Method and system of tiered quiescing

• US 20070271304A1
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: InMage Systems, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Atluri, Rajeev
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments

Abstract

A method and system of tiered quiescing is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes generating a representation data of a multi-tier network, embedding a flag marker at a transaction event based on at least of an event data and a timing data, and quiescing, based on the representation data, a set of modules of the multi-tier network associated with at least one of the event data and the timing data using the flag marker. The representation data may be generated based on a transaction modeling of data flows between the set of modules of the multi-tier network (e.g., the set of modules may each operate in different tiers of the multi-tier network). In addition, a series of consistency points may be determined based on the transaction modeling of data flows between the sets of modules of the multi-tier network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating a representation data of a multi-tier network;

embedding a flag marker at a transaction event based on at least one of an event data and a timing data; and

quiescing, based on the representation data, a set of modules of the multi-tier network associated with at least one of the event data and the timing data using the flag marker.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the representation data is generated based on a transaction modeling of data flows between the set of modules of the multi-tier network.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a series of consistency points based on the transaction modeling of data flows between the set of modules of the multi-tier network.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the set of modules each operate in different tiers of the multi-tier network.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically performing a data backup operation based on an occurrence of an event associated with the multi-tier network.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising performing a timing consistency algorithm along with the data backup operation to ensure data integrity.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the event is any of a time dependent event and a time-independent event.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the event is at least one of an application dependent event, a packaged event, and a user defined event.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising coalescing a set of data at intervals adjacent to the event based on a policy data provided through a backup synchronization module.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising associating the flag marker with at least one of an automatic data recovery operation, a data rollback operation, a file rollback operation, and a volume rollback operation.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed on a controller board of a storage sub-system coupled to the multi-tier network.

12. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

13. A network, comprising:

a first tier module to process a data based on a client communication with the first tier module;

an intermediary tier module to communicate with the first tier module and other modules and to aggregate data of at least one module of the first tier; and

an nth tier module having an ability to temporarily disable the first tier module and the intermediary tier module based on at least one of an event data and a timing data.

14. The network of claim 13 wherein a sequence of the temporary disablement is governed by a modeling of a transaction between the first tier module, the intermediary tier module, and the nth tier module.

15. The network of claim 14 wherein the ability of the nth tier module is enabled through a backup synchronization module associated with the nth tier module, and wherein the backup synchronization module to automatically perform a data backup operation of the first tier module, the intermediary tier module, and the nth tier module when an event associated with the multi-tier network is detected.

16. The network of claim 13 wherein the backup synchronization module to perform a timing consistency algorithm along with the data backup operation to ensure data consistency, and wherein the event is any of an application dependent event, a packaged event, and a user defined event.

17. The network of claim 13 wherein the backup synchronization module to coalesce a set of data at intervals adjacent to the event based on a policy data.

18. A method of a multi-tier network, comprising:

disabling an operation of a tier module based on at least one of an event data and a timing data of a backup synchronization module;

communicating a present-state data from the tier module to a storage sub-system based on at least one of the event data and the timing data; and

enabling the operation of the tier module based on a completion data of the backup synchronization module when the backup synchronization module has processed the present-state data and other data of different modules of the multi-tier network.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising restoring the present-state data at a consistency point when a recovery operation is performed on the tier module after a failure of the tier module.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the consistency point is determined algorithmically by the backup synchronization module and wherein the backup synchronization module is located in a controller of a storage sub-system coupled to the multi-tier network.