Aggregate Backup Image Map Indirect Pointers
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Solution Overview
Problem
The growing size of data sources leads to increased reliance on incremental images, resulting in significant storage costs and prolonged restoration times due to the need to manage long backup image chains with obsolete data blocks, as traditional methods for creating consolidated full images require extensive data copying, which is resource-intensive and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for creating aggregate backup images using indirect pointers in image maps, allowing for the efficient creation of synthetic full backup images without copying data blocks from existing images, thereby reducing storage and computing resources required and minimizing storage of obsolete data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional full backup images are created periodically, then data recovery reliability is ensured, but storage costs and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the backup image into two parts: a full backup image containing unchanged data blocks and an incremental backup image containing only changed data blocks. This segmentation allows the system to maintain recovery reliability while reducing storage requirements by not duplicating unchanged data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the full backup image and incremental backup image during the restoration process to reconstruct the complete data set. The image map combines pointers from both images, allowing the system to present a unified view of the backed-up data without physically combining all data blocks.
2Quantity of substance
If incremental backup images are used to reduce storage costs, then storage efficiency improves, but restoration time increases due to processing multiple images
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-processing the incremental backup image during the backup phase to identify and extract only the changed data blocks. The image map is pre-constructed with optimized pointers that enable fast access during restoration, eliminating the need to sequentially process entire image chains during recovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a virtual copying mechanism through the image map, which creates a logical copy of the complete data set by combining pointers from the full and incremental images without physically copying all data blocks. This allows rapid restoration by copying only the necessary changed blocks.
3Quantity of substance
If long backup image chains are created to minimize full backups, then storage costs decrease, but management complexity and restoration complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary structure called the image map that mediates between the full backup image and incremental backup images. This intermediary maintains the relationships and pointers between different backup images, simplifying management by providing a unified access interface without requiring complex chain processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical system of physically processing and combining multiple backup images during restoration with a data structure-based system. The image map uses pointer arithmetic and logical operations to efficiently combine data from multiple images, substituting complex mechanical processing with simpler computational operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for efficient creation of aggregate backup images includes a plurality of backup images of a source data set, including a first and a second backup image, and a backup manager. The second backup image may include at least one data block containing an updated version of a corresponding data block in the first backup image. The backup manager may be configured maintain a first and a second image map corresponding to the first and second backup images, respectively, where each image map includes a plurality of entries pointing to data blocks of the corresponding backup image. In response to a request to create a first aggregate backup image of the source data set, the backup manager may be configured to establish a first aggregate image map including indirect pointers that point to one or more entries in each of the first and second image maps.