Block Level Incremental Backup Deduplication Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current block level incremental backup technologies fail to efficiently integrate with deduplication systems due to size disparities between deduplication segments and data blocks, leading to unnecessary resource consumption and duplicate data backup, as they cannot accurately identify modified data blocks and handle alignment adjustments caused by adding, changing, or deleting data blocks.
Innovation Solution
A method that accesses modified data blocks, partitions them into deduplication segments, computes signatures for each segment, and compares these signatures with backup data to identify and exclude duplicate blocks, thereby minimizing unnecessary backups and optimizing resource utilization by only backing up non-duplicate, modified data blocks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If deduplication software compares each deduplication segment signature with pre-populated signatures, then duplicate data blocks can be identified, but valuable computer resources (memory, processors) are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by using BLIB to pre-identify modified data blocks before deduplication processing. This preliminary identification allows the deduplication software to focus only on segments corresponding to modified blocks, rather than processing all segments in the backup chain, thus reducing resource consumption while maintaining duplicate identification accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the deduplication process into two distinct phases: (1) BLIB phase that identifies modified data blocks at the block level, and (2) deduplication phase that processes only the segments corresponding to those modified blocks. This segmentation allows each phase to operate at its optimal granularity, reducing overall resource consumption
2Reliability
If BLIB backs up each changed block and added block, then all modified data is preserved, but duplicate data blocks are backed up unnecessarily wasting storage resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges BLIB technology with deduplication software into an integrated backup system. The BLIB component identifies modified blocks, and the deduplication component processes these blocks to eliminate duplicates before backup. This merging allows the system to achieve both complete data preservation and storage optimization by combining the strengths of both technologies
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated system acts as an intermediary between the file system and storage media. Instead of directly backing up all changed blocks, the system intercepts the backup process, identifies duplicates through signature comparison, and selectively backs up only unique blocks, thus eliminating storage waste while preserving all necessary data
3Reliability
If deduplication software processes entire files during incremental backups, then all data is checked for duplicates, but computational time and resource utilization increase unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by processing only the portion of files that contains modified blocks. Instead of processing entire files during incremental backups, the BLIB component first identifies specific modified blocks, and the deduplication software processes only the segments corresponding to those blocks. This partial processing maintains thorough duplicate detection while significantly improving backup processing speed
Data Source
AI summary
A method for integrating data deduplication with block level incremental data backup is described. In one embodiment, the method includes accessing from memory at least one modified data block of a file, wherein the file is partitioned into a plurality of deduplication segments, identifying at least one deduplication segment that corresponds with the at least one modified data block, computing using at least one processor a signature for each deduplication segment of the at least one corresponding deduplication segment and comparing using at least one processor each signature that is associated with the at least one corresponding deduplication segment with signature information that is associated with backup data to identify at least one duplicate data block within the backup data and the at least one modified data block.