Granted Patent B2

US 12,380,001 · App. 18/885,883 · Granted Aug 5, 2025

Inventor: Prasad Nara (Manalapan, NJ)

Assignee: Commvault Systems, Inc.

G06F11/1464G06F11/1435G06F11/1448G06F11/1461G06F16/21

Abstract

Claims (63)

1. A system comprising:

a first computing device comprising one or more hardware processors; and

a second computing device comprising one or more hardware processors, wherein the second computing device is configured to:

based on a criterion that has been satisfied, receive first metadata from the first computing device,

wherein the first metadata was generated by, and is associated with, one or more first backup jobs that were previously managed by the first computing device,

wherein the one or more first backup jobs generated first backup copies that are stored in secondary storage, and

wherein the second computing device is configured to manage restore jobs of the first backup copies from the secondary storage, and

store the first metadata at the second computing device;

wherein the first computing device is configured to:

remove the first metadata from the first computing device after transferring the first metadata to the second computing device,

after having removed the first metadata, receive a request to restore at least one of the first backup copies, and

based on determining that the first metadata has been transferred to the second computing device, redirect the request to the second computing device; and

wherein the second computing device is further configured to:

responsive to the request, manage a restore job that restores the at least one of the first backup copies to a primary storage device,

wherein the second computing device is further configured to lack authorization to back up data stored at the primary storage device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the second computing device is further configured to determine that the criterion has been satisfied and causes the first computing device to transfer the first metadata.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the first computing device is further configured to determine that the criterion has been satisfied and initiates transferring of the first metadata to the second computing device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the criterion is based on one or more of: a size threshold of a first management database configured at the first computing device, and a threshold number of records of the first management database, wherein the first management database comprises the first metadata.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the criterion is based on an age threshold of the one or more first backup jobs.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the criterion is based on a frequency.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is further configured to cause one or more client computing devices that are associated with the first metadata to register as restore-only clients of the second computing device; and

wherein the second computing device is further configured to lack access to primary data of any client computing device that is registered as a restore-only client at the second computing device as a data source for backup jobs.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is further configured to identify one or more data agents that are associated with the first metadata, wherein the one or more data agents execute at one or more client computing devices, and

cause the one or more data agents to register as restore-only clients of the second computing device; and

wherein the second computing device is configured to lack access to primary data associated with the one or more data agents as a data source for backup jobs.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the second computing device is further configured to cause a media agent to be populated with at least some of the first metadata, wherein the media agent is hosted by a third computing device that comprises one or more hardware processors; and

wherein the third computing device hosting the media agent is configured to perform the restore job.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

based on a criterion that has been satisfied, transferring, by a storage manager to a recovery manager, first metadata that is stored at the storage manager,

wherein the first metadata was generated by one or more first backup jobs that were previously managed by the storage manager,

wherein the one or more first backup jobs generated first backup copies that are stored in secondary storage;

wherein the recovery manager is configured to manage restore jobs of the first backup copies from the secondary storage,

wherein the storage manager executes on a first computing device that comprises one or more hardware processors, and

wherein the recovery manager executes on a second computing device, which is distinct from the first computing device, and which comprises one or more hardware processors;

by the recovery manager, storing the first metadata at the recovery manager;

by the storage manager, removing the first metadata from the storage manager after transferring the first metadata to the recovery manager;

after having removed the first metadata, receiving, by the storage manager, a request to restore at least one of the first backup copies;

based on determining that the first metadata has been transferred to the recovery manager, redirecting the request to the recovery manager; and

responsive to the request, managing, by the recovery manager, a restore job that restores the at least one of the first backup copies to a primary storage device,

wherein the recovery manager is further configured to lack access to data stored at the primary storage device as a data source for backup jobs.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the recovery manager determines that the criterion has been satisfied and causes the storage manager to transfer the first metadata.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the storage manager determines that the criterion has been satisfied and initiates transferring of the first metadata to the recovery manager.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

by the recovery manager, informing the storage manager that the first metadata has been validated;

based on the first metadata having been validated by the recovery manager, identifying, by the storage manager, storage media within the secondary storage that comprises the first backup copies, and adding the storage media to an overwrite protection pool.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

by the recovery manager, informing the storage manager that the first metadata has been validated;

based on the first metadata having been validated by the recovery manager, identifying, by the storage manager, storage media within the secondary storage that comprises the first backup copies, and indicating at the storage manager that the storage media are read-only.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving, by the storage manager, a second request to restore a second backup copy, which is distinct from the first backup copies;

based on determining that second metadata associated with the second backup copy resides at the storage manager, managing, by the storage manager, a restore job that restores the second backup copy to a primary storage device.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising:

identifying, by the storage manager, one or more client computing devices that are associated with the first metadata;

causing, by the storage manager, the one or more client computing devices to register as restore-only clients of the recovery manager; and

wherein the recovery manager is configured not to manage backup jobs of primary data of any client computing device that is registered as a restore-only client at the recovery manager.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:

identifying, by the storage manager, one or more data agents that are associated with the first metadata, wherein the one or more data agents execute at one or more client computing devices;

causing, by the storage manager, the one or more data agents to register as restore-only clients of the recovery manager; and

wherein the recovery manager is configured not to manage backup jobs of primary data associated with the one or more data agents that are registered as restore-only clients at the recovery manager.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the recovery manager is configured not to manage backup jobs.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising: causing, by the recovery manager, a media agent to be populated with at least some of the first metadata; and

by the media agent, performing the restore job that restores the at least one of the first backup copies, wherein the media agent executes on a third computing device that comprises one or more hardware processors.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the criterion is based on one or more of: a frequency, a size threshold of a first management database configured at the first computing device, a threshold number of records of the first management database, and an age threshold of the one or more first backup jobs.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (118)