# US 2025/0086072 A1 · Methods and multi-site systems to provide recovery point objective (rpo) protection and automatically initiate realignment and reconfiguration of a protection configuration from the secondary storage site to the tertiary storage site upon primary storage site failure > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2025/0086072 A1 - Document ID: US20250086072A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 18/958,785 - Filed: 2024-11-25 - Published: 2025-03-13 - Earliest claimed: 2023-01-27 - Assignees: NetApp, Inc. - Applicants: NetApp, Inc. - Inventors: Sohan Shetty; Akhil Kaushik - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20250086072A1 ## CPC - G06F 11/1662: {the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device (re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008)} - G06F 11/2023: {Failover techniques} - G06F 11/2046: {where the redundant components share persistent storage (G06F11/2043 takes precedence)} - G06F 11/2094: {Redundant storage or storage space (G06F11/2056 takes precedence)} - G06F 11/2097: {maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated (initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups)} - G06F 16/275: {Synchronous replication} - G06F 2201/85: Active fault masking without idle spares - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A computer-implemented method comprises providing a synchronous replication relationship from one or more storage objects of a first storage node to one or more replicated storage objects of a second storage node, providing an asynchronous replication relationship with an asynchronous update schedule from the one or more storage objects of the first storage node to one or more replicated storage objects of the third storage node to provide a protection configuration, tracking, with the third storage node of the tertiary site, a state of the secondary storage site, automatically performing a failover from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site and activating a synchronous mirror copy for the one or more replicated storage objects of the second storage node, and automatically initiating realignment and reconfiguration of the protection configuration to the tertiary storage site based upon the state of the secondary storage site. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method performed by one or more processors of a multi-site distributed storage system with a primary storage site, the method comprising: providing a synchronous replication relationship from one or more storage objects of a first storage node of a primary storage site to one or more replicated storage objects of a second storage node of a secondary storage site; providing an asynchronous replication relationship from the one or more storage objects of the first storage node to one or more replicated storage objects of a third storage node of a tertiary storage site to provide a protection configuration; automatically performing a failover from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site based upon detecting a failure event; initiating a communication from the tertiary storage site to the secondary storage site based on detecting that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: initiating a communication from the tertiary storage site to the primary storage site to obtain a cluster identifier and receiving an error message indicating that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable; and looking up an alternative cluster identifier for the asynchronous replication relationship based on receiving the error message and not receiving a cluster identifier from the primary storage site, wherein the communication from the tertiary storage site to the secondary storage site is fetching the alternative cluster identifier for the asynchronous replication relationship; tracking, with the third storage node of the tertiary site, a state of the secondary storage site; automatically initiating realignment and reconfiguration of the protection configuration to the tertiary storage site based upon the state of the secondary storage site; and initiating an asynchronous update schedule and detecting that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable due to the failure event. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising: automatically configuring a synchronous replication relationship from the second storage node as a source to the first storage node as a destination based on the automated failover. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: Initiating a communication from the automatically configuring an asynchronous replication relationship from the second storage node as a source to the third storage node as a destination based on obtaining a cluster identifier from the secondary storage site. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the realignment and protection configuration from the secondary storage site to the tertiary storage site occurs based on detection of activating a synchronous mirror copy for the one or more replicated storage objects of the second storage node. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the primary and secondary storage sites are located in a first region and the tertiary storage site is located in a second region for cloud resident datasets. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the failover comprises an automatic unplanned failover (AUFO) from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site. ### Claim 8 A multi-site distributed storage system comprising: one or more processing resources; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processing resources, having stored therein instructions, which when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: provide a synchronous replication relationship from one or more storage objects of a first storage node of a primary storage site to one or more replicated storage objects of a second storage node of a secondary storage site; provide an asynchronous replication relationship from the one or more storage objects of the first storage node to one or more replicated storage objects of a third storage node of a tertiary storage site to provide a protection configuration; automatically perform a failover from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site based upon detecting a failure event; initiate a communication from the tertiary storage site to the secondary storage site based on detecting that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The multi-site distributed storage system of claim 8, wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: initiate a communication from the tertiary storage site to the primary storage site to obtain a cluster identifier and receiving an error message indicating that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable; and look up an alternative cluster identifier for the asynchronous replication relationship based on receiving the error message and not receiving a cluster identifier from the primary storage site, wherein the communication from the tertiary storage site to the secondary storage site is fetching the alternative cluster identifier for the asynchronous replication relationship; track, with the third storage node of the tertiary site, a state of the secondary storage site; automatically initiate realignment and reconfiguration of the protection configuration to the tertiary storage site based upon the state of the secondary storage site; and initiate an asynchronous update schedule and detecting that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable due to the failure event. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The multi-site distributed storage system of claim 9, wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: automatically configure a synchronous replication relationship from the second storage node as a source to the first storage node as a destination based on the automated failover. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The multi-site distributed storage system of claim 8, wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: automatically configure an asynchronous replication relationship from the second storage node as a source to the third storage node as a destination based on obtaining a cluster identifier from the secondary storage site. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The multi-site distributed storage system of claim 8, wherein the realignment and protection configuration from the secondary storage site to the tertiary storage site occurs based on detection of activating a synchronous mirror copy for the one or more replicated storage objects of the second storage node. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The multi-site distributed storage system of claim 8, wherein the realignment and protection configuration comprises an asynchronous replication relationship or mirror vault policy from the secondary storage site to the tertiary storage site. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The multi-site distributed storage system of claim 8, wherein the failover comprises an automatic unplanned failover (AUFO) from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site. ### Claim 15 A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions, which when executed by one or more processing resources of a multi-site distributed storage system cause the one or more processing resources to: provide a synchronous replication relationship from one or more storage objects of a first storage node of a primary storage site to one or more replicated storage objects of a second storage node of a secondary storage site; provide an asynchronous replication relationship from the one or more storage objects of the first storage node to one or more replicated storage objects of a third storage node of a tertiary storage site to provide a protection configuration; automatically perform a failover from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site based upon detecting a failure event; and initiate a communication from the tertiary storage site to the secondary storage site based on detecting that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: initiate a communication from the tertiary storage site to the primary storage site to obtain a cluster identifier and receiving an error message indicating that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable; look up an alternative cluster identifier for the asynchronous replication relationship based on receiving the error message and not receiving a cluster identifier from the primary storage site, wherein the communication from the tertiary storage site to the secondary storage site is fetching the alternative cluster identifier for the asynchronous replication relationship; track, with the third storage node of the tertiary site, a state of the secondary storage site; automatically initiate realignment and reconfiguration of the protection configuration to the tertiary storage site based upon the state of the secondary storage site; and initiate an asynchronous update schedule and detecting that the primary storage site is temporarily unreachable due to the failure event. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: automatically configure a synchronous replication relationship from the second storage node as a source to the first storage node as a destination based on the automated failover. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the one or more processing resources to: automatically configure an asynchronous replication relationship from the second storage node as a source to the third storage node as a destination based on obtaining a cluster identifier from the secondary storage site. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the realignment and protection configuration from the secondary storage site to the tertiary storage site occurs based on detection of activating a synchronous mirror copy for the one or more replicated storage objects of the second storage node. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the failover comprises an automatic unplanned failover (AUFO) from the primary storage site to the secondary storage site.