Commvault Assigned Eighteen Patents

Offline messaging between repository storage operation cell and remote storage operation cells
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,200,475) developed by Klose, Michael F., San Jose, CA, and Haridas, Ganesh, Eatontown, NJ, for an “offline messaging between a repository storage operation cell and remote storage operation cells via an intermediary media agent.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Offline messaging between a repository storage operation cell and one or more mobile/remote storage operation cells is disclosed. The repository cell is managed by a repository storage manager that communicates to and from the remote cell via a specially-configured media agent. The illustrative intermediary media agent is configured to: queue messages directed to the remote cell, process them according to applicable parameters, e.g., time-to-live constraints, updates, cancellations, etc., and transmit the processed messages to the remote cell when connectivity is available. The intermediary media agent also relays messages from the remote cell to the repository, including responses by the remote to the processed messages received from the repository via the intermediary media agent.”

The patent application was filed on October 10, 2017 (15/729,229).

Using metadata to enhance data identification operations
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,198,451) developed by Prahlad, Anand, Bangalore, India, Schwartz, Jeremy Alan, Houston, TX, Ngo, David, Brockway, Brian, Shrewsbury, NJ, and Muller, Marcus S., Maynard, MA, for “systems and methods for using metadata to enhance data identification operations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for managing electronic data are disclosed. Various data management operations can be performed based on a metabase formed from metadata. Such metadata can be identified from an index of data interactions generated by a journaling module, and obtained from their associated data objects stored in one or more storage devices. In various embodiments, such processing of the index and storing of the metadata can facilitate, for example, enhanced data management operations, enhanced data identification operations, enhanced storage operations, data classification for organizing and storing the metadata, cataloging of metadata for the stored metadata, and/or user interfaces for managing data. In various embodiments, the metabase can be configured in different ways. For example, the metabase can be stored separately from the data objects so as to allow obtaining of information about the data objects without accessing the data objects or a data structure used by a file system.”

The patent application was filed on March 10, 2017 (15/456,318).

Data protection scheduling
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,198,324) developed by Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Marlboro, NJ, for a “data protection scheduling, such as providing a flexible backup window in a data protection system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data protection scheduling system provides a flexible or rolling data protection window that analyzes various criteria to determine an optimal or near optimal time for performing data protection or secondary copy operations. While prior systems may have scheduled backups at an exact time, e.g., 2:00 a.m., the system described herein dynamically determines when to perform the backups and other data protection storage operations, such as based on network load, CPU load, expected duration of the storage operation, rate of change of user activities, frequency of use of affected computer systems, trends, and so on.”

The patent application was filed on June 3, 2014 (14/294,344).

Automated intelligent provisioning of data storage resources
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,192,065) developed by Iyer, Sudha Krishnan, Woodbridge, NJ, and Littlefield, Duncan Alden, Millstone Township, NJ, for an “automated intelligent provisioning of data storage resources in response to user requests in a data storage management system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage management system comprises enhanced capabilities for automatically discovering operational characteristics of data storage devices installed in the system. A user interface enables end-users to submit requests for storage resources ranging from a simple request for a certain amount of storage space to more complex requests that specify the type of storage technology, the manufacturer, the I/O speed of the storage device, etc. The end-user also may include an expiration timeframe for the requested storage space. The system identifies storage devices that are suitable to the end-user’s request, automatically provisions the storage space, (e.g., LUN), and assigns it to the requestor. The assigned storage space may automatically expire, based on user-requested or system-provided expiration timeframes. Expired storage space is returned to a logical pool of available resources so that it may be assigned in response to other requests. The system comprises special-purpose policies that govern which data storage devices may be used for users submitting requests and further specify other administrative constraints.”

The patent application was filed on August 31, 2015 (14/841,160).

Client-side repository in networked deduplicated storage
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,191,816) developed by Vijayan, Manoj Kumar, Attarde, Deepak Raghunath, Marlboro, NJ, and Joshi, Hetalkumar N., Manalapan, NJ, for a “client-side repository in a networked deduplicated storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage system according to certain embodiments includes a client-side repository, (CSR). The CSR may communicate with a client at a higher data transfer rate than the rate used for communication between the client and secondary storage. During copy operations, for instance, some or all of the data being backed up or otherwise copied to secondary storage is stored in the CSR. During restore operations, copies of the data stored in the CSR is accessed from the CSR instead of from secondary storage, improving performance. Remaining data blocks not stored in the CSR can be restored from secondary storage.”

The patent application was filed on March 30, 2015 (14/673,021).

Pooling secondary storage devices
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,191,675) developed by Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, and Chen, Ho-Chi, Marlboro, NJ, for “methods and system of pooling secondary storage devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method are provided for pooling storage devices in a virtual library for performing a storage operation. A storage management device determines a storage characteristic of a plurality of storage devices with respect to performing a storage operation. Based on a storage characteristic relating to performing the storage operation, the storage management device associates at least two storage devices in a virtual library. The storage management device may continuously monitor the virtual library and detect a change in storage characteristics of the storage devices. When changes in storage characteristics are detected, the storage management device may change associations of the storage device in the virtual library.“

The patent application was filed on November 16, 2016 (15/353,546).

Collaborative restore in networked storage
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,176,053) developed by Muller, Marcus S., Maynard, MA, and Ngo, David, Shrewsbury, NJ, for a “collaborative restore in a networked storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system according to certain embodiments includes a client-side signature repository that includes information representative of a set of data blocks stored in primary storage. During restore operations, the system can use the client-side signature repository to identify data blocks located in primary storage. The system can also use the client-side signature repository to identify multiple locations within primary storage where instances of some of the data blocks to be restored are located. Accordingly, during a restore operation of one client computing device, the system can source a data block to be restored to the client computing device from another client computing device that is in primary storage.“

The patent application was filed on March 11, 2016 (15/067,766).

Monitoring, diagnosing, and repairing management database in data storage management
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,176,036) developed by Haridas, Ganesh, Eatontown, NJ, Narasimman, Sundar, Bangalore, India, Suriyanarayanan, Karthik, Tamilnadu, India, A S, Gunassekaran, Palladam, India, and Klose, Michael Frank, San Jose, CA, for “monitoring, diagnosing, and repairing a management database in a data storage management system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A lightweight always-on monitoring, collecting, diagnosing, and correcting utility operates in an enhanced storage manager that manages a data storage managements system. The always-on utility provides a comprehensive and pro-active approach, which is intended to reduce, if not altogether eliminate, the need for after-the-fact diagnostics. The always-on utility also enforces so-called best practices and other heuristics, which include pro-actively activating certain database settings that are not enabled by default, manipulating certain aspects of the database to improve performance, and reporting aspects that are outside best-practice parameters to the trouble report system so that system administrators and/or developers may intervene before a catastrophic failure occurs. In some cases, the best-practice parameters represent heuristics designed by the present inventors to improve the performance and general health of the management database.“

The patent application was filed on October 25, 2016 (15/334,014).

Conveying value of implementing integrated data management and protection
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,169,162) developed by Hammer, Douglas David, Piedmont, CA, for a “conveying value of implementing an integrated data management and protection system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method are described for conveying to a user the value it would receive by implementing an integrated system to protect and manage its data. An integrated system can combine archiving, backup, snapshot management, reporting, secure data access, eDiscovery and data analytics, among other functions, thus simplifying data protection and data management for an organization. The system generates a value dashboard, exhibiting value data, including data and graphics portraying the benefits to a user of implementing an integrated data management and protection system. Value may be evaluated with reference to simplification and efficiency, risk reduction, and unlocking data value.“

The patent application was filed on September 1, 2017 (15/693,830).

Work flow management for information management
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,169,121) developed by Vibhor, Anand, Manalapan, NJ, Mehta, Bhavyan Bharatkumar, Edison, NJ, and Karandikar, Amey Vijaykumar, Long Branch, NJ, for a “work flow management for an information management system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Disclosed herein are systems and methods for managing information management operations. The system may be configured to employ a work flow queue to reduce network traffic and manage server processing resources. The system may also be configured to forecast or estimate information management operations based on estimations of throughput between computing devices scheduled to execute one or more jobs. The system may also be configured to escalate or automatically reassign notification of system alerts based on the availability of system alert recipients. Various other embodiments are also disclosed herein.“

The patent application was filed on May 9, 2014 (14/274,405).

Assignment of proxies for virtual-machine secondary copy operations including streaming backup job
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,169,067) developed by Dornemann, Henry Wallace, Eatontown, NJ, for an “assignment of proxies for virtual-machine secondary copy operations including streaming backup job.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A comprehensive approach to streaming backups for virtual machines, (VMs) in a storage management system comprises improvements to the assignment of data agent proxies for VM secondary copy operations. New considerations in performing a VM streaming backup job include without limitation: determining and enforcing a system-wide per-proxy limit of concurrent data streams, generating an ordered priority list of the VMs to be backed up as a basis for choosing which proxies will back up the respective VM, though the illustrative system may not strictly adhere to the priority list based on further considerations, identifying a next available proxy based on data stream utilization at the proxy, and dynamically re-generating the priority list and re-evaluating considerations if some VMs become ‘stranded’ due to a failure to be backed up. Secondary copy operations are distributed to proxies in ways that improve the chances of successfully completing VM streaming backups.“

The patent application was filed on December 13, 2016 (15/376,922).

Scalable auxiliary copy processing in data storage management system using media agent resources
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,168,931) developed by Joshi, Hetalkumar N., Manalapan, NJ, Maranna, Chandrashekar, Teaneck, NJ, and Vijayan, Manoj Kumar, Marlboro, NJ, for a “scalable auxiliary copy processing in a data storage management system using media agent resources.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A scalable approach is disclosed for processing auxiliary-copy jobs in a storage management system by using distributed media agent resources instead of a centralized storage manager. Enhanced media agents coordinate and control auxiliary-copy jobs and tap the storage manager to reserve data streams and provide job-specific metadata on demand. An enhanced storage manager may initially select a media agent as ‘coordinator’ to coordinate auxiliary-copy jobs with any number of other media agents, which act as ‘controllers.’ A coordinator media agent is generally responsible for obtaining data stream reservation information from the storage manager and assigning auxiliary-copy jobs to respective controller media agents, based on the components involved in the respective reserved data streams.“

The patent application was filed on December 21, 2017 (15/851,539).

Scalable auxiliary copy processing using media agent resources
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,168,930) developed by Joshi, Hetalkumar N., Manalapan, NJ, Maranna, Chandrashekar, Teaneck, NJ, and Vijayan, Manoj Kumar, Marlboro, NJ, for a “scalable auxiliary copy processing using media agent resources.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A scalable approach is disclosed for processing auxiliary-copy jobs in a storage management system by using distributed media agent resources instead of a centralized storage manager. Enhanced media agents coordinate and control auxiliary-copy jobs and tap the storage manager to reserve data streams and provide job-specific metadata on demand. An enhanced storage manager may initially select a media agent as ‘coordinator’ to coordinate auxiliary-copy jobs with any number of other media agents, which act as ‘controllers.’ A coordinator media agent is generally responsible for obtaining data stream reservation information from the storage manager and assigning auxiliary-copy jobs to respective controller media agents, based on the components involved in the respective reserved data streams.“

The patent application was filed on December 19, 2017 (15/847,781).

Browse and restore for block-level backups
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,168,929) developed by Bhagi, Sri Karthik, Eatontown, NJ, Gutta, Sunil Kumar, Hyderabad, India, Agrawal, Vijay H., Pune, India, and Pawar, Rahul S., Marlboro, NJ, for “browse and restore for block-level backups.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods for performing file-level restore operations for block-level data volumes are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods restore data from a block-level data volume contained in secondary storage by receiving a request to restore one or more files from the block-level data volume, mounting a virtual GUID Partition Table, (GPT) disk to the block-level data volume, accessing one or more mount paths established by the virtual GPT disk between the data agent and the block-level data volume, and browsing data from one or more files within the block-level data volume via the established one or more mount paths provided by the virtual GPT disk.“

The patent application was filed on September 15, 2017 (15/705,629).

Secondary storage editor
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,168,924) developed by Mutha, Manas Bhikchand, Ocean, NJ, Bedadala, Pavan Kumar Reddy, Piscataway, NJ, and Sinha, Prosenjit, Ocean, NJ, for a “secondary storage editor.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods for storage pruning can enable users to delete, edit, or copy backed up data that matches a pattern. Storage pruning can enable fine-grain deletion or copying of these files from backups stored in secondary storage devices. Systems and methods can also enable editing of metadata associated with backups so that when the backups are restored or browsed, the logical edits to the metadata can then be performed physically on the data to create a custom restore or a custom view. A user may perform operations such as renaming, deleting, modifying flags, and modifying retention policies on backed up items. Although the underlying data in the backup may not change, the view of the backup data when the user browses the backup data can appear to include the user’s changes. A restore of the data can cause those changes to be performed on the backup data.“

The patent application was filed on June 30, 2016 (15/199,355).

Extended media retention
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,162,712) developed by Gokhale, Parag, Marlboro, NJ, and Lu, Yanhui, Acton, MA, for “system and method for extended media retention.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention provides systems and methods for extending media retention. Methods are provided in which a set of aging preferences are obtained. Data elements of a data set stored on storage media are evaluated against the aging preferences to determine whether each of the data elements satisfy the aging preferences. Each of the data elements that is determined to satisfy the aging preferences is aged. Aging can include freeing a portion of storage media, previously used to store a data element, for other storage usage.“

The patent application was filed on June 10, 2013 (13/914,075).

Data storage resource allocation list updating for data storage operations
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,162,677) developed by Gokhale, Parag, Kottomtharayil, Rajiv, Marlboro, NJ, Karandikar, Amey Vijaykumar, Long Branch, NJ, and Wang, Yu, Morganville, NJ, for a “data storage resource allocation list updating for data storage operations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method to perform data management operations in a data management system assigns the data management request to one or more available data management resources. If the data management request fails, at least one data management resource at least partially responsible for the failure is determined, as is a category associated with the one data management resource at least partially responsible for the failure. Other data management requests are identified in a list of data management requests that request data management resources having the same category and the list of data management requests is updated to indicate that the data management system should not perform the other identified data management requests.“

The patent application was filed on March 31, 2017 (15/476,828).

Targeted snapshot based on virtual machine location
Commvault Systems, Inc., Tinton Falls, NJ, has been assigned a patent (10,162,528) developed by Sancheti, Ashwin Gautamchand, Ocean, NJ, and Dornemann, Henry Wallace, Eatontown, NJ, for a “targeted snapshot based on virtual machine location.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage environment can include one or more virtual machines instantiated on a host computing device. Based on physical location data of the one or more virtual machines received from the host computing device, a storage manager can control the performance of a secondary copy operation on one or more storage units that store virtual machine data associated with the one or more virtual machines and/or the performance of a secondary copy operation on the one or more virtual machines.“

The patent application was filed on October 25, 2016 (15/333,781).