Time ordered view of backup data on behalf of a host

A system to provide a time-ordered snapshot view on behalf of a host of a specified portion of a backup of a first storage system data container stored at a second storage system, comprising:

• (a) a host to initiate an order to obtain a view of a data container, wherein the order specifies a date and time of the ordered view;
• (b) a server to receive the order, wherein the server is adapted to assemble and enable access to the ordered view;
• (c) a second storage system, wherein the server accesses the second storage system according to the date and time of the ordered view and the server accesses an applicable data write representing a data change to the data container;
• and
• (d) the data container, wherein the data container is accessed by the server to obtain the view ordered by the host including and associating the data change thereto replacing the writes affected by the data change to assemble a snapshot appropriate to the date and time specified in the order.

A software suite to provide a time-ordered snapshot view on behalf of a host of a specified portion of a backup of a first storage system data container stored at a second storage system, comprising:

• (a) a portion to initiate an order at the host to obtain a view of a data container, wherein the order specifies a date and time of the ordered view;
• (b) a portion to receive the order at a server adapted to assemble and enable access to the ordered view;
• (c) a portion at the server to access the second storage system according to the date and time of the ordered view and to access an applicable data write representing a data change to the data container;
• (d) a portion to access the data container of the time specific to the view ordered by the host including and associating the data change thereto replacing the writes affected by the data change to assemble a snapshot appropriate to the date and time specified in the order;
• and
• (e) a portion to enable access to the view from the host.

A method to provide a time-ordered view on behalf of a host of a specified portion of data change of a first storage system data container stored at least one of a T-LOG, an SLUN, and a V-LUN, comprising:

• (a) initiating an order at the host to obtain a view of a data container, wherein the order specifies a date and time of the ordered view;
• (b) receiving the order at a server adapted to assemble and enable access to the ordered view;
• (c) at the server, accessing a first storage system and at least one of a transactional log, an S-LUN, and a V-LUN according to the date and time of the ordered view and accessing an applicable data write representing a data change to the data container;
• (d) accessing the data container of the time specific to the view ordered by the host including and associating the data change thereto replacing the writes affected by the data change to assemble a view appropriate to the date and time specified in the order;
• and
• (e) enabling access to the view from the host.

A system to provide secondary data storage and recovery services of one or more networked host nodes comprising:

• a server application to facilitate data backup and recovery services;
• a first data storage medium of primary data backup;
• a second data storage medium to include secondary data storage of the backup data;
• at least one client application to duplicate data write activity by a host to the primary storage medium to a transactional log volume;
• and
• at least one machine instruction enabling direct data read and data clear operations to be performed on the transactional log volume by the server application to backup write data from the log volume to the secondary storage medium, wherein the view is generated based on the primary storage data and at least one of a transactional log, an SLUN, and a T-LUN.