate a file of the first subclient with a datapath to the file in the snapshot.

15. The information management system of claim 10 wherein at least one of the storage manager and the media agent is further configured to:
cause a secondary copy of the first subclient to be generated from the snapshot and not from primary data stored in the first logical unit number, and
cause the secondary copy to be stored to a storage device associated with the media agent.

16. The information management system of claim 10 wherein the storage manager executes on a first computing device comprising at least one processor and corresponding computer memory;
wherein the first client comprises a second computing device comprising at least one processor and corresponding computer memory;
wherein the second client comprises a third computing device compris

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc
• Commvault System Inc

Inventors

• Nallathambi Vimal Kumar
• Vijayan Manoj Kumar

Classifications

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F3/0635

  by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration · CPC title

• G06F3/0619 Primary

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title