Backup Agent Skipped File Metadata Cataloging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing backup systems fail to effectively catalog and notify users of skipped files and folders during the backup process, leading to gaps in data protection and potential loss of important data.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising backup agents, intelligent file system crawlers, and backup storage devices that identify and store skipped files and folders, providing metadata on why they were skipped, and alerting users or administrators to ensure comprehensive data protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional backup systems are used to perform backups, then data protection is provided, but skipped files and folders are not cataloged or notified to users, creating gaps in data protection
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by cataloging skipped files and folders during backup operations, storing metadata about these skipped items, and notifying users through the graphical user interface. This feedback loop ensures users are informed about files that were not backed up, allowing them to adjust backup policies to improve data protection completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (the backup agent with crawler functionality) that mediates between the backup system and the file system. This intermediary catalogs skipped files, tracks their status, and communicates information to users, bridging the gap between the backup process and user awareness of backup completeness.
2Reliability
If comprehensive backup monitoring is implemented to track skipped files, then data protection reliability improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The backup agent is designed with multi-functionality, combining backup operations, file system crawling, skipped file cataloging, metadata storage, and user notification capabilities into a single unified component. This universal approach improves backup monitoring accuracy while avoiding the need for multiple separate systems, thereby controlling complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the backup process with a concurrent crawling process that identifies and catalogs skipped files. By combining these functions into a coordinated operation rather than separate systems, the patent achieves comprehensive backup monitoring while maintaining reasonable system complexity through integrated design.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for performing a backup includes: receiving, by a computing device, a native view request for a graphical user interface (GUI) of a local file system; intercepting, by a backup services agent executing on the computing device, the native view request before the GUI is generated; obtaining, by the backup services agent and in response to intercepting the native view request, a file system backup metadata associated with the local file system from a backup storage device and a local file system metadata associated with the local file system from a local storage of the computing device; generating a combined file system content list using the file system backup metadata and the local file system metadata; generating the GUI using the combined file system content list; and displaying, on a display of the computing device and to a user, the GUI.