System and method for restoring data from secondary volume to primary volume in a data storage system
AssigneeStorage Technology Corporation
InventorsChristopher J. West, David G. Beal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for retrieving data that is stored on a backup or secondary storage system located at a remote location to a local storage system. Restoring of backup data involves the transferring of a point-in-time copy of primary system data from a secondary storage system to the local system. The point-in-time copy is created on the secondary system using an asynchronous remote copy scheme. The point-in-time copy that is restored may be either an entire volume or portions thereof.
Claims17
A storage control system for restoring a remote point-in-time copy of data to a primary volume from a secondary volume, said secondary volume adapted to provide information of remote data stored on at least one remote storage disk, the system comprising:
- at least one local storage disk;
- a primary storage controller that conducts a request for the remote point-in-time copy;
- and
- a secondary storage controller coupled to the primary storage controller to receive the request from the primary storage controller and to transfer the remote point-in-time copy from the secondary storage controller to the primary storage controller thereby creating a local point-in-time copy;
- said primary storage controller adapted to configure the primary volume to comprise information of the local point-in-time copy located on at least one local disk.
A storage control system for restoring a remote point-in-time copy of data to a primary volume from a secondary volume, said secondary volume adapted to provide information of remote data stored on at least one remote storage disk, the system comprising:
- at least one local storage disk;
- a primary storage controller that conducts a request for the remote point-in-time copy;
- and
- a secondary storage controller coupled to the primary storage controller to receive the request from the primary storage controller and to transfer the remote point-in-time copy from the secondary storage controller to the primary storage controller thereby creating a local point-in-time copy, wherein the secondary storage system receives the point-in-time copy through an asynchronous remote copy process;
- said primary storage controller adapted to configure the primary volume to comprise information of the local point-in-time copy located on at least one local disk, wherein the primary storage controller further comprises a snap volume to facilitate the asynchronous remote copy process.
A storage control system for restoring a remote point-in-time copy of data to a primary volume from a secondary volume, said secondary volume adapted to provide information of remote data stored on at least one remote storage disk, the system comprising:
- at least one local storage disk;
- a primary storage controller that conducts a request for the remote point-in-time copy;
- and
- a secondary storage controller coupled to the primary storage controller to receive the request from the primary storage controller and to transfer the remote point-in-time copy from the secondary storage controller to the primary storage controller thereby creating a local point-in-time copy;
- said primary storage controller adapted to configure the primary volume to comprise information of the local point-in-time copy located on at least one local disk, wherein the primary storage controller further comprises memory allocated to store a lookup table identifying remote copy occurrences.
A storage control system as defined in claim further comprising a secondary host system coupled to the secondary storage controller.
A storage control system as defined in claim wherein the secondary system is remotely located from the primary system.
A storage control system for restoring a remote point-in-time copy of data to a primary volume from a secondary volume, said secondary volume adapted to provide information of remote data stored on at least one remote storage disk, the system comprising:
- at least one local storage disk;
- a primary storage controller that conducts a request for the remote point-in-time copy;
- and
- a secondary storage controller coupled to the primary storage controller to receive the request from the primary storage controller and to transfer the remote point-in-time copy from the secondary storage controller to the primary storage controller thereby creating a local point-in-time copy;
- said primary storage controller adapted to configure the primary volume to comprise information of the local point-in-time copy located on at least one local disk, wherein only predetermined portions of the point-in-way copy are restored.
A method of restoring data from a secondary storage system to a primary storage system, wherein the secondary system is remotely located from the primary system and the secondary system receives backup data transmissions via a communications link from the primary storage system, the restoring method comprising:
- identifying a valid remote point-in-time copy of the data on the secondary system;
- requesting the secondary system transmit data associated with the remote point-in-time copy;
- transmitting the data associated with the point-in-time copy from the secondary system to the primary system;
- and configuring the primary system to access the transmitted data.
A method of restoring data from a secondary storage system to a primary storage system, wherein the secondary system is remotely located from the primary system and the secondary system receives backup data transmissions via a communications link from the primary storage system, the restoring method comprising:
- identifying a valid remote point-in-time copy of the data on the secondary system;
- requesting the secondary system transmit data associated with the remote point-in-time copy;
- transmitting the data associated with the point-in-time copy from the secondary system to the primary system;
- and
- configuring the primary system to access the transmitted data, wherein the backup data transmissions conducted from the primary storage system to the secondary storage system comprise asynchronous data transmissions;
- wherein the primary storage system comprises a primary volume and a snap volume wherein the snap volume maps to the same physical locations as the primary volume said method further comprising the following step:
- asynchronously transmitting backup copies of data from the primary storage system to the secondary storage system using the snap volume.
A method of restoring data from a secondary storage system to a primary storage system, wherein the secondary system is remotely located from the primary system and the secondary system receives backup data transmissions via a communications link from the primary storage system, the restoring method comprising:
- identifying a valid remote point-in-time copy of the data on the secondary system;
- requesting the secondary system transmit data associated with the remote point-in-time copy;
- transmitting the data associated with the point-in-time copy from the secondary system to the primary system;
- and
- configuring the primary system to access the transmitted data, wherein the point-in-time copy relates to predetermined portions of a volume.
A program storage medium, readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by said computer for restoring a point-in-time copy of computer readable data to a local storage system having at least one local storage disk from a remote storage system having at least one remote storage disk, the program comprising instructions for:
- identifying a valid point-in-time copy present on the remote storage disk;
- requesting the point-in-time copy to be transferred to the local storage system;
- transferring the point-in-time copy to the local storage system;
- and
- storing the point-in-time copy to the local storage disk.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.