System and method for generating point in time storage copy
First Claim
1. A method of creating a predecessor logical disk that is a snapshot of a successor logical disk, wherein the successor logical disk is defined by user data stored in a plurality of uniquely identifiable PSEGS and by metadata including an L2MAP having a plurality of LMAP pointers, one or more LMAPs including a plurality of RSD pointers, and one or more RDSs having a plurality of PSEG pointers, comprising the steps of:
- creating a predecessor PLDMC;
creating an LMAP for the predecessor logical disk;
populating the LMAP for the predecessor logical disk with RSD pointers from the successor logical disk;
creating an L2MAP for the predecessor logical disk;
populating the L2MAP for the predecessor logical disk with the LMAP pointers from the predecessor logical disk;
setting share bits in the LMAPs for the predecessor logical disk and the successor logical disk to indicate that the data is being shared; and
setting share bits in the successor PLDMC to indicate that the data is being shared.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A storage system permits virtual storage of user data by implementing a logical disk mapping structure that provides access to user data stored on physical storage media and methods for generating point-in-time copies, or snapshots, of logical disks. A snapshot logical disk is referred to as a predecessor logical disk and the original logical disk is referred to as a successor logical disk. Creating a snapshot involves creating predecessor logical disk mapping data structures and populating the data structures with metadata that maps the predecessor logical disk to the user data stored on physical media. Logical disks include metadata that indicates whether user information is shared between logical disks. Multiple generations of snapshots may be created, and user data may be shared between these generations. Methods are disclosed for maintaining data accuracy when write I/O operations are directed to a logical disk.
124 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method of creating a predecessor logical disk that is a snapshot of a successor logical disk, wherein the successor logical disk is defined by user data stored in a plurality of uniquely identifiable PSEGS and by metadata including an L2MAP having a plurality of LMAP pointers, one or more LMAPs including a plurality of RSD pointers, and one or more RDSs having a plurality of PSEG pointers, comprising the steps of:
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creating a predecessor PLDMC;
creating an LMAP for the predecessor logical disk;
populating the LMAP for the predecessor logical disk with RSD pointers from the successor logical disk;
creating an L2MAP for the predecessor logical disk;
populating the L2MAP for the predecessor logical disk with the LMAP pointers from the predecessor logical disk;
setting share bits in the LMAPs for the predecessor logical disk and the successor logical disk to indicate that the data is being shared; and
setting share bits in the successor PLDMC to indicate that the data is being shared. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer-based information storage system, comprising:
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a pool of physical storage space divided into a plurality of physically addressable memory locations;
a logical disk structure for mapping virtual storage addresses within the logical disk to physically addressable memory locations, the logical disk structure including a plurality of logically addressable RStores and a plurality of logically addressable LMAPs, wherein the LMAPs includes a first memory location for indicating whether a memory segment is shared with a successor logical disk and a second memory location for indicating whether a memory segment is shared with a predecessor logical disk.
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Specification