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: 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 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 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: 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 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: A method and system for leveraging backup process metadata for cloud object storage selective deletions. 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. Further, any unstructured data, stored within any object, may pertain to one or many file(s). Should data, from multiple files, be stored within a shared object, any post-upload activity (e.g., modifications or deletions in keeping with data regulatory compliances) targeting said data, belonging to any one file or a subset of files, may be complex and resource-expensive.

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 for managing data includes obtaining, obtaining by a production agent, a request for a backup of a file system, in response to the backup request: generating a file system backup of the file system, generating a metadata backup associated with the file system backup, storing the backup in a storage system, obtaining, by the production agent and from an analytics engine, a data access request for the data, wherein the data is a portion of file system data associated with the file system, and wherein the analytics engine is operating on a second environment that is external to a client environment, wherein the file system is generated by an application executing on the client environment, in response to the data access request: identifying the portion of the file system data from the file system backup, and providing the identified portion to the analytics engine.

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.

Abstract: A method for managing data includes obtaining, by an analytics engine and from an application, a file system analysis request for analyzing a file system, wherein the analytics engine is operating on a second environment that is external to a client environment, wherein the file system comprises an organization of file system data, wherein the file system data is generated by the application, in response to the file system analysis request: obtaining a metadata backup, wherein the metadata backup is associated with the file system, applying a machine learning model on the metadata backup to extract a portion of attributes, performing a metadata analysis using the portion of attributes to obtain a processed result, and providing the processed result to the application.

Abstract: A method and system for leveraging backup process metadata for data recovery optimization. Concerning file-system data protection, recovery operations tend to be exhaustive processes that often require extensive storage space and network bandwidth, among other, resources. Further, many existing file-system recovery solutions tend to implement whole or full data transfers (i.e., entailing the migration of all file-system data for a sought point-in-time) irrespective of which data may already be maintained on select recovery destinations, thereby unnecessarily allocating and expending said limited resources. In addressing this inefficiency, embodiments disclosed herein use metadata, produced during and/or following backup processes protecting file-system data, to identify and restore portions, rather than the entirety, of file-system data sought to be recovered from backup storage onto any recovery destination(s).

Abstract: A method for managing a full backup includes: generating a BBB of a file system, in which the BBB is a full backup of the file system and is generated using a snapshot of the file system; obtaining, using a MBB mechanism, modified file system metadata from the snapshot; obtaining second modified file system metadata from a second snapshot of the file system, in which the snapshot is generated at a first point in time and the second snapshot is generated at a second point in time; comparing the modified file system metadata and the second modified file system metadata to obtain a list of changed assets; initiating an incremental backup of the list of changed assets, in which the list of changed assets is backed up using a FBB mechanism; and generating a synthetic full backup by combining the full backup and the incremental backup.

Abstract: An example method includes detecting, using sensors, packets throughout a datacenter. The sensors can then send packet logs to various collectors which can then identify and summarize data flows in the datacenter. The collectors can then send flow logs to an analytics module which can identify the status of the datacenter and detect an attack.