Generating snapshots and an associated index

Abstract

A system and method for using a snapshot as a data source is described. In some cases, the system stores a snapshot and an associated data structure or index to storage media to create a secondary copy of a volume of data. In some cases, the associated index includes application specific data about a file system or other application that created the data to identify the location of the data. The associated index may include three entries, and may be used to facilitate the recovery of data via the snapshot.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer-implemented method executed by one or more hardware processors, the method comprising:
 generating a snapshot, which is an image representation of a volume of data at a point in time,   generating an index relative to a file system that comprises data files stored in the volume of data;   generating a snapshot-based secondary copy of the volume of data,   wherein the snapshot-based secondary copy comprises the snapshot and the index relative to the point in time;   storing the snapshot-based secondary copy of the volume of data to storage media;   wherein the index, which is associated with the snapshot, identifies the snapshot and, for each data file in the volume of data represented by the snapshot, identifies a respective storage location of the data file within the snapshot;   in response to a restore request for an individual data file, locating the individual data file in the index; and   based on a first storage location of the individual data file provided by the index, restoring the individual data file from the snapshot-based secondary copy on the storage media to another data storage location without restoring the snapshot in its entirety.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the respective storage location of the data file within the snapshot is associated with a data block of the data file, wherein the data file comprises a plurality of data blocks represented in the snapshot. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the index indicates which data blocks in the snapshot are associated with which of the data files of the file system in the volume of data. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the index indicates what application generated a given data file in the file system. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein based on using the index and the snapshot-based secondary copy, individual data files of the file system are granularly restored from the snapshot-based secondary copy on the storage media without restoring the snapshot in its entirety. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 generating an other snapshot-based secondary copy by copying the snapshot-based secondary copy to an other storage media,   wherein the other snapshot-based secondary copy is generated without taking another snapshot of the volume of data and further without restoring the snapshot before generating the other snapshot-based secondary copy.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the snapshot-based secondary copy is a source for making other secondary copies associated with the volume of data. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the snapshot-based secondary copy is a source for making other secondary copies associated with the volume of data, including one or more of: an auxiliary copy, and a synthetic full copy. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 generating a data structure associated with the snapshot, wherein the data structure comprises one or more of: an identifier of a snapshot engine that generated the snapshot, an identifier of the volume of data as a source of data for the snapshot, and an indication of whether the snapshot can be pruned. 
 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the volume of data comprises primary data. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the volume of data comprises secondary data that was copied from primary data. 
     
     
         32 . A computing device comprising one or more hardware processors and computer memory, wherein the computing device is programmed to:
 generate a snapshot, which is an image representation of a volume of data at a point in time;   generate an index relative to a file system that comprises data files stored in the volume of data;   generate a snapshot-based secondary copy of the volume of data, wherein the snapshot-based secondary copy comprises the snapshot and the index relative to the point in time;   store the snapshot-based secondary copy of the volume of data to storage media;   wherein the index, which is associated with the snapshot, identifies the snapshot and, for each data file in the volume of data represented by the snapshot, identifies a respective storage location of the data file within the snapshot;   in response to a restore request for an individual data file, locate the individual data file in the index; and   based on a first storage location of the individual data file provided by the index, restore the individual data file from the snapshot-based secondary copy on the storage media to another data storage location without restoring the snapshot in its entirety.   
     
     
         33 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the respective storage location of the data file within the snapshot is associated with a data block of the data file, wherein the data file comprises a plurality of data blocks represented in the snapshot. 
     
     
         34 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the index indicates which data blocks in the snapshot are associated with which of the data files of the file system in the volume of data. 
     
     
         35 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the index indicates what application generated a given data file in the file system. 
     
     
         36 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein based on using the index and the snapshot-based secondary copy, individual data files of the file system are granularly restored from the snapshot-based secondary copy on the storage media without restoring the snapshot in its entirety. 
     
     
         37 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the computing device is further programmed to:
 generate an other snapshot-based secondary copy by copying the snapshot-based secondary copy to an other storage media,   wherein the other snapshot-based secondary copy is generated without taking another snapshot of the volume of data and further without restoring the snapshot before generate the other snapshot-based secondary copy.   
     
     
         38 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the snapshot-based secondary copy is a source for making other secondary copies associated with the volume of data. 
     
     
         39 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the volume of data comprises primary data. 
     
     
         40 . The computing device of  claim 32 , wherein the volume of data comprises secondary data that was copied from primary data.