Backup Change Tracking Log for Bandwidth Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional full backup processes consume significant network bandwidth and storage resources as they transmit unchanged data, which has not changed since the last backup, during each backup operation.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a change tracking log (track log) allows clients to identify and transmit only changed data and metadata to the backup server, using previous backup images as a base, reducing the amount of data transmitted and processed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional full backup processes transmit all data including unchanged data, then complete backup images are created, but network bandwidth and storage resources are significantly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and transmits only the changed portions of data (deltas) rather than complete files. The backup system identifies modified file segments, extracts only those segments, and transmits them to the backup server, leaving unchanged segments in the base backup image.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides files into smaller segments or blocks, allowing selective identification and transmission of only those segments that have changed. This segmentation enables the backup system to process and transmit data at a granular level rather than treating entire files as atomic units.
2Reliability
If traditional full backup processes transmit all data including unchanged data, then complete backup images are created, but storage resources are significantly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and transmits only the changed portions of data (deltas) rather than complete files. The backup system identifies modified file segments, extracts only those segments, and transmits them to the backup server, leaving unchanged segments in the base backup image.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains a base backup image containing unchanged data that can be recovered when needed. Instead of storing redundant copies of unchanged data in each backup image, the system discards duplicate data from transmission and recovers it from the base image during restore operations.
3Loss of energy
If change tracking is implemented to identify only modified data, then network bandwidth and storage are reduced, but backup system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by maintaining a base backup image and tracking file change metadata (such as checksums or timestamps) between backup operations. This preliminary tracking infrastructure enables efficient delta identification without requiring complex real-time analysis during the actual backup transmission.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides for efficiently creating a full backup image of a client device by efficiently communicating backup data to a backup server using a change tracking log, or track log. A present full backup image can be created using a track log that is associated with a previous full backup image. The client device can determine whether files, which were included in the previous full backup image, have or have not changed using the track log. The client device can transmit changed file data to the backup server for inclusion in the present full backup image. The client device can also transmit metadata identifying unchanged file data to the backup server. The backup server can use the metadata to extract a copy of the unchanged file data from the previous full backup image for inclusion in the present full backup image.