Scalable auxiliary copy processing in a data storage management system using media agent resources

A data storage management system comprising:

• a first media agent that executes on a first computing device comprising one or more processors and computer memory;
• a second media agent that executes on a second computing device comprising one or more processors and computer memory;
• a storage manager that executes on a third computing device comprising one or more processors and computer memory;
• wherein the storage manager is configured to:
• cause the first media agent to coordinate a first auxiliary-copy job from a source to a destination in the data storage management system,
• wherein the source comprises a first copy of data generated in the data storage management system, and
• wherein the destination stores a second copy of the first copy, wherein the second copy is generated during the first auxiliary-copy job;
• receive, from the first media agent, reservation requests for data streams needed for the first auxiliary-copy job;
• reserve, according to the reservation requests, the data streams for transferring data in the first auxiliary-copy job;
• transmit to the first media agent information about components of the data storage management system that are involved in the reserved data streams, to enable the first media agent to determine that the second media agent is suitable for executing the first auxiliary-copy job;
• and
• transmit job-specific metadata about the first auxiliary-copy job to the second media agent for executing the first auxiliary-copy job.

A method for auxiliary-copy processing using media agent resources to offload a storage manager in a data storage management system, the method comprising:

• selecting, by the storage manager, a first media agent in the data storage management system, to coordinate, instead of the storage manager, at least one auxiliary-copy job in the data storage management system;
• receiving, by the storage manager from the first media agent, one or more requests for data stream reservations for a first auxiliary-copy job from a source to a destination in the data storage management system,
• wherein the source comprises a first copy of data generated in the data storage management system, and
• wherein the destination stores a second copy of the first copy, wherein the second copy is generated during the first auxiliary-copy job;
• reserving, by the storage manager, according to the one or more requests, one or more data streams for transferring data in the first auxiliary-copy job;
• based on components involved in the one or more data streams reserved by the storage manager, coordinating, by the first media agent an execution of the first auxiliary-copy job, which uses the one or more data streams and a second media agent;
• fetching, by the second media agent, from the storage manager, metadata about the first auxiliary-copy job;
• and
• generating the second copy of the first copy as part of the execution of the first auxiliary-job, by the second media agent, based at least in part on the metadata fetched from the storage manager, and further based on the coordinating by the first media agent.