Identifying application metadata in a backup stream
OwnerTimothy John Stoakes, Andrew Charles Leppardinventors
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Abstract
A method of identifying application metadata in a backup stream comprises finding a known application metadata signature within a backup stream. A source application of user data in the backup stream is identified based upon the known application metadata signature. Application metadata, which has been generated by the source application, is removed from consideration by a data de-duplicator which is used to perform data de-duplication on the backup stream.
Claims22
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method of identifying application metadata in a backup stream, said method comprising:
- finding a known application metadata signature within a backup stream;
- identifying a source application of user data in said backup stream based upon said known application metadata signature;
- and
- removing application metadata in said backup stream from consideration by a data de-duplicator which is used to perform data de-duplication on said backup stream, wherein said application metadata has been generated by said source application.
An apparatus for identifying application metadata in a backup stream, said system comprising:
- a metadata signature finder configured to find a known application metadata signature within a backup stream;
- a source application identifier configured to identify a source application of user data in said backup stream based upon said known application metadata signature;
- and
- a de-duplication delimitator configured to remove application metadata in said backup stream from consideration by a data de-duplicator which is used to perform data de-duplication on said backup stream, wherein said application metadata has been generated by said source application.
A storage appliance comprising:
- a plurality of storage devices;
- a data de-duplicator coupled with said plurality of storage devices and configured for de-duplicating a backup stream prior to storing information from said backup stream on said plurality of storage devices;
- and
- an application metadata identifier coupled with said data de-duplicator and configured for identifying application metadata within said backup stream, wherein said application metadata identifier comprises:
- a metadata signature finder configured to find a known application metadata signature within said backup stream;
- a source application identifier configured to identify a source application of user data in said backup stream based upon said known application metadata signature;
- and
- a de-duplication delimitator configured to remove application metadata in said backup stream from consideration by said data de-duplicator during said de-duplicating, wherein said application metadata has been generated by said source application.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.