US 10,896,200 B1Granted

Remote mirroring for data storage systems using cloud backup

AssigneeEMC IP Holding Company LLC

InventorsSuresh Krishnan, Wayne D'Entremont, Adnan Sahin, Arieh Don

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Abstract

A distributed data storage system includes first and second data storage systems (DSSs) at respective sites and a cloud gateway at a third. The first DSS remotely mirrors data using synchronous and asynchronous channels both employing a block-based protocol (e.g., SCSI). The second DSS is connected to the synchronous channel to provide synchronous backup to the first DSS. The cloud gateway is connected to the asynchronous channel and has a cloud storage connection to a cloud storage system, the cloud storage connection using a wide area network interface and employing an object-based protocol. The cloud gateway (1) provides asynchronous backup to the first DSS via the asynchronous channel, and (2) uses the cloud storage connection to access object-based cloud data storage to store data of the asynchronous backup. The use of the cloud gateway and cloud storage system for an asynchronous third mirror enhances reliability/resiliency in a cost-effective manner.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A distributed data storage system providing geographic diversity across at least three sites, including:

a first data storage system at a first site, the first data storage system being configured and operative to remotely mirror data using synchronous and asynchronous block-based channels to respective backup sites, the block-based channels employing a block-based data storage protocol being a storage-oriented protocol employing a model of a storage device as a linear array of fixed-size blocks, the storage-oriented protocol using read and write requests specifying a starting logical block address and a transfer length;
a second data storage system at a second site, the second data storage system connected to the first data storage system via the synchronous block-based channel to provide synchronous backup for the first data storage system;
and
a cloud gateway at a third site, the cloud gateway connected to the first data storage system via the asynchronous block-based channel and having an object-based cloud storage connection to a cloud storage system, the object-based cloud storage connection using a wide area network interface and employing an object-based data storage protocol employing an object-oriented model of a storage device as a flat-structured collection of objects identified by respective object identifiers, the cloud gateway (1) providing asynchronous backup for the first data storage system via the asynchronous block-based channel, and (2) using the object-based cloud storage connection to access object-based cloud data storage to store data of the asynchronous backup,
wherein the cloud gateway includes block interface logic, translation logic, and object interface logic, the block interface logic connecting to the first data storage system via the asynchronous block-based channel and presenting a block interface with a block-based view of storage according to the block-based data storage protocol, the object interface logic connecting to the cloud data storage by the object-based cloud storage connection and presenting an object interface according to the object-based data storage protocol, the cloud gateway appearing to the cloud storage system as a client providing abstracted objects for backup,
and wherein the translation logic performs conversion between block-oriented structuring of data of the block interface and object-oriented structuring of data of the object interface.

3 more elements

A method of operating a distributed data storage system providing geographic diversity across at least three sites, comprising:

by a first data storage system at a first site, remotely mirroring data using synchronous and asynchronous block-based channels to respective backup sites, the block-based channels employing a block-based data storage protocol being a storage-oriented protocol employing a model of a storage device as a linear array of fixed-size blocks, the storage-oriented protocol using read and write requests specifying a starting logical block address and a transfer length;
by a second data storage system at a second site and connected to the first data storage system via the synchronous block-based channel, providing synchronous backup for the first data storage system;
and
by a cloud gateway at a third site and connected to the first data storage system via the asynchronous block-based channel, (1) providing asynchronous backup for the first data storage system via the asynchronous block-based channel, and (2) using an object-based cloud storage connection to a cloud storage system to access object-based cloud data storage to store data of the asynchronous backup, the object-based cloud storage connection using a wide area network interface and employing an object-based data storage protocol employing an object-oriented model of a storage device as a flat-structured collection of objects identified by respective object identifiers,
wherein the cloud gateway includes block interface logic, translation logic, and object interface logic, the block interface logic connecting to the first data storage system via the asynchronous block-based channel and presenting a block interface with a block-based view of storage according to the block-based data storage protocol, the object interface logic connecting to the cloud data storage by the object-based cloud storage connection and presenting an object interface according to the object-based data storage protocol, the cloud gateway appearing to the cloud storage system as a client providing abstracted objects for backup,
and wherein the translation logic performs conversion between block-oriented structuring of data of the block interface and object-oriented structuring of data of the object interface.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.