US 10,884,871 B2Granted

Systems and methods for copying an operating source volume

AssigneeDatto, Inc.

InventorStuart Mark

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Abstract

The present disclosure is directed at systems and methods for copying a source volume to a target volume. The disclosed systems/methods facilitate copying the source volume to the target volume while an operating system is configured to write to the source volume, while ensuring that the resulting copy in the target volume represents a crash-consistent state of the source volume at a single point in time. According to some embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods reduce the amount of time that the operating system writing to the source volume spends in copy-on-write mode. The disclosed systems/methods can decrease the performance burden on the operating system (e.g., free up processing resources at the operating system for other tasks), while also decreasing the amount of memory required for the copying process.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A method for copying a source volume comprising multiple blocks to a target volume while an operating system is configured to write to the source volume, the method comprising:

(a) designating a set of one or more blocks to be copied from the source volume to the target volume;
(b) copying the designated set of one or more blocks from the source volume to the target volume while the operating system is configured to write to the source volume;
(c) identifying blocks of the source volume that were written to by the operating system while the operating system was configured to write to the source volume during step (b);
(d) if one or more blocks were identified in step (c), comparing an aggregate size of the identified one or more blocks to a threshold, wherein:
(d)(i) if the aggregate size is greater than or equal to the threshold:
changing the designated set of one or more blocks to be copied from the source volume to the target volume to include only one or more of the identified one or more blocks, and
repeating steps (b), (c), and (d);
(d)(ii) if the aggregate size is below the threshold:
causing the operating system to enter a copy-on-write mode, in which contents of a block of the source volume that is targeted by a write instruction from the operating system are preserved in a copy-on-write file before the write instruction modifies the contents of the targeted block included in the source volume;
bringing the target volume into a crash-consistent state consistent with a state of the source volume at a single point in time associated with the time the copy-on-write mode was entered by the operating system, wherein, after the operating system enters the copy-on-write mode, the method copies only one or more of the blocks identified in a last iteration of step (c) from the source volume to the target volume if the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c) were not written to by the operating system while in copy-on-write mode prior to copying the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c), and, if the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c) were written to by the operating system while in cony-on-write mode prior to copying the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c), the method copies only one or more of the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c) from the copy-on-write file to the target volume,
wherein the operating system refrains from entering the copy-on-write mode during steps (a), (b), (c), and (d)(i).

8 more elements

A method for copying a source volume comprising multiple blocks to a cloud storage volume while an operating system is configured to write to the source volume, the method comprising:

(a) designating a set of one or more blocks to be copied from the source volume to the cloud storage volume, wherein the source volume includes an image-based backup, and wherein the set of one or more blocks to be copied from the source volume to the cloud storage volume includes one or more blocks of the image-based backup;
(b) copying the designated set of one or more blocks from the source volume to the cloud storage volume while the operating system is configured to write to the source volume by sending the designated stet of one or more blocks to the cloud storage volume via the internet;
(c) identifying blocks of the source volume that were written to by the operating system while the operating system was configured to write to the source volume during step (b);
(d) if one or more blocks were identified in step (c), comparing an aggregate size of the identified one or more blocks to a threshold, wherein:
(d)(i) if the aggregate size is greater than or equal to the threshold:
changing the designated set of one or more blocks to be copied from the source volume to the cloud storage volume to include only one or more of the identified one or more blocks, and
repeating steps (b), (c), and (d);
(d)(ii) if the aggregate size is below the threshold:
causing the operating system to enter a copy-on-write mode, in which contents of a block of the source volume that is targeted by a write instruction from the operating system are preserved in a copy-on-write file before the write instruction modifies the contents of the targeted block included in the source volume;
bringing the cloud storage volume into a crash-consistent state consistent with a state of the source volume at a single point in time associated with the time the copy-on-write mode was entered by the operating system, wherein, after the operating system enters the copy-on-write mode, the method copies only one or more of the blocks identified in a last iteration of step (c) from the source volume to the cloud storage volume if the blocks identified in step (c) were not written to by the operating system while in copy-on-write mode prior to copying the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c), and, if the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c) were written to by the operating system while in coy-on-write mode prior to copying the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c), the method copies only one or more of the blocks identified in the last iteration of step (c) from the copy-on-write file to the cloud storage volume,
wherein the operating system refrains from entering the copy-on-write mode during steps (a), (b), (c), and (d)(i).

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/055,347Filed 6 Aug 2018 · us provisional application
Priority: 7 Aug 2017
Published: US 2019/0042373 A17 Feb 2019
Granted: 5 Jan 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G06F 11/1464
Management of the backup or restore process: for networked environments
G06F 3/061
Specifically adapted to achieve a particular effect: improving I/O performance
G06F 3/064
Organizing or formatting or addressing of data: management of blocks
G06F 3/065
Horizontal data movement in storage systems, i.e. moving data in between storage devices or systems: replication mechanisms