Snapshot readiness checking and reporting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9495251-B2
Application number	US-201414163876-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2014
Priority date	Jan 24, 2014
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

An information management system according to certain aspects may determine whether snapshot operations will work prior to executing them. The system may check various factors or parameters relating to a snapshot storage policy to verify whether the storage policy will work at runtime without actually executing the policy. Some examples of factors can include: availability of primary storage devices for which a snapshot should be obtained, availability of secondary storage devices, license availability for snapshot software, user credentials for connecting to primary and/or second storage devices, available storage capacity, connectivity to storage devices, etc. The system may also check whether a particular system configuration is supported in connection with snapshot operations. The result of the determination can be provided in the form of a report summarizing any problems found with the snapshot storage policy. The report can include recommended courses of action or solutions for resolving any identified issues.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information management system configured to generate snapshots, the system comprising:
one or more media agents installed on one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, the one or more media agents configured to copy data between a primary storage subsystem and a secondary storage subsystem; and
one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware and configured to:
access a storage policy defining criteria associated with a snapshot operations in which snapshots of data in the primary storage subsystem are taken, the criteria specifying one or more of:
(i) a frequency at which the snapshots are to be taken,
(ii) one or more primary storage devices residing in the primary storage subsystem from which the snapshots are to be taken,
(iii) or one or more secondary storage devices residing in the secondary storage subsystem in which the snapshots are to be stored;
based on the storage policy, determine that a first snapshot operation is scheduled to be executed;
prior to the scheduled execution of the first snapshot operation, determine whether one or more of:
(i) the one or more primary storage devices specified in the storage policy, or
(ii) the one or more secondary storage devices specified in the storage policy, are available based at least in part on a connectivity of one or more of the one or more media agents to the respective one or more primary storage devices or to the respective one or more secondary storage devices; and
in response to a determination that the one or more of the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices are not available, generate a first report prior to the scheduled execution of the first snapshot operation, the first report identifying one or more solutions or recommendations for resolving the unavailability of the one or more of the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether a license associated with a snapshot application is valid, wherein the snapshot application is configured to obtain a snapshot of the data in the primary storage subsystem for the first snapshot operation, and the license is for the snapshot application to obtain the snapshot.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether the one or more secondary storage devices are online.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more secondary storage devices comprise a plurality of logical volumes and the snapshot is to be stored in a logical volume of the plurality of logical volumes, and the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether the logical volume is available to store the snapshot.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether the one or more secondary storage devices have sufficient space to store the snapshot.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether the one or more primary storage devices are online.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the one or more primary storage devices comprise a plurality of logical volumes and the snapshot is of a logical volume of the plurality of logical volumes, and the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether the logical volume is available for the first snapshot operation.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to test connectivity to the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to test the connectivity by instructing the one or more media agents to establish a connection to the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more media agents are further configured to establish the connection to the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices using credentials for connecting to a particular storage device of the one or more primary storage devices or a particular storage device of the one or more secondary storage devices.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices comprise a storage array comprising one or more volumes, the one or more volumes in the storage array being managed by a volume manager software; and
the one or more computing devices are further configured to determine whether a configuration of the one or more volumes managed by the volume manager software is compatible with the storage policy.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to, in response to a determination that the one or more of the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices are available, generate a second report prior to the scheduled execution of the first snapshot operation, the second report indicative of an absence of any issues identified for the first snapshot operation.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more primary storage devices and the one or more secondary storage devices comprise the same storage device or devices.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the snapshot to be obtained for the first snapshot operation is a hardware-based snapshot.

15. A method of verifying snapshot storage operations for an information management system, the method comprising:
accessing a storage policy defining criteria associated with snapshot operations in which snapshots of data in a primary storage subsystem of an information management system are taken, the criteria specifying one or more of:
(i) a frequency at which the snapshots are to be taken,
(ii) one or more primary storage devices residing in the primary storage subsystem from which the snapshots are to be taken,
(iii) or one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem in which the snapshots are to be stored;
the information management system comprising one or more media agents installed on one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, the one or more media agents configured to copy data between the primary storage subsystem and the secondary storage subsystem of the information management system;
based on the storage policy, determining that a first snapshot operation is scheduled to be executed;
prior to the scheduled execution of the first snapshot operation, determining whether one or more of:
(i) the one or more primary storage devices specified in the storage policy, or
(ii) the one or more secondary storage devices specified in the storage policy, are available based at least in part on a connectivity of one or more of the one or more media agents to the respective one or more primary storage devices or to the respective one or more secondary storage devices; and
in response to a determination that the one or more of the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devices are not available, generating a first report prior to the scheduled execution of the first snapshot operation, the first report identifying one or more solutions or recommendations for resolving the unavailability of the one or more of the one or more primary storage devices or the one or more secondary storage devic

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc

Inventors

• Kottomtharayil Rajiv
• Vijayan Manoj Kumar
• Nallathambi Vimal Kumar
• Tambe Unmil Vinay

Classifications

• G06F11/203

  using migration · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F11/1451

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• G06F11/1474

  in transactions (updating of structured data in databases G06F16/23) · CPC title

• G06F11/1464 Primary

  for networked environments · CPC title