Method and system for improving efficiency in the management of data references

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12001411-B2
Application number	US-202318161592-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2023
Priority date	Apr 10, 2019
Publication date	Jun 4, 2024
Grant date	Jun 4, 2024

Abstract

Methods, computer program products, and computer systems for the management of data references in an efficient and effective manner are disclosed. Such methods, computer program products, and computer systems include receiving a change tracking stream at the computer system, identifying a data object group, and performing a deduplication management operation on the data object group. The change tracking stream is received from a client computing system. The change tracking stream identifies one or more changes made to a plurality of data objects of the client computing system. The identifying is based, at least in part, on at least a portion of the change tracking stream. The data object group represents the plurality of data objects.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, implemented in a computer system, comprising:
grouping a plurality of data objects into a plurality of data object groups, wherein
the grouping is performed based, at least in part, on one or more characteristics of the plurality of data object groups and one or more thresholds,
the plurality of data objects is or will be stored in a deduplicated file system,
the deduplicated file system is stored in a storage unit of the computer system,
the deduplicated file system is configured to be configured for access as a user-space file system by another computer system, and
one or more units of data by a deduplication service of a deduplication system,

one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects are in each data object group of the plurality of data object groups, and
the grouping the plurality of data objects comprises
for each data object of the plurality of data objects,
identifying an identified data object group of the plurality of data object groups, based, at least in part, on one or more characteristics of one or more of the plurality of data object groups,
recording a reference in a group record of a plurality of group records in a catalog for the deduplicated file system, wherein
 the reference identifies the each data object,
 the group record is for the identified data object group;

for the each data object group of the plurality of data object groups,
adding a group reference for the each data object group to a reference list, when the group reference for the each data object group is not already added to the reference list, wherein
the group reference represents the one or more data objects of the each data object group by identifying the each data object group; and

for another data object,
determining whether the another data object can be added to a data object group of the plurality of data object groups,
in response to a determination that the another data object can be added to the data object group, adding the another data object to the data object group, and
in response to a determination that the another data object cannot be added to the data object group,
creating a new data object group, and
adding the another data object to the new data object group.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of data objects are listed in a change tracking list generated by a change tracker that records write operations to the change tracking list,
the group reference is one of a plurality of group references,
each group reference of the plurality of group references is a data object group identifier of a plurality of data object group identifiers, and
each data object group identifier of the plurality of data object group identifiers corresponds to a data group of the plurality of data object groups.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a backup operation, wherein
the backup operation is performed on the deduplicated file system, and
in response to detection of the backup operation, performing the grouping and recording.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grouping further comprises:
receiving a change tracking stream, wherein
the change tracking stream identifies one or more changes made to one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects; and

for each data object of the one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects, adding the each data object to one of the plurality of data object groups.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the adding the each data object to the one of the plurality of data object croups comprises:
associating the one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects with the each data object group, wherein
the one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects are associated with the each data object group of the plurality of data object groups by the recording the reference in metadata for the one or more data objects.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein
the determining whether the each data object can be added to the one of the plurality of data object groups is based, at least in part, on at least one threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein
the at least one threshold comprises at least one of
a number of data objects that can be included in the one of the plurality of data object groups, or
an amount of data of data objects of the one of the plurality of data object groups that can be included in the one of the plurality of data object groups.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein
the creating comprises
creating a new data object group record for the new data object group, and
associating the each data object with the new data object group, comprising
storing a data object identifier for the each data object in the new data object group record, and
storing a data object group identifier in metadata for the each data object.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein
the creating the new data object group record comprises
generating the data object group identifier, and

the data object identifier is retrieved from an entry of the change tracking stream corresponding to the each data object.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a change tracking stream, wherein
the change tracking stream identifies one or more changes made to one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects, and
each entry of the change tracking stream comprises
a data object identifier of a plurality of data object identifiers, the data object identifier identifying a corresponding one of the one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects, and
information identifying a change to the corresponding one of the one or more data objects of the plurality of data objects.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing, for one of the plurality of data object groups, at least one of
a data object write operation for the one of the plurality of data object groups,
a container reference update operation for the one of the plurality of data object groups, or
a path object update operation for the one of the plurality of data object groups.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a deduplication management operation on one of the plurality of data object groups, wherein
the deduplication management operation is one of a group deletion operation, a group update operation, or a group merge operation, and
the deduplication management operation is performed on the one of the plurality of data object groups, rather than on one or more data objects of the one of the plurality of data object groups.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein
the group reference is one of a plurality of group references,
the deduplication management operation is the group deletion operation, which comprises identifying a first data object group to be deleted,
deleting the first data object group, and
performing a dereference operation on a first group reference of the plurality of group references, and

the first group reference refers to the first data object group.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein
the deduplication management operation is the group update operation, which comprises creating another data object group,
deleting a first data object from a first data object group of the plurality of data object groups, and
deleting a second data object from a second data object group of the plurality of data object groups.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein
the deduplication management operation is a group merge operation, comprising
cr

Assignees

• Veritas Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Xianbo
• Liu Jialun
• Wu Weibao

Classifications

• G06F16/215 Primary

  Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors · CPC title

• G06F16/2358

  Change logging, detection, and notification (replication G06F16/27) · CPC title

• G06F11/1453 Primary

  using de-duplication of the data · CPC title