Freeze a volume of a replication set and unfreeze the volume based on at least one of a snapshot permit message, a snapshot abort message, and expiration of a timeout

• US 10,705,927 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2018
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Killamsetti, Praveen, Barszczak, Tomasz, Sanghavi, Monil Mukesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Hong C
• Application Number:
  US16/040,129
• Publication Number:
  US 20200026617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 719 Days
• Field of Search: 707686, 707620, 711162, 711154, 709219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

According to examples, a system may include an upstream volume controller having: a processor and a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium. The storage medium may include instructions executable by the processor to freeze an upstream volume, the upstream volume being in a replication set with a downstream volume, receive a snapshot creation request, create a snapshot of the upstream volume, and send one of a snapshot permit message or a snapshot abort message to a downstream volume processor. The instructions may also be executable by the processor to unfreeze the upstream volume responsive to at least one of the sending of the one of the snapshot permit message or the snapshot abort message or expiration of a timeout corresponding to a maximum time period during which the upstream volume is to remain frozen.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an upstream volume controller having;

a processor; and

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by the processor to;

freeze an upstream volume, the upstream volume being in a replication set with a downstream volume;

receive a snapshot creation request;

create a snapshot of the upstream volume;

send one of a snapshot permit message or a snapshot abort message to a downstream volume processor; and

unfreeze the upstream volume responsive to at least one of;

the sending of the one of the snapshot permit message or the snapshot abort message;

or

expiration of a timeout corresponding to a maximum time period during which the upstream volume is to remain frozen.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:

determine whether the downstream volume is in-sync with the upstream volume;

based on a determination that the downstream volume is in-sync with the upstream volume, send the snapshot permit message to the downstream volume processor; and

based on a determination that the downstream volume is out-of-sync with the upstream volume, send the snapshot abort message.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein, to freeze the upstream volume, the instructions are further executable by the processor to:

receive an instruction to freeze the upstream volume; and

freeze the upstream volume based on receipt of the instruction to freeze the upstream volume.

4. The system of claim 3;

wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to receive the snapshot creation instruction and the instruction to freeze the upstream volume from a group management daemon.

5. The system of claim 1;

wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to;

identify a last snapshot identifier (ID) for a most recently created snapshot, wherein the last snapshot ID is incremented for each successively created snapshot;

tag an input/output (IO) with the last snapshot ID for the upstream volume; and

send the tagged IO to the downstream volume processor.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a downstream volume controller, the downstream volume controller having;

the downstream volume processor; and

a downstream volume non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by the downstream volume processor to;

based on receipt of the snapshot permit message, create a snapshot of the downstream volume; and

based on receipt of the snapshot abort message, abort creation of the snapshot of the downstream volume.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the downstream volume instructions are further executable by the downstream volume processor to:

receive an instruction to freeze the downstream volume from a management entity; and

freeze the downstream volume based on receipt of the instruction to freeze the downstream volume prior to creation of the snapshot of the downstream volume.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the downstream volume instructions are further executable by the downstream volume processor to:

start a timer having an expiration time from a time at which the downstream volume is frozen;

determine whether receipt of the instruction to create the snapshot, the receipt of the snapshot permit message, or the receipt of the snapshot abort message occurred following the timer reaching the expiration time; and

based on any of the receipt of the instruction to create the snapshot, the receipt of the snapshot permit message, or the receipt of the snapshot abort message occurring following the timer reaching the expiration time, abort creation of the snapshot.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the downstream volume instructions are further executable by the downstream volume processor to:

following receipt of the instruction to freeze the downstream volume,

receive an input/output (IO) and a last snapshot identifier (ID) from the upstream volume processor;

determine whether the received last snapshot ID is less than or equal to a downstream volume last snapshot ID; and

based on the received last snapshot ID for the upstream volume being less than or equal to the downstream volume last snapshot ID, accept the received IO.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the downstream volume instructions are further executable by the downstream volume processor to:

based on the received last snapshot ID being greater than the downstream volume last snapshot ID,

save the received IO in a queue; and

accept the received IO following creation of the snapshot of the downstream volume or following unfreezing of the downstream volume due to expiration of the expiration time.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the downstream volume is a backup volume to the upstream volume.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, an instruction to freeze a source volume, the source volume being part of a replication set with a destination volume;

freezing, by the processor, the source volume;

receiving, by the processor, a snapshot creation request for the source volume;

taking, by the processor, a snapshot of the source volume;

determining, by the processor, whether the destination volume is in-sync with the source volume;

based on the determination as to whether the destination volume is in-sync with the source volume, sending, by the processor, one of a snapshot permit message and a snapshot abort message to a destination volume processor; and

thawing, by the processor, the source volume responsive to at least one of;

the sending the one of the snapshot permit message or the snapshot abort message;

or

expiration of a timeout corresponding to a maximum time period during which the source volume is to remain frozen.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

based on a determination that the destination volume is in-sync with the source volume, sending the snapshot permit message to the destination volume processor; and

based on a determination that the destination volume is out-of-sync with the source volume, sending the snapshot abort message to the destination volume processor.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

sending an input/output (IO) and a last snapshot identifier (ID) for the source volume to the destination volume processor following thawing of the source volume, the last snapshot ID for the source volume corresponding to a most recent snapshot of the source volume that does not include the IO.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the destination volume processor, the IO and the last snapshot ID for the source volume;

determining whether the received last snapshot ID for the source volume is less than or equal to a destination volume last snapshot ID;

based on the received last snapshot ID for the source volume being less than or equal to the destination volume last snapshot ID, accepting the received IO.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

based on the last snapshot ID for the source volume being greater than the destination volume last snapshot ID,

saving the received IO in a queue; and

accepting the received IO following taking of the snapshot of the destination volume.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the destination volume processor, one of the snapshot permit message and the snapshot abort message;

based on receipt of the snapshot permit message, taking a snapshot of the destination volume; and

based on receipt of the snapshot abort message, abort taking of the snapshot of the destination volume.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a downstream volume processor are to cause the downstream volume processor to:

receive an instruction to freeze a downstream volume from a management entity;

freeze the downstream volume based on receipt of the instruction to freeze the downstream volume;

start a timer having an expiration time from a time at which the downstream volume is frozen;

receive an instruction to create a snapshot of the downstream volume from the management entity;

receive one of a snapshot permit message or a snapshot abort message from an upstream volume processor;

determine whether the instruction to create the snapshot, the snapshot permit message, or the snapshot abort message was received following the timer reaching the expiration time; and

based on any of the instruction to create the snapshot, the snapshot permit message, or the snapshot abort message being received following the timer reaching the expiration time, abort creation of the snapshot.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

receive an input/output (IO) and a last snapshot identifier (ID) from the upstream volume processor; and

determine whether the received last snapshot ID is less than or equal to a downstream volume last snapshot ID.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

based on the received last snapshot ID being greater than the downstream volume last snapshot ID,

save the received IO in a queue; and

accept the received IO following creation of the snapshot of the downstream volume or following unfreezing of the downstream volume due to expiration of the expiration time.