Dynamic consistency group formation and systems using the same

A computer program product for dynamic consistency group formation, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to create a snapshot of first data stored on a source storage system, wherein the snapshot is a logical copy of the first data stored on the source storage system with respect to data content and data structure;
• computer readable program code configured to copy the snapshot to a target storage system;
• computer readable program code configured to copy the first data represented by the snapshot from the source storage system to the target storage system;
• computer readable program code configured to detect one or more write operations affecting data on the source storage system;
• computer readable program code configured to detect one or more collisions affecting the first data on the source storage system, wherein a collision occurs whenever the one or more write operations affect at least a portion of the first data prior to the at least a portion of the first data being written to the target storage system;
• computer readable program code configured to set a consistency group interval, wherein the consistency group interval represents an interval duration between successive snapshot create-and-copy events;
• computer readable program code configured to alter the previously set consistency group interval to minimize collisions affecting data on at least one of the storage systems;
• and
• computer readable program code configured to measure a latency of performing one or more operations on at least one of the storage systems, wherein the latency is a period of time required to perform the one or more operations, wherein the consistency group interval is altered to ensure that the latency does not exceed a maximum latency.

A system, comprising:

• a hardware processor adapted for processing logic;
• logic for creating a snapshot of first data stored on a source storage system, wherein the snapshot is a logical copy of the first data stored on the source storage system with respect to data content and data structure;
• logic for copying the snapshot to a target storage system;
• logic for measuring a latency of one or more performed operations on at least one of the storage systems, wherein the latency is a period of time required to perform the one or more operations;
• logic for copying the first data represented by the snapshot from the source storage system to the target storage system;
• logic for detecting one or more write operations affecting data on the source storage system;
• logic for detecting one or more collisions affecting the first data on the source storage system, wherein a collision occurs whenever the one or more write operations affect at least a portion of the first data prior to the first data being written to the target storage system;
• logic for setting a consistency group interval, wherein the consistency group interval represents an interval duration between successive snapshot create-and-copy events;
• and
• logic for altering the consistency group interval to minimize collisions affecting data on at least one of the storage systems,
• wherein the target storage system is remote from the source storage system,
• wherein the consistency group interval is altered to ensure that the latency does not exceed a maximum latency and is determined based on a either a maximum duration or a minimum duration between successive snapshot create-and-copy events, and
• wherein the latency is determined based on a value selected from a group consisting of:
• an absolute input-output (I/O) rate, a change in input-output (I/O) rate, an absolute number of collisions, and a rate of collisions per write operations.