File System Backup via Content-Based Signatures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data protection solutions for computing systems are costly and inefficient when using third-party solutions for backup and recovery, as they do not leverage native deduplication and compression capabilities of primary storage systems, leading to increased management overhead and complexity, and may not meet regulatory requirements for air-gapped backups.
Innovation Solution
A data protection solution that integrates primary storage systems with air-gapped secondary storage systems by using content-based signatures for deduplication and compression, allowing for efficient backup and restore operations while minimizing additional costs and complexity, and enabling seamless integration without architectural changes to either system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If third-party backup solutions are used, then backup and recovery functionality is provided, but cost and management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the backup functionality with the native storage system by integrating deduplication and compression capabilities directly into the storage architecture. This eliminates the need for separate third-party backup solutions, reducing management overhead while maintaining reliable backup and recovery functionality through unified system operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage system performs self-service backup operations by leveraging its own native deduplication and compression capabilities. The system automatically identifies duplicate data blocks, compresses data, and manages backup storage without requiring external third-party software, thereby reducing complexity and management overhead while ensuring reliable data protection.
2Reliability
If third-party backup solutions are used, then data protection is achieved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines data protection functionality with the existing storage infrastructure, eliminating the need for separate third-party backup systems. By integrating deduplication and compression into the native storage operations, the system achieves comprehensive data protection using existing hardware and software resources, thereby reducing overall cost while maintaining robust data protection capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system efficiently discards redundant data through native deduplication before backup operations, storing only unique data blocks. This reduces the quantity of data that needs to be protected and stored, thereby lowering storage costs and data transfer requirements while maintaining complete data protection through intelligent data lifecycle management.
3Productivity
If native deduplication and compression are not leveraged, then backup operations are performed, but network utilization increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies deduplication and compression operations before data is transmitted over the network during backup operations. By performing these data reduction techniques in advance on the source system, the volume of data requiring network transmission is minimized, thereby reducing network utilization and bandwidth consumption while maintaining efficient backup operation speeds.
Data Source
AI summary
Example implementations relate to backups to a secondary storage system of a file system instance that hierarchically relates data objects by content-based signatures to a root object and includes subtrees that correspond to respective inodes. In an example, a list of the content-based signatures is sent to the secondary storage system. Metadata and data of a subtree is stored into an item in the secondary storage system designated for the subtree.