Packet-based differential backup of network-attached storage device content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10769033-B2
Application number	US-201916246367-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2019
Priority date	Jan 11, 2019
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

A method and system for performing incremental backup of a network attached storage (NAS) device are described. A storage capture instance associated with a first time instance is received from a network attached storage device. At least a portion of metadata of tracked network packets associated with the network attached storage device is also received. At least one changed content item of the network attached storage device that has changed since the first time instance is identified by analyzing the at least the portion of the metadata of the tracked network packets received. An incremental backup of the network attached storage device is performed at a second time instance based at least in part on the at least one changed content item identified.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving at a secondary storage system from a network attached storage device a storage capture instance associated with a first time instance, the network attached storage device being external to the secondary storage system;
receiving, at the secondary storage system from a packet analyzer, at least a portion of metadata of a subset of tracked network packets associated with the network attached storage device, the tracked network packets being selected from a plurality of network packets external to the secondary storage system based on the at least the portion of the metadata in each of the tracked network packets, wherein the packet analyzer analyzes a set of the tracked network packets in route from a client device to the network attached storage device to identify network packets associated with one or more change operations for content items stored by the network attached storage device, wherein the subset of the tracked network packets associated with the network attached storage device include the identified network packets;
identifying at least one changed content item of the network attached storage device that has changed since the first time instance by analyzing the at least the portion of the metadata of the tracked network packets received; and
performing an incremental backup of the network attached storage device at a second time instance based at least in part on the at least one changed content item identified, wherein performing the incremental backup of the network attached storage device includes:
requesting, by the secondary storage system from the network attached storage device, data associated with the at least one changed content item;
receiving at the secondary storage system from the network attached storage device the requested data associated with the at least one changed content item; and
backing up the requested data associated with the at least one changed content item.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the tracked network packets of the subset includes a header having the at least the portion of the metadata.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least the portion of the metadata is identified based on a location in the header.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least the portion of the metadata includes an identifier for each of the at least one changed content item and at least one operation performed on each of the at least one changed content item.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying further includes:
deduplicating tracked network packets corresponding to a single changed content item.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing the incremental backup further includes receiving the at least one changed content item at the secondary storage system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the backing up the requested data associated with the at least one changed content item includes:
providing a snapshot data structure tree including a snapshot tree for the at least one changed content item, the snapshot tree including at least one node for the at least one changed content item and at least one pointer from a root node of the snapshot tree to an at least one intermediate node of a previous snapshot tree.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the at least the portion of the metadata further includes:
receiving the at least the portion of the metadata stripped from each of the tracked network packets; and
storing, on the secondary storage system, the at least the portion of the metadata stripped from each of the tracked network packets.

9. A system, comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive at a secondary storage system from a network attached storage device a storage capture instance associated with a first time instance, the network attached storage device being external to the secondary storage system;
receive, at the secondary storage system from a packet analyzer, at least a portion of metadata of a subset of tracked network packets associated with the network attached storage device, the tracked network packets being selected from a plurality of network packets external to the secondary storage system based on the at least the portion of the metadata in each of the tracked network packets, wherein the packet analyzer is configured to analyze a set of the tracked network packets in route from a client device to the network attached storage device to identify network packets associated with one or more change operations for content items stored by the network attached storage device, wherein the subset of the tracked network packets associated with the network attached storage device include the identified network packets;
identify at least one changed content item of the network attached storage device that has changed since the first time instance by analyzing the at least the portion of the metadata of the tracked network packets received; and

perform an incremental backup of the network attached storage device at a second time instance based at least in part on the at least one changed content item identified, wherein to perform the incremental backup of the network attached storage device, the processor is configured to:
request, by the secondary storage system from the network attached storage device, data associated with the at least one changed content item;
receive, at the secondary storage system from the network attached storage device, the requested data associated with the at least one changed content item; and
back up the requested data associated with the at least one changed content item; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein each of the tracked network packets of the subset includes a header having the at least the portion of the metadata.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least the portion of the metadata is identified based on a location in the header.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least the portion of the metadata includes an identifier for each of the at least one changed content item and at least one operation performed on each of the at least one changed content item.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor being configured to identify the at least one changed content item further includes the processor being configured to:
deduplicate tracked network packets corresponding to a single content item.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor being configured to perform the incremental backup further includes the processor being configured to
receive the at least one changed content item at the secondary storage system.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein to back up the requested data associated with the at least one changed content item, the processor is configured to:
provide a snapshot data structure tree including a snapshot tree for the at least one changed content item, the snapshot tree including at least one node for the at least one changed content item and at least one pointer from a root node of the snapshot tree to an at least one intermediate node of a previous snapshot tree.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein to receive the at least the portion of the metadata, the processor is further configured to:
receive the at least the portion of the metadata stripped from each of the tracked network packets; and
store, on the secondary storage system, the at least the portion of the metadata stripped from each of the tracked network packets.

17. A compu

Assignees

• Cohesity Inc

Inventors

• Pogde Prashant
• Moolchandani Sunil
• Aron Mohit
• Thomas Markose

Classifications

• G06F2201/84

  Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data · CPC title

• G06F11/1464

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F11/1453

  using de-duplication of the data · CPC title

• G06F11/1451

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title