Userspace Snapshot File Recovery via Virtual Disk Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for file recovery from tiered cloud snapshots are inefficient due to the need for full snapshot recovery before granular file access, which is time and resource intensive.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a userspace filesystem (FUSE system) to expose disk backups as virtual files, allowing direct access to specific files without full recovery, using loop devices for metadata fetching and translating read requests to underlying virtual files.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full snapshot recovery is performed before granular file access, then complete data restoration is achieved, but recovery time and computing resource consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and recovers only the specific granular files or directories needed from cloud snapshots, rather than performing full snapshot recovery. This is achieved through a file recovery process that identifies target files, retrieves their metadata, and downloads only the necessary data blocks, thereby significantly reducing recovery time while maintaining data restoration reliability for the required files.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the snapshot recovery process into independent file-level operations. Each file or directory can be recovered independently through metadata queries and selective data block downloads, allowing parallel processing and avoiding the sequential overhead of full snapshot restoration. This segmentation enables efficient granular recovery without requiring complete snapshot reconstruction.
2Reliability
If full snapshot recovery is performed before granular file access, then complete data restoration is achieved, but computing resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and recovers only the specific granular files or directories needed from cloud snapshots, rather than performing full snapshot recovery. This is achieved through a file recovery process that identifies target files, retrieves their metadata, and downloads only the necessary data blocks, thereby significantly reducing recovery time while maintaining data restoration reliability for the required files.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs partial recovery by retrieving only the metadata and data blocks necessary for specific target files, rather than recovering the entire snapshot. The system queries metadata to identify required data blocks and downloads only those portions, avoiding the excessive computing resources needed for complete snapshot restoration while ensuring all necessary file data is recovered.
3Quantity of substance
If tiered cloud storage is used for reduced storage cost, then storage cost decreases, but file access and recovery efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by maintaining and querying metadata about snapshot contents before actual file recovery. The system retrieves metadata information (such as file paths, data block locations, and timestamps) prior to downloading file data, enabling it to directly access required data blocks in tiered cloud storage without scanning or reconstructing entire snapshots. This preliminary metadata preparation significantly improves recovery efficiency while maintaining cost-effective tiered storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces metadata as an intermediary layer between the user and tiered cloud storage. The metadata contains indexed information about snapshot contents, file locations, and data block mappings, allowing the system to efficiently locate and retrieve specific files from tiered storage without requiring full snapshot downloads. This intermediary metadata structure enables granular file access efficiency while preserving the cost benefits of tiered cloud storage architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A file system in a user space partition of virtual memory may be mounted by a computing device that runs a virtual machine which includes a set of storage disks. The file system in user space may then expose one or more virtual files associated with one or more storage disks that correspond to one or more loop devices configured to map files of the virtual machine to the one or more virtual files. The computing device may then receive a request to read a data block stored at the virtual machine and may identify a file and corresponding virtual file that stores the requested data block based on a set of metadata provided by the loop devices. The computing device may then determine the location of the data block stored at the virtual machine, and may read the data block from the determined location.