Live Volume Access
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsSarosh C. Havewala, Vishal V. Ghotge, Neal R. Christiansen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This document describes tools capable of enabling an entity requiring exclusive access to data and metadata of a volume to have that exclusive access while also permitting another entity to have access to data and metadata of that volume. The tools, for example, may permit a ChkDsk program to detect and correct data/metadata integrity errors while permitting users to maintain access to a live volume having that data and metadata. In one embodiment the tools create a copy of a logical volume, permit exclusive access to the copy while permitting access to the live volume, and, when the exclusive access is no longer needed, merge the copy and the live volume.
Claims20
One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts comprising:
- create a snapshot copy of a logical volume at an instant in time;
- designate the copy as either a live volume or an offline volume and the logical volume as the other of the live volume or the offline volume;
- after or at the instant in time, permit one or more users or entities to change the live volume;
- receive changes made to the live volume by the one or more users or entities;
- after or at the instant in time, permit an exclusive-access unit capable of fixing data-metadata inconsistencies and requiring exclusive access to have exclusive access to the offline volume;
- after the exclusive access to the offline volume by the exclusive-access unit ceases, re-perform on the offline volume that is now fixed of data-metadata inconsistencies the changes made to the live volume from the instant in time forward;
- and
- after the changes are re-performed on the offline volume, replace the live volume with the offline volume that is now fixed of data-metadata inconsistencies and has the changes made to the live volume from the instant in time forward.
A method comprising:
- designating a copy of a logical volume as either a live volume or an offline volume and the logical volume as the other of the live volume or the offline volume;
- receiving an indication of when exclusive access to the offline volume ceases;
- and
- after exclusive access to the offline volume ceases, either replacing the live volume with the offline volume or merging the offline volume and the live volume.
One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions therein that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform acts comprising:
- create a copy of a logical volume;
- designate the copy as either a live volume or an offline volume and the logical volume as the other of the live volume or the offline volume;
- permit access to the live volume during exclusive access to the offline volume;
- and
- after exclusive access to the offline volume ceases, either:
- replace the live volume with the offline volume if access to the live volume was read only, if access to the live volume resulted in no changes to the live volume, or if access to the live volume resulted in replaceable changes to the live volume;
- or
- merge the live volume with the offline volume.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.