Replication of volumes on demands using absent allocation

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for replicating a volume comprising machine executable code which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform steps comprising:

• receiving a request to replicate a volume, wherein the volume includes data and metadata, and wherein the metadata includes information descriptive of the data;
• determining a first set of blocks and a second set of blocks, wherein the first set of blocks is associated with the metadata, and the second set of blocks is associated with the data included in the volume;
• initiating replication of the volume to generate a replicated volume, wherein the replicated volume includes replicated metadata generated based on the first set of blocks;
• generating a first snapshot of the volume;
• generating a second snapshot of the volume subsequent to generating the first snapshot;
• determining an incremental difference between the first set of blocks as indicated in the first snapshot and the first set of blocks as indicated in the second snapshot;
• initiating an update the replicated metadata based on the incremental difference;
• estimating an amount of time to update the replicated metadata based on the incremental difference;
• determining whether the amount of time satisfies a threshold amount of time;
• and
• locking access to the volume until the replicated metadata is updated in response to a determination that the amount of time satisfies the threshold amount of time.

A network appliance apparatus comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory coupled to the processor configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the memory comprising:
• receiving a request to replicate a volume, wherein the volume includes data and metadata, and wherein the metadata includes information descriptive of the data;
• determining a first set of blocks and a second set of blocks, wherein the first set of blocks is associated with the metadata, and the second set of blocks is associated with the data included in the volume;
• initiating based on the first set of blocks replication of the volume to generate a replicated volume, wherein the replicated volume includes replicated metadata generated based on the first set of blocks;
• generating a first snapshot of the volume;
• generating a second snapshot of the volume subsequent to generating the first snapshot;
• determining an incremental difference between the first set of blocks as indicated in the first snapshot and the first set of blocks as indicated in the second snapshot;
• initiating an update to the replicated metadata based on the incremental difference;
• estimating an amount of time to update the replicated metadata based on the incremental difference;
• determining whether the amount of time satisfies a threshold amount of time;
• and
• locking access to the volume until the replicated metadata is updated in response to a determination that the amount of time satisfies the threshold amount of time.