System and method for data protection management in a logical namespace of a storage system environment

A system configured to implement data protection in a logical namespace of a storage system environment comprising:

• a namespace and storage management (NSM) console configured to interact with a user to enable a data protection of a source share in the environment;
• a remote agent installed on a host machine of the environment, the remote agent having a namespace plug-in module, the namespace plug-in module including a monitoring capability for use in data protection;
• and
• an NSM server configured to cooperate with the NSM console and the remote agent to monitor the source share for failure utilizing a data protection policy wherein the data protection policy is applied to one or more data protected link points to specify the failover action to be taken on each link point, communicate with the remote agent to create a destination share on a destination mirror by utilizing data previously mirrored from the failed source share in response to a failure of the source share via the data protection policy, and insert the destination share into the logical namespace by issuing a system call to the remote agent to create a new entry in the logical namespace in response to creating the destination share on the destination mirror,
• wherein creating the destination share enables failover for one or more data protected link points to the primary data object.

Apparatus configured to implement data protection in a logical namespace of a storage system environment, the apparatus comprising:

• means for monitoring failures of a primary data object in the logical namespace at a managed data object level utilizing a data protection policy wherein the data protection policy is applied to one or more data protected link points to specify the failover action to be taken on each link point;
• means for communicating with a remote agent to create a secondary data object on a destination mirror by utilizing data previously mirrored from the failed primary data object wherein creating the secondary data object enables failover for a data protected link point to the primary data object via the data protection policy in response to a failure to the primary data object;
• means for inserting the secondary data object into the logical namespace by issuing a system call to the remote agent to create a new entry in the logical namespace in response to creating the secondary data object on the destination mirror;
• and
• means for linking the secondary data object to the data protected link point in the logical namespace to specify the failover action to be taken on the data protected link point.

A computer readable medium containing executable program instructions executed by a processor, comprising:

• program instructions that monitor failures of a primary data object in a logical namespace at a managed data object level utilizing a data protection policy wherein the data protection policy is applied to one or more data protected link points to specify the failover action to be taken on each link point;
• program instructions that communicate with a remote agent to create a secondary data object on a destination mirror by utilizing data previously mirrored from the failed primary data object, wherein creating the secondary data object enables failover for a link point to the primary data object via the data protection policy in response to a failure to the primary data object;
• program instructions that insert the secondary data object into the logical namespace by issuing a system call to the remote agent to create a new entry in the logical namespace in response to the creation of the secondary data object on the destination mirror;
• and
• program instructions that link the secondary data object to the link point in the logical namespace to specify the failover action to be taken on the data protected link point.

A method comprising:

• providing a namespace service that supports a plurality of protocols operating on various file server platforms of a storage system environment;
• utilizing a namespace plug-in of the namespace service to protect a data object, the source data object available;
• creating an entry for the data object in a logical namespace of the namespace service;
• monitoring a primary data object for a failure utilizing a data protection policy wherein the data protection policy is applied to one or more data protected link points to specify the failover action to be taken on each link point;
• in response to detecting a failure of the primary data object, communicating with a remote agent to create a secondary data object in a destination mirror by utilizing data previously mirrored from the failed primary data object, wherein creating the secondary data object enables failover for a data protected link point to the primary data object via the data protection policy;
• in response to creating the secondary data object on the destination mirror, inserting the secondary data object into the logical namespace by issuing a system call to the remote agent to create a new entry in the logical namespace;
• and
• replacing the entry in the logical namespace for the primary data object with an entry for the secondary data object.

A method, comprising:

• storing a file on a source storage system;
• storing a copy of the file on a destination storage system;
• assigning a primary share to the file, wherein the primary share provides a link to the file in a logical namespace;
• detecting a failure of the primary share utilizing a data protection policy wherein the data protection policy is applied to one or more data protected link points to specify the failover action to be taken on each link point;
• in response to detecting a failure of the primary share, communicating with a remote agent to create secondary share on a destination mirror by utilizing data from previously mirrored from the failed primary share, wherein the secondary share provides a data protected link point to the copy of the file in the logical namespace;
• in response to creating the secondary share on the destination mirror, inserting the secondary share into the logical namespace by issuing a system call to the remote agent to create a new entry in the logical namespace;
• and
• automatically switching a namespace reference in the logical namespace from the source share to the secondary share.