Replication using deduplicated secondary copy data

Abstract

An information management system according to certain aspects uses backup copies or other secondary copies of production data for the purposes of replicating production data to another client. The secondary copies can be deduplicated copies. By utilizing available secondary copies of the data for replication, the system can reduce the impact on the production machines associated with replication. Utilizing deduplicated copies not only reduces the amount of stored data, but also reduces the amount of data that is communicated between the source and the destination, increasing the speed of the replication process.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for replicating data in secondary storage using secondary copy data, the system comprising:
 a source system comprising a source client computing device comprising hardware, one or more source primary storage devices associated with the source client computing device, one or more source secondary storage controller computers comprising hardware, and one or more source secondary storage devices; and   a destination system comprising a destination client computing device comprising hardware, one or more destination primary storage devices associated with the destination client computing device, one or more destination secondary storage controller computers comprising hardware, and one or more destination secondary storage devices;   the one or more source secondary storage controller computers configured to:
 create a first copy of primary data residing in the one or more source primary storage devices on the one or more source secondary storage devices, wherein the first copy is a deduplicated secondary copy including a plurality of data blocks and corresponding signature values and reflects a change to at least one changed portion of the primary data as compared to a previous deduplicated secondary copy of the primary data; 
 send the signature value corresponding to at least a first data block of the plurality of data blocks in the first copy to the one or more destination secondary storage controller computers, the first data block corresponding to the at least one changed portion of the primary data; and 
 in response to notification from the one or more destination secondary storage controller computers that the first data block does not exist in the one or more destination secondary storage devices, send the first data block to the one or more destination secondary storage controller computers; 
   the destination system configured to:
 copy the first data block to the one or more destination secondary storage devices; and 
 restore a deduplicated secondary copy of the primary data stored on the one or more destination secondary storage devices to the one or more destination primary storage devices such that the change to the primary data is propagated to a replicated version of the primary data residing on the destination primary storage devices. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the first copy is one of a plurality of deduplicated secondary copies that the source system is configured to perform as part of a continuous replication process, and wherein the plurality of deduplicated secondary copies are performed according to a predetermined schedule at a regular interval. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the regular interval is less than one hour. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the regular interval is less than ten minutes. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the regular interval is less than five minutes. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the restore performed by the destination system is one of a plurality of restore operations, wherein each of the plurality of restore operations corresponds to one of the plurality of deduplicated secondary copies performed by the source system. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the plurality of restore operations are performed at the regular interval such that changes to the primary data on the source system are replicated to the destination system in a period of time not significantly greater than the regular interval. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the primary data includes one or more files, and the one or more secondary storage controller computers are further configured to send a command stream including one or more commands associated with the one or more files, the destination system further configured to execute the one or more commands. 
     
     
         9 . A method of replicating data from a source system to a destination system using secondary copy data, the method comprising:
 using the source system:
 creating a first copy of primary data, the primary data residing in one or more source primary storage devices of the source system, the first copy created on one or more source secondary storage devices of the source system, wherein the first copy is a deduplicated secondary copy including a plurality of data blocks and corresponding signature values, and reflects a change to at least one changed portion of the primary data as compared to a previous deduplicated secondary copy of the primary data; 
 sending the signature value corresponding to at least a first data block of the plurality of data blocks in the first copy to one or more destination secondary storage controller computers in the destination system, the first data block corresponding to the at least one changed portion of the primary data; and 
 in response to notification from the one or more destination secondary storage controller computers that the first data block does not exist in one or more destination secondary storage devices of the destination system, sending the first data block to the one or more destination secondary storage controller computers; 
   using the destination system:
 copying the first data block to the one or more destination secondary storage devices of the destination system; and 
 restoring a deduplicated secondary copy of the primary data stored on the one or more destination secondary storage devices to one or more destination primary storage devices of the destination system such that the change to the primary data is propagated to a replicated version of the primary data residing on the destination primary storage devices. 
   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the first copy is one of a plurality of deduplicated secondary copies that the source system is configured to perform as part of a continuous replication process, and wherein the plurality of deduplicated secondary copies are performed according to a pre-determined schedule at a regular interval. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the regular interval is less than one hour. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the regular interval is less than ten minutes. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the regular interval is less than five minutes. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the restore performed by the destination system is one of a plurality of restore operations, wherein each of the plurality of restore operations corresponds to one of the plurality of deduplicated secondary copies performed by the source system. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the plurality of restore operations are performed at the regular interval such that changes to the primary data on the source system are replicated to the destination system in a period of time not significantly greater than the regular interval. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the primary data includes one or more files, the method further comprising: using the one or more secondary storage controller computers, sending a command stream including one or more commands associated with the one or more files; and using the destination system, executing the one or more commands.