System and method for providing intra-process communication for an application programming interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9384254-B2
Application number	US-201313920976-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2013
Priority date	Jun 18, 2012
Publication date	Jul 5, 2016
Grant date	Jul 5, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for intra-process communication in a backup framework. A custom requester is registered with a framework configured to run and coordinate one or more requesters and one or more providers, wherein the framework provides an application programmer interface for the requesters and providers. A first requester from the one or more requesters starts a backup process for a first data set associated with a first application. The first requester determines that the data storage device associated with the first data set and the first application is exported by a data management system. The first requester selects a first provider to create a backup of the first data set for the backup process, wherein the first requester and first provider are separate threads in a same process space that can communicate directly with each other using one or more intra-process communication channels.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computerized method for intra-process communication in a backup framework, the method comprising:
registering, by a computing device, a custom requester and a custom provider with a Volume Shadow Copy Service framework (VSS framework) configured to run and coordinate one or more volume shadow copy service (VSS) requesters and one or more VSS providers, wherein the VSS framework provides an application programmer interface for the one or more VSS requesters and the one or more VSS providers, but the VSS framework does not provide an interface for direct communication between the one or more VSS requesters and the one or more VSS providers, wherein:
each of the one or more VSS requesters are computerized processes configured to request a backup of a data set associated with an application; and
each of the one or more VSS providers comprises computerized processes configured to create a backup of a data set associated with an application;

starting, by the computing device using the custom requester, a backup process for a first data set associated with a first application;
determining, by the computing device using the custom requester, that the data storage device associated with the first data set and the first application is exported by a data management system associated with the computing device; and
selecting, by the computing device using the custom requester, the custom provider to create a backup of the first data set for the backup process, wherein the custom requester and custom provider are separate threads in a same process space such that the custom requester and custom provider can communicate directly with each other using one or more intra-process communication channels that are not provided by the VSS framework to exchange additional data that is not supported by the VSS framework,
thereby providing direct communication between the custom requester and the custom provider to facilitate communication of the additional data, which cannot otherwise be exchanged between the custom requester and the custom provider using the VSS framework.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing device using the custom requester, that the data storage device associated with the first data set and the first application is not exported by the data management system associated with the computing device; and
transmitting, by the computing device, a request to the VSS framework for the backup process such that the VSS framework selects a first VSS provider from the one or more VSS providers to create the backup of the first data set for the backup process, wherein the custom requester and the first VSS provider are separate processes such that the custom requester and the first VSS provider cannot communicate directly with each other but instead communicate through the VSS framework.

3. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the custom requester, a request to the VSS framework to initiate the backup, such that the custom requester is blocked by the VSS framework until the custom provider is completed with its associated functions;
receiving, by the custom provider, a second request from the framework to create a snapshot of the first data set; and
transmitting, by the custom provider, a notification to the custom requester that the framework is ready to create the snapshot.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the custom requester, a first message to the data management system to create the snapshot of the first data set;
receiving, by the custom requester, a second message from the data management system indicative of the snapshot being created; and
transmitting, by the custom requester, a third message to the custom provider that the snapshot was created.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the VSS framework further comprises a VSS writer configured to write and update data managed by the VSS framework.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
registering, by the custom requester, a callback handler with the custom provider; and
communicating, by the custom provider, with the custom requester using the callback handler.

7. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the custom requester and the custom provider communicating directly with each other using one or more intra-process communication channels includes:
allocating, by the computing device, areas of common memory between the threads;
populating, by the computing device, the common memory with data structures within the single process for the custom requester and the custom provider to share information; and
defining, by the computing device, at least one communication channel of the one or more intra-process communication channels between the custom requester and the custom provider for invoking functions between the custom requester and the custom provider.

8. The computerized method of claim 7 , wherein exchanging additional data that is not supported by the VSS framework includes:
registering, by the computing device, the shared data structures and function invocations from the custom requester and the custom provider associated with data volumes requested by the custom requester; and
identifying, by the computing device, configuration information associated with the requested data volumes by using the shared data structures and function invocations,
such that the custom provider has information about configuration information pertaining to the backup prior to a custom requester communicating with the VSS framework to request a backup of the first data set associated with the first application.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the configuration information includes at least one of storage pools, service level parameters and retention characteristics.

10. The computerized method of claim 7 , wherein exchanging additional data that is not supported by the VSS framework includes:
subsequent to creating the backup, returning, by the computing device from the custom provider to the custom requester through the shared data structures and function invocations virtual volume identities and storage frame identities that uniquely identify the volumes created or utilized by the custom provider to create the backup; and
returning at least one identifier associated with the backup.

11. A computing device for intra-process communication in a backup framework, comprising:
a database; and
a processor in communication with the database, and configured to run a module stored in memory that is configured to cause the processor to:
register a custom requester and a custom requester with a Volume Shadow Copy Service framework (VSS framework) configured to run and coordinate one or more volume shadow copy service (VSS) requesters and one or more VSS providers, wherein the framework provides an application programmer interface for the one or more VSS requesters and the one or more VSS providers, but the framework does not provide an interface for direct communication between the one or more VSS requesters and the one or more VSS providers, wherein:
each of the one or more VSS requesters are computerized processes configured to request a backup of a data set associated with an application; and
each of the one or more VSS providers are computerized processes configured to create a backup of a data set associated with an application;

start, using a custom requester, a backup process for a first data set associated with a first application;
determine, using the custom requester, that the data storage device associated with the first data set and the first application is e

Assignees

• Actifio Inc

Inventors

• Tekade Uday
• Mutalik Madhav
• Groose Brian

Classifications

• G06F17/30303

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F2201/84

  Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/0683

  Plurality of storage devices · CPC title