Data replication and site replication in a clustered computing environment

#The disclosed embodiments relate generally to managing data storage and recovery and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to managing within a cluster environment data storage using data replication and generation identifiers for data storage and recovery.

#The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

#Today's Internet has evolved into a ubiquitous network that has compelled many businesses to rely upon it as a major resource for doing business. For example, many businesses may employ services on the Internet to perform backup of their various aspects of their local computing resources, including providing for high availability of backed up data.

#The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

#FIG. 1 illustrates a system diagram of one embodiment of an environment in which the embodiments may be practiced;

#FIG. 2 illustrates one possible embodiment of a client device usable within the environment of FIG. 1;

#In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

#Embodiments are described herein according to the following outline: 1.0. General Overview 2.0. Operating Environment 3.0 General Operation 4.0 Clustered Operating Environment 5.0. Multi-Site Clusters 6.0 Site-Based Search Affinity 7.0. Implementation Mechanisms—Hardware Overview 8.0. Example Embodiments 9.0. Extensions and Alternatives

#The present embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific aspects in which the embodiments may be practiced. These embodiments may, however, take many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope to those skilled in the art. Among other things, the present embodiments may include methods or devices. Accordingly, the various embodiments may take the form of entirely hardware or a combination of software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.