Methods and systems for replicating an expandable storage volume

A non-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for performing a method, comprising machine executable code which when executed by at least one machine, causes the machine to:

• create a snapshot of each component of a source expandable storage volume that increases and decreases in size based on usage by initiating a logical fence for a namespace volume, an object location system (OLS) data store and then for a plurality of data constituent storage volumes of the source expandable storage volume and removing the logical fence in a reverse order after the snapshot is taken;
• wherein the namespace volume is for storing information to access data containers using a directory path address, the OLS data store is used to retrieve data containers using a location identifier and an object identifier without having to use the directory path address of the namespace volume and the plurality of data constituent volumes are used for storing data containers;
• and wherein the logical fence prevents any read and write requests in the snapshot of the expandable storage volume generated after the logical fence is initiated;
• generate a transfer operation for transferring the snapshot of each component of the source expandable storage volume from a first location to a second location;
• retrieve information regarding the source expandable storage volume from the first location;
• resize the destination expandable storage volume at the second location to match components of the source expandable storage volume at the first location;
• transfer the snapshot of each component of the source expandable storage volume from the first location to the second location;
• copy configuration information regarding the snapshots from the first location to the second location;
• and
• update a data structure for storing information regarding the transferred snapshot of the expandable storage volume, where the data structure enables presenting snapshots of each of the components of the source expandable storage volume as a single logical object, while each individual snapshot is also accessible as an individual logical entity.

A system, comprising:

• a memory with machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions;
• and a processor module coupled to the memory configured to execute the machine executable code to:
• create a snapshot of each component of a source expandable storage volume that increases and decreases in size based on usage by initiating a logical fence for a namespace volume, an object location system (OLS) data store and then for a plurality of data constituent storage volumes of the source expandable storage volume and removing the logical fence in a reverse order after the snapshot is taken;
• wherein the namespace volume is for storing information to access data containers using a directory path address, the OLS data store is used to retrieve data containers using a location identifier and an object identifier without having to use the directory path address of the namespace volume and the plurality of data constituent volumes are used for storing data containers;
• and wherein the logical fence prevents any read and write requests in the snapshot of the expandable storage volume generated after the logical fence is initiated;
• generate a transfer operation for transferring the snapshot of each component of the source expandable storage volume from a first location to a second location;
• retrieve information regarding the source expandable storage volume from the first location;
• resize the destination expandable storage volume at the second location to match components of the source expandable storage volume at the first location;
• transfer the snapshot of each component of the source expandable storage volume from the first location to the second location;
• copy configuration information regarding the snapshots from the first location to the second location;
• and
• update a data structure for storing information regarding the transferred snapshot of the expandable storage volume, where the data structure enables presenting snapshots of each of the components of the source expandable storage volume as a single logical object, while each individual snapshot is also accessible as an individual logical entity.