Object-level database restore

A system for backing up and restoring database data, the system comprising:

• a computing device comprising computer hardware, the computing device having a data agent executing thereon configured to:
• intercept a first request from a database application executing on the computing device to read a portion of a database file, wherein a secondary copy of the database file resides on one or more secondary storage devices in a secondary storage subsystem and is organized on the one or more secondary storage devices as a plurality of first blocks, wherein the database file is organized by the database application as a plurality of application-level blocks, and each block of the plurality of first blocks includes multiple application-level blocks, wherein the portion corresponds to a subset of one or more database objects of a plurality of database objects represented by the database file;
• determine a subset of first blocks of the plurality of first blocks corresponding to portion of a database file included in the request;
• and
• issue a second request to restore the subset of first blocks from the one or more secondary storage devices;
• and
• one or more secondary storage controller computers comprising computer hardware configured to:
• in response to the second request:
• access a table that maps the plurality of first blocks to one or more storage locations on the one or more secondary storage devices;
• using the table, locate the subset of first blocks on the one or more secondary storage devices identified by the second request and retrieve the subset of first blocks from the one or more secondary storage devices;
• forward the retrieved first blocks for storage in one or more primary storage devices associated with the computing device;
• extract application-level blocks corresponding to the requested portion from the retrieved first blocks;
• and
• forward the extracted application-level blocks to the database application.

A method of backing up and restoring database data, the method comprising:

• using one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware:
• intercepting a first request from a database application to read a portion of a database file, wherein a secondary copy of the database file resides on one or more secondary storage devices in a secondary storage subsystem and is organized on the one or more secondary storage devices as a plurality of first blocks, wherein the portion corresponds to a subset of one or more database objects of a plurality of database objects represented by the database file, wherein the database file is organized by the database application as a plurality of application-level blocks, and each block of the plurality of first blocks includes multiple ones of the application-level blocks;
• determining a subset of first blocks of the plurality of first blocks corresponding to the portion of the database file included in the request;
• issuing a second request to restore the subset of first blocks from the one or more secondary storage devices;
• and
• in response to the second request:
• accessing a table that maps the plurality of first blocks to one or more storage locations on the one or more secondary storage devices;
• using the table, locate the subset of first blocks on the one or more secondary storage devices identified by the second request and retrieve the subset of first blocks from the one or more secondary storage devices;
• and
• forwarding the retrieved first blocks for storage in one or more primary storage devices;
• extract application-level blocks corresponding to the requested portion from the retrieved first blocks;
• and
• forward the extracted application-level blocks to the database application.