Criteria-based data synchronization management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9336226-B2
Application number	US-201313968023-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2013
Priority date	Jan 11, 2013
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

In general, a data synchronization management system is disclosed in which files (and/or other data) are synchronized among two or more client computing devices in connection with a backup of those files. Synchronization polices specify files to be synchronized based on selected criteria including file data, metadata, and location information. In general, files are initially copied from a primary client computing device to secondary storage. Thereafter, files to be synchronized are identified from the secondary storage, and copied to other client computing devices. Additionally, synchronized files may be viewed and accessed through a cloud and/or remote file access interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of synchronizing files between multiple client computers using file data, the computer-implemented method comprising:
accessing, by a synchronization agent executing in computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors, user-defined synchronization criteria for identifying files to synchronize between a first primary storage device associated with a first client computing device and a second primary storage device associated with a second client computing device;
initiating, by a storage manager, a backup operation, the backup operation comprising:
identifying, according to a storage policy, one or more files stored in the first primary storage device; and
copying, according to the storage policy, the one or more files stored in the first primary storage device to one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup including the one or more files;

reviewing, by the synchronization agent, metadata associated with each of one or more files in the backup;
based at least in part on a review of the accessed metadata, identifying, by the synchronization agent, at least one file in the backup that meets the synchronization criteria for synchronization between the first primary storage device and the second primary storage device;
accessing the at least one file from the backup stored in the one or more secondary storage devices; and
communicating the accessed at least one file from the one or more secondary storage devices to the second client computing device for storage in the second primary storage device to synchronize the at least one file between the first primary storage device and the second primary storage device.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein said communicating comprises communicating a copy of the at least one file that is accessed from the one or more secondary storage devices.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein said identifying is in response to the backup operation.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the metadata associated with each of the one or more files in the backup is created following the initiation of the backup operation.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the metadata associated with each of the one or more files in the backup is created by the first client computing device prior to the initiation of the backup operation.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining characteristics associated with each of the one or more files stored in the first primary storage device;
after the initiation of the backup operation, for each of the one or more files copied to one or more secondary storage devices:
based on the user-defined synchronization criteria and the determined characteristics, generating, by the synchronization agent, an indication of whether the file is to be synchronized between the first primary storage device and the second primary storage device; and
including the indication with the metadata associated with the file,

wherein the at least one file in the backup to synchronize is identified based on the indication.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the accessed metadata includes at least one of a file name, a file owner, a file directory, a creation date, a modification date, a file size, a file type, or a geographical location.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising analyzing the contents of the at least one file, wherein the metadata includes content metadata relating to the analyzed content.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the user-defined synchronization criteria specifies files for synchronization based at least in part on the content metadata indicating the existence of one or more terms within the file.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one file communicated to the second client computing device replaces a previous version of the at least one file stored in the second primary storage device.

11. A system for synchronizing files between multiple client computers using file data, the system comprising:
a data store; and
a synchronization agent executing in computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors and configured to:
access user-defined synchronization criteria from the data store for identifying files to synchronize between a first primary storage device associated with a first client computing device and a second primary storage device associated with a second client computing device;
initiate, by a storage manager, a backup operation, the backup operation comprising:
identifying, according to a storage policy, one or more files stored in the first primary storage device; and
copying, according to the storage policy, the one or more files stored in the first primary storage device to one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup including the one or more files;

access file data associated with each of one or more files in the backup;
based at least in part on a review of the accessed file data, identify at least one file in the backup that meets the synchronization criteria for synchronization between the first primary storage device and the second primary storage device;
access the at least one file from the backup stored in the one or more secondary storage devices; and
communicate the accessed at least one file from the one or more secondary storage devices to the second client computing device for storage in the second primary storage device to synchronize the at least one file between the first primary storage device and the second primary storage device.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the file data includes content metadata relating to the content of the at least one file and the synchronization criteria specifies files for synchronization based at least in part on content metadata.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the user-defined synchronization criteria specifies files for synchronization based at least in part on the content metadata indicating the existence of one or more terms within the file.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the accessed file data associated with each of the one or more files in the backup is created following the initiation of the backup operation.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one file communicated to the second client computing device replaces a previous version of the at least one file stored in the second primary storage device.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the copy of the at least one file that is communicated to the second client computing device is accessed from the one or more secondary storage devices.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the identification of the at least one file is performed is in response to the backup operation.

18. A networked data storage system for synchronizing files between multiple client computers using file data, the system comprising:
a first client computing device;
a second client computing device;
at least one first primary storage device associated with the first client computing device;
at least one second primary storage device associated with the second client computing device;
one or more secondary storage devices; and
computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors and having a synchronization agent executing thereon, the synchronization agent configured to:
access user-defined synchronization crit

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc

Inventors

• Vibhor Anand
• Mehta Bhavyan Bharatkumar
• Karandikar Amey Vijaykumar
• Gokhale Parag

Classifications

• G06F11/1451

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• G06F16/275

  Synchronous replication · CPC title

• G06F16/178 Primary

  Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems · CPC title

• H04L67/1095

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

• 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