Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for application-based packing for storing backup data within an object storage. More particularly, the system may efficiently pack backup files into objects having a specialized size by accounting for the source and size of the backup file. For example, the system may determine whether backup files associated with a particular application may be stored within individual objects or packed together within a shared object. Accordingly, by accounting for such criteria the system may perform an intelligent allocation of backup data within a cloud-based object storage. The system may be implemented as part of an incremental backup infrastructure. Accordingly, when allocating the backup files amongst objects, the system may also store specialized metadata to preserve the ability to perform a reconstruction of data (e.g. synthetically) as if a full backup was performed.

Abstract: Techniques described herein relate to a method for performing data protection services for limited access cloud data. The method includes identifying, by a cloud service provider (CSP) proxy, a backup generation event associated with a virtual machine (VM); in response to identifying the backup generation event: obtaining VM information associated with the VM; instantiating a VM agent within the VM; obtaining a metadata file from the VM agent; obtaining VM data from limited access cloud data; storing the VM data and a copy of the metadata file in a backup storage to generate a backup of the VM; generating indexing metadata associated with the backup using the metadata file; and providing the indexing metadata to a data manager.

Abstract: Techniques described herein relate to a method for performing data protection services for limited access cloud data. The method includes obtaining, by a data manager, an initial cloud service provider (CSP) proxy generation request from a user; in response to obtaining the initial (CSP) proxy generation request: creating an authentication account in a CSP directory based on the initial CSP proxy generation request; instantiating a CSP proxy in an on-premises CSP using authentication information associated with the authentication account; storing the authentication information; and associating the user with the authentication information and the CSP proxy, wherein after the associating the CSP proxy can access limited access cloud data and cloud resources of the on-premises CSP.

Abstract: Techniques described herein relate to a method for performing data protection services for limited access cloud data. The method includes identifying, by a data manager, a protection policy assignment event; in response to identifying the protection policy assignment event: identifying subscriptions associated with cloud resources; identifying services associated with each subscriptions; assigning protection policy types to the subscriptions based on the associated services; and initiating performance of data protection services based on the protection policy assignments associated with each subscription.

Abstract: Techniques described herein relate to a method for performing data protection services for limited access cloud data. The method includes identifying, by a cloud service provider (CSP) proxy, a protection policy event associated with an incremental approximation backup of an object; in response to identifying the protection policy event: obtaining previous object metadata associated with the object; obtaining object data from on-premises cloud resources associated with the object; generating slices of the object data; generating current checksums and current object metadata associated with each slice; selecting a first slice of the slices; making a first determination that a first current checksum of the current checksums and a first previous checksum associated with the first slice do not match; in response to the first determination: storing the first slice in a backup storage; and updating a first portion of the current object metadata associated with the first slice.

Abstract: An example method according to some embodiments includes receiving flow data for a packet traversing a network. The method continues by determining a source endpoint group and a destination endpoint group for the packet. The method continues by determining that a policy was utilized, the policy being applicable to the endpoint group. Finally, the method includes updating utilization data for the policy based on the flow data.

Abstract: In accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for re-tiering files and folders located in a cloud-based file system without crawling all the files and folders in the cloud-based file system. The method utilizes the meta-data for the files and folders to determine, based upon provided rules, which tier a file or folder should be assigned to. By utilizing the meta-data, the use of expensive cloud resources may be minimized when there is a need for re-tiering the files and folders into appropriate cloud tiers.

Abstract: Techniques described herein relate to a method for performing data protection of file system data on a host. The method includes obtaining a data access request for a file corresponding to a placeholder file from an application during a backup access session; obtaining, in response to the data access request, file system data associated with the file from a backup storage using backup metadata associated with the placeholder file; providing the file system data associated with the file to the application; making, after the providing, a determination that the file is modified by the application; and in response to the determination: flagging the placeholder file.

Abstract: In accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for re-tiering files and folders located in a cloud-based file system without crawling all the files and folders in the cloud-based file system. The method utilizes the meta-data for the files and folders to determine, based upon provided rules, which tier a file or folder should be assigned to. By utilizing the meta-data, the use of expensive cloud resources may be minimized when there is a need for re-tiering the files and folders into appropriate cloud tiers.

Abstract: In general, one or more embodiments of the invention relates to systems and methods for performing a backup and later determining a level or percentage of corruption of the resulting backup set. By having a cyber-security module analyze the backup data periodically, corruption of backup data both caused by cyber-attacks or by hardware failures may be detected and characterized. By knowing how corrupted a particular corrupted backup data set is, an informed decision may be made with regards to purging the backup data set and/or using the backup data set or portion thereof in any further restorations. By making these determinations, a quick identification of possible ransomware attacks may be made, and additional degradation of a user's data may be avoided.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for efficiently sharing assets such as files and folders between a host computer system and a client computer system while minimizing the amount of work the client must perform to efficiently transfer an asset. In one or more embodiments, assets such as files and folders that are to be shared or transferred are placed in appropriate network slice queues by the hosts rather than the clients. These network slice queues allow the files and folders to be placed in slices without utilizing the resources of the clients as well as much of the available network resources. This ensures efficient use of network resources, while minimizing the amount of work the hosts and/or clients must perform in order to perform a backup.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to generating backups of assets. More specifically, in one or more embodiments of the invention, multiple copies of a backup are stored in separate locations. The copies may then be used to perform a restoration when one of the copies is corrupted. If all copies are corrupted the invention allows for partial restoration of those portions of the copies that are not corrupted. By using copies, embodiments of the invention allow the backups to be more resilient to attacks and system failures.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to generating backups of assets. More specifically, in one or more embodiments of the invention, the meta-data generated during the backups is leveraged for detecting cyber-attacks by leveraging backup meta-data, to reduce the amount of data that needs to be scanned by a cyber-security module to detect a cyber-attack, such as a ransomware attack. This allows any attacks to be detected earlier and reduce processing by leveraging the periodic backups that are performed as part of data protection, to detect when an attack has or is occurring. By making these determinations, a quick identification of possible ransomware attacks may be made and other methods of mitigating the attack may be deployed when the method of mitigating the attack might still be useful to mitigate potential damage to a user's data.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for backing up user defined logical assets. In accordance with one or more embodiments, a user may define a logical asset type prior to a backup being performed. The user may define the logical asset type based on any rules, filters, or attributes of files and/or folders stored in a file system. Once the user has defined the asset type, the system may utilize file-system meta-data to quickly ascertain which files and folders meet the definition of the logical asset type, allowing for the backup of the user defined asset to be performed with minimal additional workload by the production hosts, clients, backup agents, and other associated components of the system.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for efficiently sharing assets such as files and folders in the form of slices. Assets are shared or transferred between a host computer system and a target computer system such as a client computer system. In one or more embodiments, assets such as files and folders that are to be shared or transferred are placed in appropriate network slice queues by the hosts in such a manner that each slice has a size that is the same as the others within a predetermined tolerance. This ensures efficient use of network resources when sharing or transferring the files, while minimizing the amount of work the hosts and/or clients must perform.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems that improve the operation of one or more computing devices by allowing backups and restorations to be performed on files and folders that are normally unavailable for normal restoration. By utilizing the backup's meta-data, a backup agent can receive an indication that a file or folder is not available and take appropriate actions so that the files and folders that are normally not available can be properly restored. Making it possible to efficiently perform a backup of a file-system that can be restored even when files and/or folders are normally unavailable to be restored normally.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to generating backups of applications. The user or administrator that monitors the backup is notified of those files and/or folders that have not been backed up in the most recent backup. Further, embodiments of the invention enable alerts to be initiated when a particular file or folder has not been backed up over multiple backups or over a predetermined period. As a result, the user or administrator can have a better understanding of the protection and lack of protection that the present backups are providing.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to methods and systems for predicting what files and/or folders will be skipped during a backup based on the file system's meta-data. Various embodiments of the invention may determine based on a file system's meta-data that specific files and/or folders will not be backed up in accordance with a backup's current rules or configuration. The aforementioned information can then be used to notify a user or administrator what files and/or folders will not be backed up and based on that notification, they may make changes to the backup's current rules or configuration. This advantageously provides the user or administrator knowledge of gaps in the protection provided by a backup and the ability to configure it to meet their needs.

Abstract: A method and system for leveraging file-system metadata for direct to cloud object storage optimization. Under cloud object storage architecture, any unstructured data may be managed and stored in the cloud as objects. Objects thus provide an elastic, scalable format through which unstructured data may be maintained for a variety of purposes, including those directed to data backup, archiving, and/or disaster recovery. Cloud object storage, however, tends to be costly—mainly stemming from factors, such as the frequency of read and write operations (also referred to as runtime costs) applied to, as well as the allocation of disk space (also referred to as storage costs) consumed by, any number of objects configured to store file backup copies. In addressing at least the aforementioned, embodiments disclosed herein optimize cloud object storage utilization through the intelligent grouping and object storing of data based on file attribute similarities.

Abstract: A method for managing data includes obtaining, by a file system metadata manager, a data access request for a file system, wherein the data access request is obtained from an analytics engine, in response to the data access request: obtaining a metadata backup, wherein the metadata backup is associated with the file system, extracting file system metadata from the metadata backup, generating, using the file system metadata, a virtual file system associated with the file system, and providing the virtual file system to the analytics engine, wherein the analytics engine performs an analysis on the file system using the virtual file system.