Cross application granular restore of backed-up email attachments
Described is a system (and method) for cross application granular restore of email attachments backed up to a cloud-based object storage. More particularly, the system may allow various non-email applications to directly restore an email attachment of a backed-up email without requiring restoration of the email itself. The attachment may be a file, item (e.g., contact, event, message, etc.), or another type of attachment such as a link to a file or an item. To provide such a capability, the system may decouple the attachment from an email when performing a backup to an object storage. The system may also store specialized metadata that may be leveraged when performing an efficient restore of the attachment.
1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions, which when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a request to back up a set of emails to a cloud-based object storage, the set of emails associated with an email application and including at least a first email;
determine the first email includes an attachment associated with a first non-email application of the client device;
store a backup of the attachment as part of a first object within the object storage;
store a backup of the first email, excluding the attachment, as part of a second object within the object storage;
receive a request to restore the attachment;
retrieve the backed-up attachment from the first object; and
restore the attachment on a file host accessible by a second non-email application, the restore performed using the backed-up attachment and without accessing the second object.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:
store, as part of a metadata database, a name of the attachment, an identifier for the first object as a storage location for the attachment, and an identifier for the second object as a storage location for the first email; and
determine, prior to retrieving the backed-up attachment, the storage location for the backed-up attachment by accessing the metadata database.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein restoring the attachment on the file host includes:
providing, via an application programming interface (API) associated with the file host, a PUT request to create a first file on the file host, the PUT request specifying the name of the attachment as a filename for the first file, and the retrieved attachment as content for the first file.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:
determine whether the attachment comprises an item attachment; and
convert, prior to restoring the attachment, the retrieved attachment into a format readable by the second non-email application, in response to a determination the attachment comprises the item attachment.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:
determine a second email of the set of emails includes a reference attachment, the reference attachment comprising a link to a file or item stored by the client device and associated with the first non-email application;
store a backup of the reference attachment and a backup of the second email within the object storage;
receive a request to restore the reference attachment;
retrieve the reference attachment from the object storage;
convert the reference attachment into a format readable by the second non-email application; and
restore the reference attachment by creating a second file on the file host using the converted reference attachment.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:
provide a name of the attachment as part of a listing of backup data stored by the object storage, and wherein the request to restore the attachment includes the name of the attachment.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the request to restore the attachment is received from a second non-email application of the client device and includes a request to restore only the attachment.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to:
retrieve the attachment from the client device, prior to storing the backup of the attachment as part of the first object.
9. A method comprising:
receiving, by a server, a request to back up a set of emails to a cloud-based object storage, the set of emails associated with an email application and including at least a first email;
determining the first email includes an attachment associated with a first non-email application of the client device;
storing a backup of the attachment as part of a first object within the object storage;
storing a backup of the first email, excluding the attachment, as part of a second object within the object storage;
receiving a request to restore the attachment;
retrieving the backed-up attachment from the first object; and
restoring the attachment on a file host accessible by a second non-email application, the restore performed using the backed-up attachment and without accessing the second object.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
storing, as part of a metadata database, a name of the attachment, an identifier for the first object as a storage location for the attachment, and an identifier for the second object as a storage location for the first email; and
determining, prior to retrieving the backed-up attachment, the storage location for the backed-up attachment by accessing the metadata database.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein restoring the attachment on the file host includes:
providing, via an application programming interface (API) associated with the file host, a PUT request to create a first file on the file host, the PUT request specifying the name of the attachment as a filename for the first file, and the retrieved attachment as content for the first file.
12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining whether the attachment comprises an item attachment; and
converting, prior to restoring the attachment, the retrieved attachment into a format readable by the second non-email application, in response to a determination the attachment comprises the item attachment.
13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining a second email of the set of emails includes a reference attachment, the reference attachment comprising a link to a file or item stored by the client device and associated with the first non-email application;
storing a backup of the reference attachment and a backup of the second email within the object storage;
receiving a request to restore the reference attachment;
retrieving the reference attachment from the object storage;
converting the reference attachment into a format readable by the second non-email application; and
restoring the reference attachment by creating a second file on the file host using the converted reference attachment.
14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
providing a name of the attachment as part of a listing of backup data stored by the object storage, and wherein the request to restore the attachment includes the name of the attachment.
15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein to be executed by one or more processors, the program code including instructions to:
receive a request to back up a set of emails to a cloud-based object storage, the set of emails associated with an email application and including at least a first email;
determine the first email includes an attachment associated with a first non-email application of the client device;
store a backup of the attachment as part of a first object within the object storage;
store a backup of the first email, excluding the attachment, as part of a second object within the object storage;
receive a request to restore the attachment;
retrieve the backed-up attachment from the first object; and
restore the attachment on a file host accessible by a second non-email application, the restore performed using the backed-up attachment and without accessing the second object.
16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program code includes further instructions to:
store, as part of a metadata database, a name of the attachment, an identifier for the first object as a storage location for the attachment, and an identifier for the second object as a storage location for the first email; and
determine, prior to retrieving the backed-up attachment, the storage location for the backed-up attachment by accessing the metadata database.
17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein restoring the attachment on the file host includes:
providing, via an application programming interface (API) associated with the file host, a PUT request to create a first file on the file host, the PUT request specifying the name of the attachment as a filename for the first file, and the retrieved attachment as content for the first file.
18. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program code includes further instructions to:
determine whether the attachment comprises an item attachment; and
convert, prior to restoring the attachment, the retrieved attachment into a format readable by the second non-email application, in response to a determination the attachment comprises the item attachment.
19. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program code includes further instructions to:
determine a second email of the set of emails includes a reference attachment, the reference attachment comprising a link to a file or item stored by the client device and associated with the first non-email application;
store a backup of the reference attachment and a backup of the second email within the object storage;
receive a request to restore the reference attachment;
retrieve the reference attachment from the object storage;
convert the reference attachment into a format readable by the second non-email application; and
restore the reference attachment by creating a second file on the file host using the converted reference attachment.
20. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program code includes further instructions to:
provide a name of the attachment as part of a listing of backup data stored by the object storage, and wherein the request to restore the attachment includes the name of the attachment.