Cloud-based secure operation of a recovery storage manager

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12360944-B2
Application number	US-202318515343-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2023
Priority date	Nov 7, 2023
Publication date	Jul 15, 2025
Grant date	Jul 15, 2025

Abstract

A secure data storage management “recovery system” operates in a cloud computing environment that is apart from a source system and source data being protected. A “recovery manager” in the cloud computing environment is responsible for restoring secondary copies that were generated by the source system. The recovery manager gains knowledge (metadata) about the secondary copies by restoring, for its own use, a management database of, and backed up by, the source system. The recovery manager initiates out-of-place restores of the secondary copies to “recovery clients” in the recovery cloud. The recovery system restores, to the recovery cloud, secondary copies from any cloud platform and/or from non-cloud data centers, including secondary copies stored locally, off-cloud by the source system. The recovery manager comprises new features that enforce its isolation from the source system and they act to protect the integrity of the secondary copies generated by the source system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a first computing device comprising one or more first hardware processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising computer programming instructions, which, when executed by the one or more first hardware processors, configure the first computing device to perform operations of a recovery manager, wherein the first computing device operates in a cloud computing environment;
wherein a second computing device that comprises one or more second hardware processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising computer programming instructions, which, when executed by the one or more second hardware processors, configure the second computing device to perform operations of a storage manager,
wherein the storage manager previously managed backup operations that generated a first plurality of secondary copies of primary data,
wherein the primary data was generated by a first plurality of client computing devices that are registered as clients of the storage manager,
wherein the backup operations stored the first plurality of secondary copies in one or more data storage resources of the cloud computing environment, and
wherein the second computing device and the first plurality of client computing devices operate outside the cloud computing environment; and

wherein the operations of the recovery manager comprise:
causing information previously backed up from a first management database of the storage manager to be restored to a second management database of the recovery manager, wherein the first management database comprises first information about a first secondary copy among the first plurality of secondary copies, and wherein the first information is included in the second management database;
configuring a recovery client on a compute resource of the cloud computing environment that is distinct from the first computing device, wherein the recovery client is registered as a client of the recovery manager;
configuring a media agent on a compute resource of the cloud computing environment that is distinct from the first computing device, to access, and to prevent changing a write setting at, the one or more data storage resources that store the first plurality of secondary copies;
managing a restore operation of the first secondary copy, wherein the restore operation comprises the media agent: restoring the first secondary copy in a backup format into restored data in a primary data format, and storing the restored data in a data storage resource of the cloud computing environment; and
configuring the recovery client to consume the restored data.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations of the recovery manager further comprise: preventing any of the first plurality of client computing devices, which are registered as clients of the storage manager, from registering as a client of the recovery manager.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations of the recovery manager further comprise: preventing the recovery manager from accessing any of the first plurality of client computing devices.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the media agent is further configured to prevent the media agent from receiving data from any of the first plurality of client computing devices.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the restore operation managed by the recovery manager occurs concurrently with a first backup operation of at least some of the primary data generated by the first plurality of client computing devices, wherein the first backup operation is managed by the storage manager.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the first backup operation managed by the storage manager uses a second media agent that is distinct from the media agent; and wherein the media agent is further configured to reject requests to establish a backup pipeline with any of the first plurality of client computing devices that are registered as clients of the storage manager.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data storage resources that store the first plurality of secondary copies comprise write-once read-many (WORM) storage technology, and wherein the write setting that the media agent is prevented from changing comprises a release of a WORM hold on the first secondary copy.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations of the storage manager further comprise: causing a secondary copy of the first management database to be generated and stored in a storage resource of the cloud computing environment, wherein the second management database comprises information restored from the secondary copy of the first management database.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations of the recovery manager further comprise:
receiving a request for information about a first backup operation managed by the storage manager; and
based on determining that the second management database comprises the information about the first backup operation, responding to the request.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations of the recovery manager further comprise: receiving administrative inputs; and
based on determining that the administrative inputs would enable the recovery manager to manage backup operations of primary data generated by the first plurality of client computing devices, rejecting the administrative inputs.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations of the recovery manager further comprise: receiving administrative inputs from an administrator who is authorized to administer preferences for backup operations at the storage manager; and
based on determining that the administrative inputs would enable the recovery manager to manage backup operations of primary data generated by the first plurality of client computing devices, rejecting the administrative inputs.

12. A system comprising:
a first computing device comprising one or more first hardware processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising computer programming instructions, which, when executed by the one or more first hardware processors, configure the first computing device to perform operations of a recovery manager, wherein the first computing device operates in a cloud computing environment;
wherein a second computing device that comprises one or more second hardware processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory comprising computer programming instructions, which, when executed by the one or more second hardware processors, configure the second computing device to perform operations of a storage manager,
wherein previously, the storage manager managed backup operations that generated a first plurality of secondary copies of primary data,
wherein the primary data was generated by a first plurality of client computing devices that are registered as clients of the storage manager,
wherein the backup operations stored the first plurality of secondary copies in one or more data storage resources outside the cloud computing environment, and
wherein the second computing device and the first plurality of client computing devices operate outside the cloud computing environment; and

wherein the operations of the recovery manager comprise:
causing information previously backed up from a first management database of the storage manager to be restored to a second management database of the recovery manager, wherein the first management database comprises first information about a first secondary copy among the first plurality of secondary copies, and wherein the first information is included in the second management database,
configuring a recovery client on a compute resource of the cloud computing environment that is

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc

Inventors

• Kumar Abhinaw
• Kripalani Sanjay Harakhchand
• Dhorage Sachin Dattatraya
• Mohanty Satya Narayan

Classifications

• G06F11/1469

  Backup restoration techniques · CPC title

• G06F2201/80

  Database-specific techniques · CPC title

• G06F11/1464

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F11/2094

  Redundant storage or storage space (G06F11/2056 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F16/122 Primary

  using management policies (point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185) · CPC title