Abstract: A system for providing backup services for limited-access user data includes persistent storage for storing a user data visualization enhanced user data backup and a manager. The manager identifies a backup generation event for limited-access user data based on a protection policy; in response to identifying the backup generation event, obtains fragmented user data from an application that gates access to the limited-access user data; obtains organizational metadata associated with the fragmented user data from the application; makes a determination that the fragmented user data is associated with a user data visualization; in response to making the determination, obtains user data visualization metadata associated with the fragmented user data from the application; and generates the user data enhanced user data backup using the organizational metadata, the user data visualization metadata, and the fragmented user data.

Abstract: A system for providing data protection services for user data generated by an application, includes persistent storage for storing user data backups and a manager. The manager is programmed to identify a backup generation event for user data based on a protection policy, in response to identifying the backup generation event, obtain user data associated with the backup generation event from the application, select a calendar of calendars included in the user data, obtain user metadata associated with the calendar, and generate a user data backup using the user data and the user metadata, in which the user data backup comprises calendar events of the calendar and portions of the user metadata associated with the calendar events.

Abstract: A system for providing data protection services for user data generated by an application includes persistent storage that includes an archive storage and a backup storage. The system also includes a manager. The manager is programmed to generate data chunks using user data, generate backup object metadata associated with the data chunks; obtain previously generated backup object metadata associated with the user data using an archive value, make a first determination that at least one data chunk of the data chunks is to be archived using the backup object metadata and the previously generated backup object metadata, and, in response to the first determination: store the at least one data chunk in the archive storage as a portion of a user data backup, and store remaining data chunks of the data chunks in the backup storage as the remaining portion of the user data backup.

Abstract: A system for providing data protection services for user data associated with calendar groups generated by an application includes persistent storage for storing user data backups and a manager. The manager is programmed to identify a backup generation event for the user data associated with a calendar group based on a protection policy, obtain user data associated with the backup generation event from the application in response to identifying the backup generation event, select a calendar of calendars included in the user data, obtain user metadata associated with the calendar, generate calendar group information associated with the calendar using the user data and the user metadata, generate a user data backup using the user data, the calendar group information, and the user metadata, in which the user data backup comprises backup data and backup metadata.

Abstract: A system for providing backup services for limited-access user data includes persistent storage for storing a user data visualization enhanced user data backup and a manager. The manager identifies a backup generation event for limited-access user data based on a protection policy; in response to identifying the backup generation event, obtains fragmented user data from an application that gates access to the limited-access user data; obtains organizational metadata associated with the fragmented user data from the application; makes a determination that the fragmented user data is associated with a user data visualization; in response to making the determination, obtains user data visualization metadata associated with the fragmented user data from the application; and generates the user data enhanced user data backup using the organizational metadata, the user data visualization metadata, and the fragmented user data.

Abstract: A system for providing data protection services for user data generated by an application includes persistent storage that includes an archive storage and a backup storage. The system also includes a manager. The manager is programmed to generate data chunks using user data, generate backup object metadata associated with the data chunks; obtain previously generated backup object metadata associated with the user data using an archive value, make a first determination that at least one data chunk of the data chunks is to be archived using the backup object metadata and the previously generated backup object metadata, and, in response to the first determination: store the at least one data chunk in the archive storage as a portion of a user data backup, and store remaining data chunks of the data chunks in the backup storage as the remaining portion of the user data backup.

Abstract: In some embodiments, described is a system (and method) for providing an efficient preview capability for emails backed up to a cloud-based object storage. The email preview may be provided as part of an interface allowing a user to select individual emails to restore from the object storage. The system may extract specialized preview information as part of a backup procedure. The preview information may include metadata and email content. For example, the preview information may include various email details such as sender, receiver, subject line, time sent/received, filenames of any attachments, etc. The preview information may also include email content such as particular sentences from the email body containing keywords. The system may also store extracted preview information in a specialized manner such that the preview information may be retrieved without having to access the actual backup data.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for managing specialized metadata that may be used to manage and search incremental backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. The system may create and store such metadata as part of a specialized metadata database that includes a data catalog and a backup catalog. The system may leverage the metadata database to initiate operations to efficiently manage incremental backup data stored on the object storage. For example, the metadata may be relied upon to efficiently reconstruct (e.g. synthetically) the client data to a point-in-time of any incremental backup. In addition, the metadata may include properties of the backed-up data, which are maintained separately from the backup data stored as objects. Accordingly, these properties may be searched to identify and locate backup data without having to retrieve the stored objects.

Abstract: A system for providing data protection services for user data generated by an application, includes persistent storage for storing user data backups and a manager. The manager is programmed to identify a backup generation event for user data based on a protection policy, in response to identifying the backup generation event, obtain user data associated with the backup generation event from the application, select a calendar of calendars included in the user data, obtain user metadata associated with the calendar, and generate a user data backup using the user data and the user metadata, in which the user data backup comprises calendar events of the calendar and portions of the user metadata associated with the calendar events.

Abstract: Described is a system for synchronizing expiration times for incremental backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. More particularly, the system may provide a layer of intelligence when updating the expiration times associated with backup data to ensure that a full recovery of the client data to a point-in-time of any incremental backup may be performed. To provide such a capability, the system may maintain specialized metadata identifying expiration times for objects and a list of objects required to perform a full recovery to a point-in-time for each of the performed backups (e.g. full or incremental). The system may access this metadata to identify which objects stored by a previous backup are still referenced by a subsequent backup. Based on the identified objects, the system may synchronize object expiration times to ensure objects are not prematurely deleted from the object storage.

Abstract: A system for providing data protection services for user data associated with calendar groups generated by an application includes persistent storage for storing user data backups and a manager. The manager is programmed to identify a backup generation event for the user data associated with a calendar group based on a protection policy, obtain user data associated with the backup generation event from the application in response to identifying the backup generation event, select a calendar of calendars included in the user data, obtain user metadata associated with the calendar, generate calendar group information associated with the calendar using the user data and the user metadata, generate a user data backup using the user data, the calendar group information, and the user metadata, in which the user data backup comprises backup data and backup metadata.

Abstract: Systems and methods for protecting and identifying virtual machines that have the same name in a multi-tenant distributed environment are provided. When backing up a virtual machine, a unique identifier of the virtual machine is incorporated into the name of the virtual machine's save set. This allows a backup administrator to distinguish between virtual machines that have the same name. This improves the ability to perform restore operations by enabling virtual machines that have the same name to be distinguished.

Abstract: Described is a system that leverages object storage provided access controls to secure backup data stored on a third-party cloud-based object storage. More particularly, the system may implement a mechanism that ensures that a backup system acts as a gateway for accessing the backup data stored on the object storage. For example, the system may prevent object storage administrative accounts that are authorized to access data directly on the storage from maliciously or inadvertently jeopardizing the integrity of the backup data. Moreover, the backup system may encrypt the backup data to prevent such administrative accounts from performing various backup related operations such as data recovery. Accordingly, to perform backup operations and decrypt the backup data, an account must be authorized by the backup system acting as an exclusive gateway to the backup data stored on a third-party storage.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for managing specialized metadata that may be used to manage and search incremental backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. The system may create and store such metadata as part of a specialized metadata database that includes a data catalog and a backup catalog. The system may leverage the metadata database to initiate operations to efficiently manage incremental backup data stored on the object storage. For example, the metadata may be relied upon to efficiently reconstruct (e.g. synthetically) the client data to a point-in-time of any incremental backup. In addition, the metadata may include properties of the backed-up data, which are maintained separately from the backup data stored as objects. Accordingly, these properties may be searched to identify and locate backup data without having to retrieve the stored objects.

Abstract: Described is a system for rule-based re-tiering of backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. More specifically, the system may re-tier objects based on one or more storage rules such that the system retains the ability to efficiently perform a full restore of backup data even when incremental backups are performed to a cloud-based object storage. To provide such a capability, the system may maintain a specialized metadata database that stores information indicating the backup time for each backup, and a list of objects required to perform a full restore to each of the backup times. Accordingly, when initiating a re-tiering based on one or more storage rules, the system may intelligently select candidate objects for re-tiering by leveraging the metadata database to ensure that objects that may still need to be referenced are not unnecessarily moved to a lower storage tier.

Abstract: Described is a system for intelligent re-tiering of backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. More specifically, the system may re-tier objects such that the system retains the ability to efficiently perform a full restore of backup data even when incremental backups are performed to a cloud-based object storage. To provide such a capability, the system may maintain a specialized metadata database that stores information indicating the backup time for each backup, and a list of objects required to perform a full restore to each of the backup times. Accordingly, when using a threshold time (e.g. expiry) to select object candidates for re-tiering, the system may leverage the metadata database to ensure that objects that may still need to be referenced are not unnecessarily moved to a lower storage tier.

Abstract: Described is a system for managing backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage irrespective of the storage provider. The system may include a server (or gateway) that provides a backup service, and acts as an intermediary between a client device and object storage. To provide such capabilities, the system may manage an application programming interface (API) that provides a uniform set of methods to a client device irrespective of the destination object storage provider. A function library may include provider-specific functions that invoke corresponding storage-layer operations provided by the destination object storage. The server may also manage an operation pool to schedule operations and saturate bandwidth to the object storage. The server may also implement a specialized metadata database to provide further storage efficiencies by storing certain backup data exclusively within the metadata database.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for specialized data management when performing incremental backups to a cloud-based object storage. When backing up client data, the server may utilize incremental backups to conserve the amount of storage space required on the object storage. However, the server may implement a configuration that enables full reconstruction of the client data at the time of recovery. To provide such capabilities, the server may leverage a specialized metadata database. The metadata database may be an embedded database maintained by the server. The server may leverage the metadata database to provide further storage efficiencies by storing certain incremental backup data exclusively within the metadata database. Accordingly, the server may implement a data management configuration as part of a backup service that conserves storage usage, and as a result, storage costs when using on a third-party cloud-based object storage.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for efficient object storage management when backing up data to a cloud-based object storage. The system may be implemented as part of a server (or gateway) that provides a backup service to a client device by acting as an intermediary when backing up data from the client device to a third-party cloud-based object storage. The system may implement various specialized procedures to efficiently store backup data as objects within the object storage. The procedures may include packing client data into objects of a consistent size to improve storage performance. The system may also improve storage performance and conserve storage by analyzing the data stored within an object and reallocating the data as necessary. More particularly, the system may efficiently reallocate data to new objects when the amount of live data within an object falls below a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: Described is a system for cloud-based processing of backup data for storage onto various types of object storage systems. A specialized cloud-based component (e.g. proxy server) may act as an intermediary when backing up data from a client system to an object storage. For example, the cloud-based component may be provided as part of backup service that operates in conjunction with a client system. Accordingly, the system may allow different clients of a backup service to efficiently and seamlessly interact with the different third-party object storage providers via a single cloud-based component. To provide such object-storage-agnostic functionality, the cloud-based component may include a function library that includes object-storage-specific functions. For example, the cloud-based component may invoke a specific set of operations that interact with a storage API provided by a particular object storage provider.