Distributed snapshot process

• US 20070106857A1
• Filed: 10/23/2006
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Equallogic Incorporated (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Long, Paula, Koning, G. Paul, Subramanian, Vasudevan, Hayden, Peter, Goluguri, Satyanarayana, Lee, Hsin, Vekiarides, Lazarus
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing an efficient partitioned resource server are disclosed. The partitioned resource server includes a plurality of individual servers, and the individual servers support a storage service. The systems and methods provide archiving processes for partitioned resources. To this end, the systems and process include a snapshot process operating on a server and capable of coordinating with other snapshot processes operating on the other servers for generating state information representative of the state of the partitioned resources.

Claims

1. A system for providing a partitioned storage service, comprising

at least two servers,

a plurality of resources partitioned across the servers, and

a snapshot process operating on the servers, with the snapshot process operating on one of the servers holding data of at least a subset of the partitioned resources being capable of coordinating with at least one other snapshot process operating on at least one other server holding data of the subset of the partitioned resources for generating state information representative of the state of the partitioned resources on the servers.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the snapshot process operating on one of the servers coordinates with snapshot processes operating on all other servers that hold data of the subsets of the partitioned resources residing on the one server.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein coordinating snapshot processes between servers includes a time-stamp process for time stamping a command that coordinates the at least one other snapshot process.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the snapshot process includes a request control process for processing requests received by the respective server.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the request control process includes a suspend process for suspending processing of requests by the respective server.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein the request control process includes a time-stamp process for time stamping requests received by the respective server.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the snapshot process includes process for analyzing suspended requests to determine requests received after a selected time.

8. The system according to claim 1, further including an archive process for employing the state information to create a copy of a partitioned resource.

9. The system according to claim 1, further including an archive process for employing the state information to simultaneously create copies of a plurality of the resources partitioned across the at least two servers.

20. The process according to claim 17, further comprising

having the first and second snapshot processes release pending requests after generating the state information.

10. A process for providing a partitioned storage service, comprising the steps of

providing at least two servers and plurality of resources partitioned across the servers, and

operating snapshot process on the servers, with the snapshot process operating on one of the servers holding data of at least a subset of the partitioned resources being capable of coordinating with at least one other snapshot process operating on at least one other server holding data of the subset of the partitioned resources for generating state information representative of the state of the partitioned resources on the servers.

11. The process according to claim 10, wherein coordinating snapshot processes includes coordinating snapshot processes operating on one of the servers with snapshot processes operating on all other servers that hold data of the subsets of the partitioned resources residing on the one server.

12. The process according to claim 11, wherein coordinating snapshot processes between servers includes time-stamping a command that coordinates the at least one other snapshot process.

13. The process according to claim 10, wherein operating a snapshot process includes operating a request control process for processing requests received by the respective server.

14. The process according to claim 13, wherein the request control process includes a suspend process for suspending processing of requests by the respective server.

15. The process according to claim 13, wherein the request control process includes time stamping requests received by the respective server.

16. The process according to claim 13, further including analyzing suspended requests to determine requests received after a selected time.

17. A process for generating a snapshot of a plurality of resources partitioned across at least two servers, comprising

providing an administration command to a first snapshot process executing on one of the servers, said first snapshot process directing another snapshot process executing on another of the servers holding at least a subset of the partitioned resources to generate state information representative of the state of at least the subset of the partitioned resources,

directing the first snapshot process to hold pending requests and directing the other snapshot process to hold pending client requests,

having the other snapshot process indicate that requests have been held, and

having the first snapshot process generate state information representative of the state of the partitioned resource maintained on its respective server and generate a snapshot command for the other server to generate information representative of the state of the partitioned resource maintained on its respective server.

18. The process according to claim 17, wherein

the administration command includes a prepare command to a second server supporting the resource for which a snapshot is being created.

19. The process according to claim 17, further comprising

processing the state information to generate an archive copy of the resource.

21. A storage area network, comprising

a data network having at least two servers,

a plurality of resources partitioned across the servers, and

a snapshot process operating on respective ones of the at least two servers, with the snapshot process operating on one of the servers holding data of at least a subset of the partitioned resources being capable of coordinating with at least one other snapshot process operating on at least one other server holding data of the subset of the partitioned resources for generating state information representative of the state of the partitioned resources on the servers.