On-site reclamation of off-site copy storage volumes using multiple, parallel processes

• US 20060129508A1
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cannon, David M., Martin, Howard N., Hsiao, Yu-Mei U.
• Granted Patent: US 8,055,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

An agent installed on a server reclaims one or more reclaimable off-site copy storage volumes and one or more reclaimable on-site copy storage volumes. To this end, the agent identifies each reclaimable off-site copy storage volume, runs a plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the identified reclaimable off-site copy storage volume(s) that is stored within one or more primary storage volumes to one or more one on-site target copy storage volumes, identifies each reclaimable on-site copy storage volume, and runs the plurality of threads to collectively transfer each data object of the identified reclaimable on-site copy storage volume(s) to the on-site copy target copy storage volume(s).

Claims

1. A signal bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by at least one processor to perform operations to facilitate an on-site reclamation of at least one reclaimable copy storage volume, the operations comprising:

identifying at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

running a plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within at least one primary storage volume to at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

2. The signal bearing medium of claim 1, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

running the plurality of threads to collectively identify each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within at least one random-access primary storage volume of the at least one primary storage volume; and

running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each identified data object from the at least one random-access primary storage volume to the at least one on-site copy target copy storage volume.

3. The signal bearing medium of claim 1, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running a first thread of the plurality of threads to select one of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

for each data object of the selected reclaimable off-site copy storage volume stored within at least one random-access primary storage volume of the at least one primary storage volume, independently running the first thread to copy that at least one data object from the at least one random-access primary storage volume to one of the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

4. The signal bearing medium of claim 1, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

running the plurality of threads to collectively identify each sequential-access primary storage volume among the at least one primary storage volume that stores at least one data object stored within the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

running the plurality of threads to collectively queue each identified sequential-access primary storage volume.

5. The signal bearing medium of claim 4, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume further includes:

running the plurality of threads to collectively copy the at least one data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site storage volume from the queued at least one sequential-access primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

6. The signal bearing medium of claim 1, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running a first thread to select one of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

for each sequential-access primary storage volume among the at least one primary storage volume storing at least one data object of the selected reclaimable off-site copy storage volume, independently running the first thread to queue the at least one sequential-access primary storage volume.

7. The signal bearing medium of claim 6, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running the first thread to select one of the queued at least one sequential-access primary storage volume; and

for each data object of the selected queued sequential-access primary storage volume that is stored on the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume, independently running the first thread to copy the at least data object from the selected queued sequential-access primary storage volume to one of the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

8. The signal bearing medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume; and

running the plurality of threads to collectively transfer each data object of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

9. The signal bearing medium of claim 8, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively transfer each data object of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running a first thread to select one of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume; and

independently running the first thread to transfer each data object from the selected reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to one of the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

10. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions operable with the at least one processor for facilitating an on-site reclamation of at least one reclaimable copy storage volume, the instructions being executed for;

identifying at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

running a plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one identified reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within at least one primary storage volume to at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

running the plurality of threads to collectively identify each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within at least one random-access primary storage volume of the at least one primary storage volume; and

running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each identified data object from the at least one random-access primary storage volume to the at least one on-site copy target copy storage volume.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running a first thread of the plurality of threads to select one of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

for each data object of the selected reclaimable off-site copy storage volume stored within at least one random-access primary storage volume of the at least one primary storage volume, independently running the first thread to copy that at least one data object from the at least one random-access primary storage volume to one of the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

running the plurality of threads to collectively identify each sequential-access primary storage volume among the at least one primary storage volume that stores at least one data object stored within the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

running the plurality of threads to collectively queue each identified sequential-access primary storage volume.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume further includes:

running the plurality of threads to collectively copy the at least one data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site storage volume from the queued at least one sequential-access primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running a first thread to select one of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

for each sequential-access primary storage volume among the at least one primary storage volume storing at least one data object of the selected reclaimable off-site copy storage volume, independently running the first thread to queue the at least one sequential-access primary storage volume.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within the at least one primary storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running the first thread to select one of the queued at least one sequential-access primary storage volume; and

for each data object of the selected queued sequential-access primary storage volume that is stored on the at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume, independently running the first thread to copy the at least data object from the selected queued sequential-access primary storage volume to one of the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further executed for:

identifying at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume; and

running the plurality of threads to collectively transfer each data object of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein running the plurality of threads to collectively transfer each data object of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume includes:

independently running a first thread to select one of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume; and

independently running the first thread to transfer each data object from the selected reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to one of the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

19. A server for facilitating an on-site reclamation of at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume, the server comprising:

means for identifying at least one reclaimable off-site copy storage volume; and

means for running a plurality of threads to collectively copy each data object of the at least one identified reclaimable off-site copy storage volume that is stored within at least one primary storage volume to at least one on-site target copy storage volume.

20. The server of claim 19, further comprising:

means for identifying at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume; and

means for running the plurality of threads to collectively transfer each data object of the at least one reclaimable on-site copy storage volume to the at least one on-site target copy storage volume.