System and method for incrementally backing up out-of-band data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9754005-B2
Application number	US-201313920981-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2013
Priority date	Jun 18, 2012
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for backing up out-of-band storage. A protection policy is activated for out-of-band storage at a remote host, wherein the out-of-band storage is not physically accessible by the computing device, such that the out-of-band storage is not in communication with the remote host through the computing device. A backup request is transmitted to the remote host comprising data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up according to the protection policy. A response to the backup request is received comprising staging disk requirements for the volume, the staging disk requirements comprising a required size for a staging disk to back up the volume. A staging disk is determined based on the response. The staging disk is presented to the remote host. A backup result is received comprising data indicative of whether a backup of the volume to the staging disk succeeded.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computerized method for backing up data from a remote location such that direct access to the data is not required, comprising:
activating, by a computing device, a protection policy for out-of-band storage at a remote host, wherein the out-of-band storage is not physically accessible by the computing device, further wherein the out-of-band storage is not in communication with the remote host through the computing device;
transmitting, by the computing device, a backup request to the remote host comprising data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up according to the protection policy;
receiving, by the computing device, prior to backing up the data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up, a response to the backup request comprising data indicative of staging disk requirements for the volume, the staging disk requirements comprising a required size for a staging disk to back up the volume;
determining, by the computing device, a staging disk based on the response including the required size;
allocating, by the computing device, the staging disk from data storage, the data storage being directly accessible by the computing device;
presenting, by the computing device, the staging disk to the remote host; and
receiving, by the computing device, a backup result from the remote host comprising data indicative of whether a backup of the volume to the staging disk succeeded or whether the backup of the volume to the staging disk failed, thereby backing up data from a remote location such that direct access to the data is not required.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining, based on the backup result, that the backup failed; and
identifying an error code in the backup result and storing the error code.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining, based on the backup result, that the backup succeeded;
creating a point-in-time snapshot of the staging disk; and
cataloging the point-in-time snapshot of the staging disk as a most recent backup of the volume.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the staging disk based on the response comprises:
identifying a previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot for the volume; and
using the previously catalogued point-in-time image as the staging disk, wherein file system information is used to compare the previously catalogued point-in-time image with the out-of-band storage to only copy information in the out-of-band storage that changed from the point-in-time image.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the staging disk based on the response comprises:
determining there is no previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot for the volume; and
allocating the staging disk from data storage of the computing device with a size based on the required size from the staging disk requirements.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot for the volume expired; and
deleting the previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot for the volume is associated with a previous staging disk comprising a size below the required size from the staging disk requirements; and
allocating the staging disk from the data storage of the computing device with a size based on the required size from the staging disk requirements, wherein the staging disk does not comprise the previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the out-of-band storage stored on the remote host comprises an internal disk to the remote device, a networked drive, or any combination thereof.

9. A computing device for backing up data from a remote location such that direct access to the data is not required, the computing device comprising:
data storage; and
a processor in communication with the data storage, and configured to run a module stored in memory that is configured to cause the processor to:
activate a protection policy for out-of-band storage at a remote host, wherein the out-of-band storage is not physically accessible by the computing device, further wherein the out-of-band storage is not in communication with the remote host through the computing device;
transmit a backup request to the remote host comprising data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up according to the protection policy;
receive a response to the backup request prior to backing up the data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up, the response comprising data indicative of staging disk requirements for the volume, the staging disk requirements comprising a required size for a staging disk to back up the volume;
determine a staging disk from the storage pool based on the response, including the required size;
allocate the staging disk from the data storage, the data storage being directly accessible by the computing device;
present the staging disk to the remote host; and
receive a backup result from the remote host comprising data indicative of whether a backup of the volume to the staging disk succeeded or whether the backup of the volume to the staging disk failed, thereby backing up data from a remote location such that direct access to the data is not required.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instructions operable to cause an apparatus to:
activate a protection policy for out-of-band storage at a remote host, wherein the out-of-band storage is not physically accessible by the computing device, further wherein the out-of-band storage is not in communication with the remote host through the computing device;
transmit a backup request to the remote host comprising data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up according to the protection policy;
receive a response to the backup request prior to backing up the data indicative of a volume on the out-of-band storage to back up, the response comprising data indicative of staging disk requirements for the volume, the staging disk requirements comprising a required size for a staging disk to back up the volume;
determine a staging disk based on the response, including the required size;
allocate the staging disk from data storage, the data storage being directly accessible by the computing device;
present the staging disk to the remote host; and
receive a backup result from the remote host comprising data indicative of whether a backup of the volume to the staging disk succeeded or whether the backup of the volume to the staging disk failed.

11. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further caused to:
determine, based on the backup result, that the backup failed; and
identify an error code in the backup result and storing the error code.

12. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further caused to:
determine, based on the backup result, that the backup succeeded;
create a point-in-time snapshot of the staging disk; and
catalog the point-in-time snapshot of the staging disk as a most recent backup of the volume.

13. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein to determine the staging disk based on the response, the processor is further caused to:
identify a previously cataloged point-in-time snapshot for the volume; and
use the previously catalogued point-in-time image as the staging disk, wherein file system information is used to compare the previously catalogued point-in-time image with the out-of-band storage to only copy information in the out-

Assignees

• Actifio Inc

Inventors

• Potter Alan
• Groose Brian
• Mutalik Madhav

Classifications

• H04L67/10

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

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F11/1451 Primary

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• G06F3/0617

  in relation to availability · CPC title

• G06F17/30088

  Physics · mapped topic