Backup Image Verification Using TLE Partitioning and Tracklogs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing backup systems face inefficiencies in handling large numbers of objects, particularly in deduplication and incremental backup operations, leading to potential data corruption, resource wastage, and prolonged operation failures.
Innovation Solution
The method partitions objects into top-level entities (TLEs) for efficient backup operations, using tracklogs to maintain data integrity and deduplicate changes, allowing for flexible distribution across multiple backup hosts and ensuring data integrity through hash comparisons and container-level operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional backup systems process large numbers of objects without partitioning, then backup operations can be performed, but data integrity verification becomes inefficient and resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the set of objects into top-level entities (TLEs), where each TLE represents a partition of objects that share common characteristics or backup properties. This segmentation allows the backup system to process and verify data integrity at a higher abstraction level, reducing the complexity of handling large numbers of individual objects while maintaining verification accuracy.
2Reliability
If backup systems perform verification operations on all objects, then data integrity can be ensured, but operation time and resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs tracklogs that are maintained during backup operations to record metadata about objects and their states. These tracklogs are created in advance and updated continuously, allowing the verification process to rely on pre-collected information rather than re-examining all object data from scratch, thus reducing verification time while maintaining integrity assurance.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of directly verifying all original objects, the system creates representational information (such as hashes or metadata copies) of the objects and stores this in tracklogs. Verification then operates on these representations rather than the full objects, significantly reducing the time and resources required for integrity checking while maintaining reliable verification results.
3Adaptability or versatility
If backup systems handle all objects as a single unit, then implementation is simpler, but flexibility for distributed backup operations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments objects into top-level entities that can be independently managed and distributed across multiple backup hosts. Each TLE can be assigned to different backup hosts for parallel processing, enabling flexible distributed backup operations while maintaining a structured approach that doesn't excessively complicate the overall system implementation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically assigns and reassigns top-level entities to backup hosts based on operational needs, allowing flexible distribution of backup tasks. This dynamic allocation mechanism provides adaptability for distributed operations while using a standardized TLE framework that keeps implementation complexity manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, computer program products, computer systems, and the like for improved performance, when verifying backup images, are disclosed, which can include generating representational information (where the representational information is based, at least in part, on at least a portion of information of a top-level entity), retrieving a stored representational information (where the stored representational information is based, at least in part, on the at least the portion of the information of the top-level entity, the stored representational information is retrieved from log information produced as part of a backup operation, and the backup operation produced a backup image of the top-level entity), determining whether the representational information and the stored representational information match, and, in response to a determination that the representational information and the stored representational information do not match, indicating that the backup image of the top-level entity is corrupt.