Granted Patent B1

US 9,569,313 · App. 14/605,541 · Granted Feb 14, 2017

Inventor: Russell R. Stringham (Orem, UT)

Assignee: Veritas Technologies LLC

G06F11/1469G06F11/1448G06F17/30876G06F2201/84

Abstract

Claims (84)

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request to perform a restore operation, wherein

the request specifies a requested version of requested data that has been modified at least twice since a base backup was captured;

accessing, in response to the receiving the request, a synthetic incremental backup of a plurality of first synthetic incremental backups in a backup chain, wherein the backup chain comprises the base backup and the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups,

the synthetic incremental backup is created using N incremental backups in the backup chain,

the synthetic incremental backup comprises at least a previous version of the requested data and a modified version of the requested data,

N is a pre-specified value that determines how many incremental backups are created between creation of each of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, and

each of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups is created in response to the creation of the respective N incremental backups in the backup chain;

identifying the requested version of the requested data, wherein

the requested version of the requested data is capable of being either the previous version or the modified version of the requested data; and

restoring the requested version of the requested data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

creating a synthetic base backup from a previously-created synthetic incremental backup and the base backup, wherein

the synthetic base backup is created in response to either a length of the backup chain or a size of one or more previously-created synthetic incremental backups.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein

N is inversely proportional to an average length of the backup chain.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein

N is defined by a numerical progression, and

the numerical progression comprises at least one of a logarithmic progression, an exponential progression, or a geometric progression.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adjusting N in response to detecting a creation of M incremental backups.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

creating at least one second synthetic incremental backup from at least two of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the at least one second synthetic incremental backup is created in response to the creation of the at least two of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

deleting at least one incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups after the creation of a first synthetic incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the at least one incremental backup was used to create the first synthetic incremental backup.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

deleting the synthetic incremental backup after a defined period of time elapses subsequent to creating the synthetic incremental backup.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a storage subsystem storing backup chain comprising a base backup and a plurality of first synthetic incremental backups; and

a storage controller configured to:

receive a request to perform a restore operation, wherein

the request specifies a requested version of requested data that has been modified at least twice since the base backup was captured,

access, in response to receiving the request, a synthetic incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the synthetic incremental backup is created using N incremental backups in the backup chain,

the synthetic incremental backup comprises at least a previous version of the requested data and a modified version of the requested data,

N is a pre-specified value that determines how many incremental backups are created between creation of each of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, and

each of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups is created in response to the creation of the respective N incremental backups in the backup chain,

identify the requested version of the requested data, wherein

the requested version of the requested data is capable of being either the previous version or the modified version of the requested data, and

restore the requested version of the requested data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

create a synthetic base backup from a previously-created synthetic incremental backup and the base backup, wherein

the synthetic base backup is created in response to either a length of the backup chain or a size of one or more previously-created synthetic incremental backups.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein

N is defined by a numerical progression, and

the numerical progression comprises at least one of a logarithmic progression, an exponential progression, or a geometric progression.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

adjust N in response to detecting a creation of M incremental backups.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

create at least one second synthetic incremental backup from at least two of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the at least one second synthetic incremental backup is created in response to the creation of the at least two of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

delete at least one incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups after the creation of a first synthetic incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the at least one incremental backup was used to create the first synthetic incremental backup.

15. A system, comprising:

a server for managing backups of data within a computing environment, comprising:

a storage subsystem storing backup chain comprising a base backup and a plurality of first synthetic incremental backups; and

a storage controller configured to:

receive a request to perform a restore operation, wherein

the request specifies a requested version of requested data that has been modified at least twice since the base backup was captured,

access, in response to receiving the request, a synthetic incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the synthetic incremental backup is created using N incremental backups in the backup chain,

the synthetic incremental backup comprises at least a previous version of the requested data and a modified version of the requested data,

N is a pre-specified value that determines how many incremental backups are created between creation of each of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, and

each of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups is created in response to the creation of the respective N incremental backups in the backup chain,

identify the requested version of the requested data, wherein

the requested version of the requested data is capable of being either the previous version or the modified version of the requested data, and

restore the requested version of the requested data.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

create a synthetic base backup from a previously-created synthetic incremental backup and the base backup, wherein

the synthetic base backup is created in response to either a length of the backup chain or a size of one or more previously-created synthetic incremental backups.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein

N is defined by a numerical progression, and

the numerical progression comprises at least one of a logarithmic progression, an exponential progression, or a geometric progression.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

adjust N in response to detecting a creation of M incremental backups.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

create at least one second synthetic incremental backup from at least two of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the at least one second synthetic incremental backup is created in response to the creation of the at least two of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

delete at least one incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups after the creation of a first synthetic incremental backup of the plurality of first synthetic incremental backups, wherein

the at least one incremental backup was used to create the first synthetic incremental backup.

Assignments (10)

Continuity (1)