Leveraging array snapshots for immediate continuous data protection
AssigneeEMC Corporation
InventorAssaf Natanzon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One challenge to continuous data protection (CDP) is the resources required for storage. Typically, when setting up replication, a production volume and replica are set up and initialized to copy data from the production volume to the replica. However, instead of taking a clone of the volume, there are significant advantages to taking an array-based snapshot of the volume and leveraging capabilities inherent to the snapshot to improve data protections systems using CDP. To leverage the benefits of snapshots in a CDP system, as described below, example embodiments of the present invention use multiple snapshots. Bookmarks are created to indicate the point in time each snapshot was create so that a newer snapshot may be used for replication as data is applied to the replica.
Claims21
A method for leveraging snapshots for immediate continuous data protection (CDP) in a data replication environment comprising a production site comprising a host, a storage array, and a splitter, the method comprising:
- creating a replica of a production volume at the production site;
- configuring a replication service to replicate from the production volume to the replica of the production volume;
- and
- performing replication to the replica of the production volume using changes tracked at the production site, comprising:
- attaching the production volume to the splitter as clean;
- attaching the replica to the splitter as clean;
- tracking input/output (I/O) commands arriving at the splitter;
- and
- starting replication to the replica of the production volume using the tracked I/O commands.
An apparatus for leveraging snapshots for immediate continuous data protection (CDP), the apparatus comprising:
- a replicator configured to create a replica of a production volume at a production site;
- and
- a manager configured to configure a replication service to replicate from the production volume to the replica of the production volume at the production site, perform replication using changes tracked at the production site, attach the production volume to a splitter as clean, attach the replica to the splitter as clean, track input/output (I/O) commands arriving at the splitter and start replication to the replica of the production volume using the tracked I/O commands.
A computer-program product including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-program code that, when executed on a processor of a computer, cause the computer to leverage snapshots for immediate continuous data protection (CDP), the computer-program code comprising:
- computer-program code for creating a replica of a production volume at a production site;
- computer-program code for configuring a replication service to replicate from the production volume to the replica of the production volume at the production site;
- and
- computer-program code for performing replication using changes tracked at the production site, comprising:
- computer-program code for attaching the production volume to a splitter as clean;
- computer-program code for attaching the replica to the splitter as clean;
- computer-program code for tracking input/output (I/O) commands arriving at the splitter;
- and
- computer-program code for starting replication to the replica of the production volume using the tracked I/O commands.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.