Backup Policy Management via Global Change Logs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current backup software systems face inefficiencies in determining which data blocks to back up for multiple backup policies, leading to increased operational time and potential conflicts when managing shared backup files.
Innovation Solution
The system maintains a global file change log and a global block change bitmap to track changes across all files, which are then processed to create policy-specific logs and bitmaps, allowing for efficient incremental backups of only changed data blocks for each backup policy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional backup software processes multiple backup policies without pre-identification of changed data, then backup operations can be performed for each policy, but the operational time increases and conflicts may occur when managing shared backup files
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification of changed files and data blocks by maintaining a global file change log and global block change bitmap before executing backup operations. This pre-processing allows the system to determine which data blocks need to be backed up in advance, eliminating the need to scan all files during each backup operation and significantly reducing backup operation time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the backup management process by creating policy-specific file change logs and policy-specific block change bitmaps from the global change information. Each backup policy receives only the change information relevant to its designated files, allowing parallel processing of multiple backup policies without conflicts and improving overall backup efficiency.
2Adaptability or versatility
If backup software manages multiple backup policies with shared files using traditional methods, then all policies can be supported, but conflicts occur when determining which data blocks to backup
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a global file change log and global block change bitmap as intermediary structures that mediate between multiple backup policies and the actual backup operations. These intermediaries centralize the tracking of file changes and provide a unified view of modified data blocks, allowing multiple policies to access consistent change information without conflicts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates policy-specific file change logs and policy-specific block change bitmaps that contain only the change information relevant to each specific backup policy. This localizes the change information to each policy's needs, allowing each policy to operate independently with its own customized change set while maintaining consistency with the global state.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for determining the data that should be backed up by a plurality of backup policies are described. A global file change log that lists which files have been changed may be maintained. The global file change log may be processed to distribute the file change information into policy-specific file change logs. A global block change bitmap may also be maintained. The global block change bitmap may indicate which data blocks of the files have been changed. Performing a respective backup operation for a respective backup policy may include backing up only the data blocks that have changed in the files listed in the respective policy-specific file change log since a previous backup operation for the respective backup policy was performed. The data blocks that have changed may be specified in a respective policy-specific block change bitmap for the respective backup policy.