Backup system, method, and program

• US 20070113032A1
• Filed: 04/20/2006
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Sato, Yuichi, Kameyama, Hiroaki, Senta, Yosuke
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,465 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/103 Hybrid, i.e. RAID systems with parity comprising a mix of RAID types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2211/1057 Parity-multiple bits-RAID6, i.e. RAID 6 implementations

Abstract

A backup system is comprised of a main storage for storing original data and a plurality of local storages for distributing and storing the data. An encoding unit of the main storage server generates, after dividing the original data, a plurality of encoded data that is equal to or more than the dividing number by use of a code of which redundancy is variable. A distribution processing unit distributes the plurality of encoded data to the plurality of local storages, and causes the data to be stored therein. A restoring unit retrieves the encoded data corresponding to at least the division number of the original data from the local storages, and restores the original data. A redundancy control unit varies the redundancy in the encoding unit such that, the higher the importance of the data, the larger the redundancy. Furthermore, a distribution processing unit determines the distribution number such that the higher the reliability of the local storages, the more the number.

Claims

1. A backup system characterized by having

a main storage device for storing original data;

a plurality of local storage devices for storing the distributed data of the main storage device;

an encoding unit for, after dividing the original data, generating a plurality of encoded data equal to or more than the division number by use of a code of which redundancy is variable;

a redundancy control unit for varying the redundancy in the encoding unit;

a distribution processing unit for distributing the plurality of encoded data to the plurality of local storage devices and causing the encoded data to be stored in the local storage devices; and

a restoring unit for retrieving the encoded data corresponding to at least the division number of the original data from the local storage devices and restoring the original data.

2. The system according to claim 1 characterized in that

the encoding unit has a block dividing unit for dividing the original data into n-units of block data, and

an encoded data generating unit for generating, merely in a number m according to redundancy Q, headers, in each of which a bitmap specifying one or a plurality of blocks for obtaining exclusive OR in the n-units of block data is disposed, and encoded data comprised of exclusive OR data of the one or plurality of block data specified by the header part;

wherein

the restoring unit retrieves the block number n or more of the encoded data from the plurality of local storage devices, and converts the header part into a unit matrix by means of the Gaussian elimination method so as to restore the n-units of block data.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the redundancy control unit varies the redundancy in the encoding unit in accordance with importance of the original data.

4. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that, in the redundancy control unit, the importance of the original data is manually set or automatically set in accordance with a keyword contained in the original data, update date and time, or update frequency.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that, as the automatic setting of the importance, the redundancy control unit sets importance corresponding to the keyword contained in the original data, and then, corrects the importance in accordance with the update date and time and/or the update frequency.

6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the distribution processing unit determines the distribution number of the plurality of encoded data in accordance with reliability or usable capacity of the plurality of local storage devices.

7. The system according to claim 6, characterized in that, in the distribution processing unit, the reliability of the local storage device is manually set or automatically set based on an operating rate or response time (RTT).

8. The system according to claim 6, characterized in that the distribution processing unit sets the importance of the local storage device in accordance with the operating rate, and then, corrects the importance in accordance with the response time (RTT) of the local storage.

9. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the local storage device is newly added or eliminated, based on the local storage devices after the change, the encoded data is regenerated in the encoding unit, and then, the encoded data is redistributed by the distribution processing unit.

10. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the main storage device stores the original data in synchronization with data of a storage device of a client, and the plurality of local storage devices is connected to the main storage device through a network.

11. A backup method of a system having a main storage device for storing original data and a plurality of local storage devices for storing the distributed data of the storage device;

the backup method characterized by having

an encoding step of, after dividing the original data, generating a plurality of encoded data equal to or more than the division number by use of a code of which redundancy is variable;

a redundancy control step of varying the redundancy in the encoding step;

a distribution processing step of distributing the plurality of encoded data to the plurality of local storage devices and causing the encoded data to be stored in the local storage devices; and

a restoring step of retrieving the encoded data corresponding to at least the division number of the original data from the local storage devices and restoring the original data.

12. The method according to claim 11 characterized in that

the encoding step has a block dividing step of dividing the original data into n-units of block data, and

an encoded data generating step of generating, merely in a number m according to redundancy Q, headers, in each of which a bitmap specifying one or a plurality of blocks for obtaining exclusive OR in the n-units of block data is disposed, and encoded data comprised of exclusive OR data of the one or plurality of block data specified by the headers;

wherein,

in the restoring step, the block number n or more of the encoded data is retrieved from the plurality of local storage devices, and the header step is converted into a unit matrix by means of the Gaussian elimination method so as to restore the n-units of block data.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, in the redundancy control step, the redundancy in the encoding step is varied in accordance with importance of the original data.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, in the redundancy control step, the importance of the original data is manually set or automatically set based on a keyword contained in the original data, update date and time, or update frequency.

15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, in the distribution processing step, the distribution number of the plurality of encoded data is determined in accordance with reliability or usable capacity of the plurality of local storage devices.

16. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, when the local storage device is newly added or eliminated, based on the local storage devices after the change, the encoded data is regenerated in the encoding step, and then, the encoded data is redistributed in the distribution processing step.

17. A computer-readable storage medium which stores a backup program characterized by causing a computer of a main storage device for distributing and storing original data to and in a plurality of local storage devices to execute

an encoding step of, after dividing the original data, generating a plurality of encoded data equal to or more than the division number by use of a code of which redundancy is variable;

a redundancy control step of varying the redundancy in the encoding step;

a distribution processing step of distributing the plurality of encoded data to the plurality of local storage devices and causing the encoded data to be stored in the local storage devices; and

a restoring step of retrieving the encoded data corresponding to at least the division number of the original data from the local storage devices and restoring the original data.

18. The storage medium according to claim 17 characterized in that

the encoding step has a block dividing step of dividing the original data into n-units of block data, and

an encoded data generating step of generating, merely in a number m according to redundancy Q, headers, in each of which a bitmap specifying one or a plurality of blocks for obtaining exclusive OR in the n-units of block data is disposed, and encoded data comprised of exclusive OR data of the one or plurality of block data specified by the header step;

wherein,

in the restoring step, the block number n or more of the encoded data is retrieved from the plurality of local storage devices, and the header step is converted into a unit matrix by means of the Gaussian elimination method so as to restore the n-units of block data.

19. The storage medium according to claim 17, characterized in that, in the redundancy control step, the importance of the original data is manually set or automatically set based on a keyword contained in the original data, update date and time, or update frequency.

20. The storage medium according to claim 17, characterized in that, in the distribution processing step, the distribution number of the plurality of encoded data is determined in accordance with reliability or usable capacity of the plurality of local storage devices.