Backup Catalog Analyzer for Storage Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data protection storage systems face inefficiencies due to long-term retention of backup images, leading to excessive storage resource usage, as users often retain duplicate and expired data to avoid accidental deletion, resulting in full storage capacity and costly expansions.
Innovation Solution
An analysis engine identifies suitable data for long-term storage and deletion, reducing duplicate copies and double coverage, and calculates potential storage savings, presenting these findings in a report to users for informed decision-making.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If backup images are retained indefinitely to avoid accidental deletion of important data, then data safety is improved, but storage resource usage deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of backup images to identify duplicates and expired data before deletion occurs. The catalog analyzer proactively scans backup catalogs, compares data across multiple images, and generates reports of candidate images for deletion before storage resources are exhausted, allowing administrators to take preventive action.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback to administrators through detailed reports that identify specific backup images containing duplicate or expired data. The reports include information about data age, duplication patterns, and storage space that can be recovered, enabling informed decision-making about which images to delete while maintaining data safety.
2Quantity of substance
If manual deletion of old backup images is performed to free storage space, then storage resource usage is improved, but time consumption and labor intensity worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The catalog analyzer performs self-service by automatically scanning backup catalogs, identifying duplicate and expired data patterns, and generating comprehensive reports of candidate images for deletion. The system autonomously analyzes the backup inventory and presents actionable recommendations without requiring administrator intervention in the analysis process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification and categorization of deletable backup images before administrator action is required. By pre-analyzing the backup catalog and flagging suitable candidates, the system eliminates the time-consuming manual evaluation process and allows administrators to simply review and approve pre-identified targets.
3Quantity of substance
If additional storage resources are installed to provide more storage space, then storage capacity is improved, but installation time and financial cost worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system recovers storage space by identifying and marking for deletion backup images that contain duplicate or expired data. The catalog analyzer scans the backup inventory, identifies redundant data patterns, and generates reports showing the amount of space that can be recovered by removing specific images, allowing organizations to reuse existing storage capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis to determine the amount of recoverable storage space before any deletion actions are taken. By pre-identifying duplicate and expired data across backup images and calculating the potential space recovery, the system provides administrators with concrete information about available capacity that can be freed without requiring new hardware installation.
4Duration of action of stationary object
If duplicate copies of client data are repeatedly stored in multiple backup images, then data retention is improved, but storage efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The catalog analyzer performs preliminary scanning and comparison of backup catalogs to identify duplicate data across multiple images before deletion is executed. By proactively detecting duplication patterns and expired data, the system enables administrators to eliminate redundant copies while preserving necessary data retention periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback about duplication patterns and storage inefficiency to administrators through detailed reports. The reports show which backup images contain duplicate data, how much space is wasted, and which images are candidates for deletion, enabling informed decisions to improve storage efficiency while maintaining appropriate data retention.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides for analyzing data stored in a data protection storage system to determine a prospective storage scheme that provides a more efficient use of storage resources in the data protection storage system. Data can be analyzed to identify a set of data suitable for long term storage in an archive. Data can be analyzed to identify a set of data suitable for deletion to reduce duplicate copies of data, and remove expired data. Protection policies that provide double coverage of data, causing additional inefficient storage of data, can be identified. A prospective amount of freed storage and other savings can be calculated, if all or part of the prospective storage scheme is implemented, where the prospective amount of freed storage and other savings can be displayed to in a report. A prospective storage scheme may also be determined for a client system that stores live data.