Automatic creation of application-centric extended metadata for a storage appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019332495-A1
Application number	US-201815963921-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 26, 2018
Priority date	Apr 26, 2018
Publication date	Oct 31, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to a system and method of providing consistent metadata to storage appliance objects in a network, by: obtaining environmental information that is available to deduplication backup program accessing the storage appliance objects, the environmental information comprising application name, client name, and client IP address; identifying file systems objects created by the deduplication backup program; and using a client-side generic network mount for the deduplication backup system to automatically create extended metadata for each of the identified DDR filesystem objects created through the deduplication backup program.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method of providing consistent metadata to storage appliance objects in a network, comprising:
obtaining environmental information that is available to deduplication backup program accessing the storage appliance objects, the environmental information comprising application name, client name, and client IP address; identifying file systems objects created by the deduplication backup program; and using a client-side generic network mount for the deduplication backup system to automatically create extended metadata for each of the identified DDR filesystem objects created through the deduplication backup program.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising continuously monitoring the deployment and runtime environment of the storage appliance objects to detect and define changes to the environmental information for regeneration or modification of the extended metadata.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the storage appliance objects comprise file systems, files, and storage units.

4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the extended metadata is used by management applications to perform analysis tasks.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises a Data Domain Restorer (DDR)-based deduplication storage system having a storage server implemented as a DDR Deduplication Storage server for DDR storage devices.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the deduplication backup software is distributed between deduplication storage system and a generic network-client software component providing a deduplication-aware network filesystem mount.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein an application making a non-deduplication aware backup of data backs up through the deduplication-aware network filesystem mount.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the client deduplication-aware software uses the client application environment to determine properties of the backup being made.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the client deduplication-aware software automatically stores with the backup of data made by the non-deduplication aware backup application extended metadata.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the extended metadata automatically stored includes at least client IP address, application name information.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the automatic extended metadata added by the client deduplication-aware software is used to manage backups made without requiring extended metadata awareness in the non-deduplication aware backup application.

12 . The method of claim 5 wherein the deduplication backup program comprises a DD Boost program, and wherein the generic network mount comprises a DD BoostFS plugin program, and wherein the application comprises one of: a Boost application accessing a backup server hosting the deduplication backup program through a Boost library, or a non-Boost application accessing a backup server hosting the deduplication backup program through a Boost library and an intermediate library.

13 . A system comprising a processor-based executable module configured to provide consistent metadata to storage appliance objects in a network, comprising:
a first component obtaining environmental information that is available to deduplication backup program accessing the storage appliance objects, the environmental information comprising application name, client name, and client IP address; and a second component identifying file systems objects created by the deduplication backup program, and using a client-side generic network mount for the deduplication backup system to automatically create extended metadata for each of the identified DDR filesystem objects created through the deduplication backup program.

14 . The system of claim 13 further comprising a monitor continuously monitoring the deployment and runtime environment of the storage appliance objects to detect and define changes to the environmental information for regeneration or modification of the extended metadata, and wherein the storage appliance objects comprise file systems, files, and storage units, and further wherein the extended metadata is used by management applications to perform analysis tasks.

15 . The system of claim 13 wherein the network comprises a Data Domain Restorer (DDR)-based deduplication storage system having a storage server implemented as a DDR Deduplication Storage server for DDR storage devices.

16 . The system of claim 15 wherein the deduplication backup software is distributed between deduplication storage system and a generic network-client software component providing a deduplication-aware network filesystem mount, and wherein an application making a non-deduplication aware backup of data backs up through the deduplication-aware network filesystem mount.

17 . The system of claim 16 wherein the client deduplication-aware software uses the client application environment to determine properties of the backup being made, and wherein the client deduplication-aware software automatically stores with the backup of data made by the non-deduplication aware backup application extended metadata.

18 . The system of claim 13 wherein the extended metadata automatically stored includes at least client IP address, application name information.

19 . The system of claim 18 wherein the automatic extended metadata added by the client deduplication-aware software is used to manage backups made without requiring extended metadata awareness in the non-deduplication aware backup application.

20 . A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to implement a method for providing consistent metadata to storage appliance objects in a network, by:
obtaining environmental information that is available to deduplication backup program accessing the storage appliance objects, the environmental information comprising application name, client name, and client IP address; identifying file systems objects created by the deduplication backup program; and using a client-side generic network mount for the deduplication backup system to automatically create extended metadata for each of the identified DDR filesystem objects created through the deduplication backup program.

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Fair Robert
• Lewis Donna Barry
• Fulk Robert

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

• G06F16/1748 Primary

  De-duplication implemented within the file system, e.g. based on file segments (de-duplication techniques in storage systems for the management of data blocks G06F3/0641) · CPC title

• G06F16/164

  File meta data generation · CPC title

• G06F11/1453

  using de-duplication of the data · CPC title

• G06F11/1469

  Backup restoration techniques · CPC title