US 11,455,212 B2 · Block-level single instancing

Abstract

Described in detail herein are systems and methods for single instancing blocks of data in a data storage system. For example, the data storage system may include multiple computing devices (e.g., client computing devices) that store primary data. The data storage system may also include a secondary storage computing device, a single instance database, and one or more storage devices that store copies of the primary data (e.g., secondary copies, tertiary copies, etc.). The secondary storage computing device receives blocks of data from the computing devices and accesses the single instance database to determine whether the blocks of data are unique (meaning that no instances of the blocks of data are stored on the storage devices). If a block of data is unique, the single instance database stores it on a storage device. If not, the secondary storage computing device can avoid storing the block of data on the storage devices.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A system for storing a single instance of a data block in a data storage network, the system comprising:

one or more computing devices, the one or more computing devices configured to:
access files on which one or more data storage jobs are performed;
determine a first set of one or more files that are not eligible for single instancing and a second set of one or more files that are eligible for single instancing, wherein the first and second set of one or more files are determined according to one or more parameters provided in an information management policy associated with the one or more computing devices;
divide the first and second set of one or more files into multiple data blocks;
and
provide the multiple data blocks to a secondary storage computing device;
and
the secondary storage computing device configured to:
receive the multiple data blocks from the one or more computing devices in one or more data streams,
wherein the one or more data streams comprises multiple stream header items, wherein each stream header item containing an indication of whether associated data block is eligible for single instancing.

7 more elements

A method for storing a single instance of a data block in a data storage network, the method comprising:

accessing files on which one or more data storage jobs are performed;
determining a first set of one or more files that are not eligible for single instancing and a second set of one or more files that are eligible for single instancing, wherein the first and second set of one or more files are determined according to one or more parameters provided in an information management policy assigned to a storage device storing the files;
dividing the first and second set of one or more files into multiple data blocks;
and
providing the multiple data blocks to a secondary storage computing device in one or more data streams,
wherein the one or more data streams comprises multiple stream header items, wherein each stream header item containing an indication of whether associated data block is eligible for single instancing.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Block-level single instancing

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Block-level single instancing

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Abstract

Claims18