Computerized Methods and Apparatus for Data Cloning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025173223-A1
Application number	US-202519034170-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 22, 2025
Priority date	Nov 18, 2013
Publication date	May 29, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods for creating a live copy of a data object from a production system for use by third party applications include receiving at least one request for a copy of production data from an application; creating a live backup copy; creating a flash copy of the live backup copy, and a flash copy bitmap; creating a modified version of the live backup copy by changing a subset of data in the live backup copy; recording the changed subset of data using the flash copy bitmap; mounting, the modified version of the live backup copy to the application; and transforming the modified version of the live backup copy back to the live backup copy when unmounting the modified version of the live backup copy of the production data from the application by applying changes associated with the flash copy bitmap to the live backup copy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method executed by data processing hardware that causes the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a first snapshot of a data file, the first snapshot representing an initial backup of the data file; identifying blocks of data of the data file that have changed since a first incremental backup of the data file; transmitting the blocks of data to a backup device; generating a second snapshot of the data file based on the blocks of data at the backup device, the second snapshot representing a second incremental backup of the data file; and restoring the data file using the first snapshot of the data file and the second snapshot of the data file.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the blocks of data of the data file that have changed since the first incremental backup of the data file comprises identifying the blocks of data using a change tracking bitmap.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise, before restoring the data file, scrubbing the data file to remove sensitive information from the data file.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a live clone of the data file based on the first snapshot, the live clone executable without modification.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the data file comprises a virtual hard disk file for a virtual machine.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a third snapshot of the data file, the third snapshot representing a third incremental backup of the data file.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise restoring the data file using the first snapshot, the second snapshot, and the third snapshot.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the backup device comprises a network-attached storage (NAS) system.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein restoring the data file comprises restoring the data file to a point-in-time state.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first snapshot corresponds to a first point in time and the second snapshot corresponds to a second point in time different from the first point in time.

11 . A system comprising:
data processing hardware; and memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a first snapshot of a data file, the first snapshot representing an initial backup of the data file;
identifying blocks of data of the data file that have changed since a first incremental backup of the data file;
transmitting the blocks of data to a backup device;
generating a second snapshot of the data file based on the blocks of data at the backup device, the second snapshot representing a second incremental backup of the data file; and
restoring the data file using the first snapshot of the data file and the second snapshot of the data file.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein identifying the blocks of data of the data file that have changed since the first incremental backup of the data file comprises identifying the blocks of data using a change tracking bitmap.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise, before restoring the data file, scrubbing the data file to remove sensitive information from the data file.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a live clone of the data file based on the first snapshot, the live clone executable without modification.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the data file comprises a virtual hard disk file for a virtual machine.

16 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a third snapshot of the data file, the third snapshot representing a third incremental backup of the data file.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise restoring the data file using the first snapshot, the second snapshot, and the third snapshot.

18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the backup device comprises a network-attached storage (NAS) system.

19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein restoring the data file comprises restoring the data file to a point-in-time state.

20 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the first snapshot corresponds to a first point in time and the second snapshot corresponds to a second point in time different from the first point in time.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Gottemukkula Yeganjaiah
• Mutalik Madhav
• Karnik Siddharth
• Taylor Tracy Melbourne

Classifications

• G06F11/1435

  using file system or storage system metadata · CPC title

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F11/1464

  for networked environments · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06F11/1446

  Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data · CPC title