Storage management operations based on executable files served on demand to storage management components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016105504-A1
Application number	US-201414513049-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 13, 2014
Priority date	Oct 13, 2014
Publication date	Apr 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for speedily upgrading (e.g., via service packs) components of a storage management system, such as media agents and data agents, which may number in the thousands. The disclosed methods and systems provide a lightweight and flexible approach. Executable files such as service packs are deployed to a network-shared file system and are served on demand to each targeted host computing device to launch a data agent and/or media agent component. New service packs (e.g., upgrades) are installed on another shared drive and the connection thereto is refreshed by each targeted storage management component to begin executing the new version on demand. The resultant overall upgrade process across the storage management system may be substantially shortened, and the network burden greatly reduced.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for performing storage management operations based on executable files served on demand to components of a storage management system, the method comprising:
storing, by a storage manager, one or more executable files of a first data agent to a first network-shared file system, wherein the first data agent is a component of the storage management system; transmitting, by the storage manager, to a second data agent executing on a client computing device, one or more first messages, wherein the first network-shared file system is configures as unattached to the second data agent; in response to the one or more first messages: (i) saving, by the second data agent, to a local storage device associated with the client computing device, metadata relating to the one or more executable files of the first data agent, (ii) releasing, by the second data agent, a second network-shared file system that is configured as attached thereto, (iii) attaching, by the second data agent, to the first network-shared file system, and (iv) stopping execution by the second data agent; executing, by the client computing device, based on the metadata, the one or more executable files of the first data agent, which executable files are served to the client computing device from the attached first network-shared file system; and performing at least one storage management operation, by the first data agent, based on the executing, by the client computing device, of the one or more executable files served from the attached first network-shared file system.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one storage management operation is performed in response to one or more second messages received by the first data agent from the storage manager.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the executing, by the client computing device, of the one or more executable files is in response to one or more second messages received from the storage manager.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more executable files for the first data agent are served to the client computing device from the attached first network-shared file system based on one or more second messages transmitted by the storage manager.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first data agent is an upgrade of the second data agent.

6 . A storage management system for performing storage management operations based on executable files served on demand to components of the storage management system, the system comprising:
one or more executable files of a first storage management agent, wherein the storage management agent is one of a data agent and a media agent; a computing device that hosts a second storage management agent; a local storage device associated with the computing device; a first network-shared file system configured as detached from the computing device; a second network-shared file system configured as attached to the computing device; a storage manager in communication with the computing device, the first network-shared file system, and the second network-shared file system; wherein the storage manager is configured to
store the one or more executable files of the first storage management agent to the first network-shared file system;
transmit one or more first messages to the second storage management agent, wherein the one or more first messages instruct the second storage management agent to:
(i) save metadata relating to the one or more executable files of the first storage management agent to the local storage device, (ii) release the second network-shared file system, and (iii) attach to the first network-shared file system; and

transmit to the computing device one or more second messages that instruct the computing device to activate the first storage management agent by executing the one or more executable files served from the first network-shared file system; and
wherein the computing device is configured to, in response to the one or more second messages received from the storage manager, execute the one or more executable files served from the first network-shared file system, thereby activating the first storage management agent on the computing device.

7 . The system of claim 6 wherein a storage management operation performed by the first storage management agent is based at least in part on the one or more executable files served to the computing device from the first network-shared file system.

8 . The system of claim 6 wherein the first storage management agent is configured to perform at least one storage management operation based on the execution by the computing device of the one or more executable files served by the first network-shared file system.

9 . The system of claim 6 wherein the second storage management agent is further configured to, in response to the one or more first messages from the storage manager: (i) save the metadata relating to the one or more executable files of the first storage management agent to the local storage device, (ii) release the second network-shared file system, (iii) attach to the first network-shared file system, and (iv) stop executing.

10 . A method for upgrading a storage management component in a storage management system to a different version of the storage management component, wherein the method comprises:
upgrading a storage management component that executes on a host computing device in a storage management system from a second version to a first version, wherein the upgrading is based on refreshing a connection to a designated network-shared file system, wherein the upgrading comprises:
storing, by a storage manager, one or more executable files of the first version of the storage management component to a first network-shared file system, which is configured as unattached to the second version of the storage management component;
in response to one or more first messages received from the storage manager: (i) saving, by the second version of the storage management component, to a local storage device associated with the host computing device, metadata relating to the one or more executable files of the first version of the storage management component, (ii) releasing, by the second version of the storage management component, a second network-shared file system that is configured as attached thereto before the refreshing of the connection to the designated network-shared file system, wherein the refreshed connection attaches to the first network-shared file system which comprises the one or more executable files of the first version of the storage management component; and
executing the first version of the storage management component on the host computing device, based at least in part on the metadata and the one or more executable files of the first version of the storage management component, which executable files are served to the host computing device from the attached first network-shared file system.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the storage management component is at least one of a data agent and a media agent.

12 . The method of claim 10 wherein the host computing device is at least one of a client computing device and a secondary storage computing device.

13 . The method of claim 10 further comprising:
performing at least one storage management operation, by the first version of the storage management component, based on the executing, by the host computing device, of the one or more executable files served from the attached first network-shared file system.

14 . The method of claim 10 further comprising:
performing at

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc

Inventors

• Vallabhaneni Brahmaiah
• Kumarasamy Paramasivam

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

• H04L67/1095 Primary

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• H04L67/561

  Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata · CPC title