Storage system and storage control method

• US 20080244205A1
• Filed: 01/25/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Computer Peripherals Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: HITACHI, LTD. AND HITACHI COMPUTER PERIPHERALS CO., LTD.
• Inventors: Mizuno, Yoichi, Amano, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 7,958,326 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

The correspondence between a plurality of virtual storage positions in a virtual volume for logically holding a snapshot image of a main volume in which data elements transmitted from a higher-level device are written and a plurality of address information elements indicating a plurality of actual storage positions of a plurality of data elements constituting the snapshot image is managed. In the initial backup, all the data elements stored in all the actual storage positions indicated by a plurality of address information elements are backed up, then storage positions where a difference has occurred between the virtual volume and the backup destination storage device is managed, and in the next and subsequent backups, data elements on the storage positions specified from the address information elements corresponding to the differentially managed storage positions are backed up.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a main volume that is a logical volume in which an update is generated by writing a data element transmitted from a higher-level device;

a copy storage area that is a storage area in which a data element prior to updating in said main volume is copied;

a snapshot management unit that manages a correspondence between a plurality of virtual storage positions in a snapshot volume that is a virtual logical volume for logically holding a snapshot image of said main volume and a plurality of address information elements indicating a plurality of actual storage positions of a plurality of data elements constituting the snapshot image of the main volume that are stored in said main volume and/or said copy storage area;

a full backup unit that executes a full backup that is a backup of data elements from all the storage positions indicated by said plurality of address information elements to a backup destination storage device;

a differential management unit that updates differential management information for managing which virtual storage position within said snapshot volume is equivalent to a difference when the difference occurs between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device due to updating of said snapshot volume following an update of said main volume after said full backup; and

a partial backup unit that executes a partial backup in which an actual storage position of one or more data elements equivalent to the difference between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device is specified from an address information element corresponding to a virtual storage position specified from said differential management information and the one or more data elements present in the specified actual storage position are backed up to said backup destination storage device.

2. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

said differential management unit manages by said differential management information a storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, of a differential data element that is present between said snapshot volume after said full backup and said backup destination storage device,

said partial backup in each cycle is a differential backup, and

the differential backup backs up one or more differential data elements present in one or more actual storage positions indicated by one or more address information elements corresponding to one or more virtual storage positions specified from said differential management information.

3. The storage system according to claim 2, wherein

said differential management information includes a first differential management information element that is information for managing in which storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, an update has occurred and includes a second differential management information element that is information for managing which data element logically stored in a storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, is a backup object;

and in which storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, a differential data element is present is specified from a result of a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element.

4. The storage system according to claim 3, wherein

said snapshot image is a data image of said main volume at a point in time in which a volume pair of said main volume and said snapshot volume is split;

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a point in time in which said volume pair has been split to a point in time in which said volume pair is split the next time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated storage position becomes known, and at the time said volume pair is split, said differential management unit performs a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element at the time of this split, overwrites the result of this logical operation on said second differential management information element, and then resets said first differential management information element; and

in said differential backup, specifying is performed to determine a virtual storage position in which a differential data element is present, from the second differential management information element at the time of the differential backup.

5. The storage system according to claim 4, wherein

said partial backup unit also backs up restore necessary information that is necessary to restore a snapshot image in use of a differential data element, in addition to the differential data element present in a specified position, in a differential backup of each cycle, to said backup destination storage device;

and

said restore necessary information includes a second differential management information element at a point in time of the differential backup.

6. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

said differential management unit manages by said differential management information a storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, of a differential data element between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device after immediately preceding full backup or immediately preceding partial backup;

said partial backup in each cycle is an incremental backup; and

the incremental backup backs up one or more differential data elements present in one or more actual storage positions indicated by one or more address information elements corresponding to one or more virtual storage positions specified from said differential management information.

7. The storage system according to claim 6, wherein

said differential management information includes a first differential management information element that is information for managing in which storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, an update has occurred and a second differential management information element that is information for managing which data element corresponding to a storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, is a backup object;

and

specifying is performed to determine a virtual storage position in which a differential data element is present, from said second differential management information element that has been updated in use of said first differential management information element.

8. The storage system according to claim 7, wherein

said snapshot image is a data image of said main volume at a point in time in which a volume pair of said main volume and said snapshot volume is split;

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a point in time in which said volume pair has been split to a point in time in which said volume pair is split the next time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated storage position becomes known, and said differential management unit resets said second differential management information element at the time of this split of said volume pair, overwrites said first differential management information element at the time of this split on said second differential management information element that has been reset, and then resets said first differential management information element; and

in said incremental backup, specifying is performed to determine a virtual storage position in which a differential data element is present, from the second differential management information element at the time of the incremental backup.

9. The storage system according to claim 8, wherein

said partial backup unit also backs up restore necessary information that is necessary to restore a snapshot image in use of a differential data element, in addition to the differential data element present in a specified virtual storage position, in an incremental backup of each cycle, to said backup destination storage device;

and

said restore necessary information includes a second differential management information element at a point in time of the incremental backup.

10. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein

said differential management unit manages by said differential management information both a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, of a differential data element between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device after said full backup, and a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, of a differential data element between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device after immediately preceding full backup or immediately preceding partial backup;

said partial backup in each cycle is designated by backup indication from a higher-level device from among the differential backup and incremental backup; and

the differential backup and incremental backup back up one or more differential data elements present in one or more positions indicated by one or more address information elements, from among a plurality of said address information, elements, corresponding to one or more positions specified from said differential management information.

11. The storage system according to claim 10, wherein

said snapshot image is a data image of said main volume at a point in time in which a volume pair of said main volume and said snapshot volume is split;

said differential management information includes a first differential management information element that is information for managing in which position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, an update has occurred and second and third differential management information elements that are information for managing which data element corresponding to a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, is a backup object;

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a point in time in which said volume pair has been split to a point in time in which said volume pair is split the next time, then said first differential management information element is updated so as to know the updated position, and at the time said volume pair is split, said differential management unit performs a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element at the time of this split, overwrites a result of this logical operation on said second differential management information element, resets said third differential management information element, overwrites said first differential management information element at the time of this split on said third differential management information element after the reset, and then resets said first differential management information element; and

in said differential backup, specifying is performed to determine a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, in which a differential data element is present, from the second differential management information element at the time of the differential backup; and

in said incremental backup, specifying is performed to determine a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, in which a differential data element is present, from the third differential management information element at the time of the incremental backup.

12. The storage system according to claim 1, further comprising a restore unit that restores a snapshot image of a restore object, from among a plurality of snapshot images respectively corresponding to a plurality of points in time, to said main volume or another logical volume, wherein

said restore unit restores said plurality of data elements subjected to said full backup, and then overwrites one or more data elements, which have been backed up in said partial backup and are in the snapshot image of said restore object, on data elements respectively corresponding to said one or more data elements from among said plurality of data elements restored.

13. The storage system according to claim 1, further comprising a restore unit that restores a snapshot image of a restore object, from among a plurality of snapshot images respectively corresponding to a plurality of points in time, to said main volume or another logical volume, wherein

said restore unit restores one or more data elements, which have been backed up in said partial backup and are in the snapshot image of said restore object, and restores data elements other than said one or more data elements that are in the snapshot image of said restore object by reading from a group of data elements partially backed up and/or from a group of data elements fully backed up at a point in time preceding a restore object time that is a point in time in which the snapshot image of said restore object had been partially backed up.

14. The storage system according to claim 13, wherein

a restore destination of a data element stored in said backup destination storage device is said main volume;

and

said restore unit does not execute the restore with respect to positions having stored therein data elements constituting a snapshot image of said restore object, from among a plurality of positions in said main volume at a restore execution time that is a point in time in which the restore is executed.

15. The storage system according to claim 14, wherein

said differential management information includes a first differential management information element that is information for managing in which position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, an update has occurred and a second differential management information element that is information for managing which data element corresponding to a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, is a backup object;

and

said restore unit specifies one or more first restore object positions, from among a plurality of positions in said main volume, from a result of logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element in said restore execution time, specifies one or more second restore object positions from among a plurality of positions in said main volume from said second differential management information element at said restore object time, restores one or more data elements differentially backed up at said restore object time to each respective said one or more second restore object positions, and restores to a position other than said one or more second restore object positions, from among said one or more first restore object positions, a data element that corresponds to said position by selecting said data element from a group of data elements that had been full backed up at a point in time before said restore object time.

16. The storage system according to claim 15, wherein

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a point in time in which said volume pair has been split to a point in time in which said volume pair is split the next time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated storage position becomes known, and at the time said volume pair is split, said differential management unit performs a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element at the time of this split, overwrites the result of this logical operation on said second differential management information element, and then resets said first differential management information element.

17. The storage system according to claim 14, wherein

said differential management information includes a first differential management information element that is information for managing in which position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, an update has occurred and a second differential management information element that is information for managing which data element corresponding to a position, from among a plurality positions in said snapshot volume, is a backup object;

and

restore unit executes the following processing (1) to (3);

(1) to create a restore position information element that represents one or more restore object positions, from among a plurality of positions in said main volume, from a result of logical operation of said first differential management information element at said restore execution time and each second differential management information element in each backup time that is before said restore execution time and after said restore object time;

(2) to restore a data element incrementally backed up or fully backed up at the backup time to the restore object position specified from a result of logical operation of said second differential management information element at the incremental backup time and said created restore position information element or the updated restore position information element with respect to each incremental backup time before said restore object time, and to update said restore position information element by removing said specified restore object position from one or more restore object positions indicated by the restore position information element used for said logical operation;

(3) if the restore position information element after the update relating to the incremental backup time immediately after the full backup represents at least one restore object position, then data element corresponding to this restore object position, from among a plurality of data elements fully backed up, is restored to the restore object position.

18. The storage system according to claim 17, wherein

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a point in time in which said volume pair has been split to a point in time in which said volume pair is split the next time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated storage position becomes known, and said differential management unit resets said second differential management information element at the time of this split of said volume pair, overwrites said first differential management information element at the time of this split on said second differential management information element that has been reset, and then resets said first differential management information element.

19. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein said backup destination storage device is a storage device of a sequential access type.

21. The storage system according to claim 3, wherein

said snapshot image is a data image of said main volume at a snapshot acquisition time;

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a snapshot acquisition time to a next snapshot acquisition time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated storage position becomes known, and at the snapshot acquisition time, said differential management unit performs a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element, overwrites the result of this logical operation on said second differential management information element, and then resets said first differential management information element; and

in said differential backup, specifying is performed to determine a virtual storage position in which a differential data element is present, from the second differential management information element at the time of the differential backup.

22. The storage system according to claim 7, wherein

said snapshot image is a data image of said main volume at a snapshot acquisition time;

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a snapshot acquisition time to a next snapshot acquisition time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated storage position becomes known, and at the snapshot acquisition time, said differential management unit resets said second differential management information element, overwrites said first differential management information element at this time on said second differential management information element that has been reset, and then resets said first differential management information element; and

in said incremental backup, specifying is performed to determine a virtual storage position in which a differential data element is present, from the second differential management information element at the time of the incremental backup.

23. The storage system according to claim 10, wherein

said snapshot image is a data image of said main volume at a snapshot acquisition time;

said differential management information includes a first differential management information element that is information for managing in which virtual storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, an update has occurred and second and third differential management information elements that are information for managing which data element corresponding to the virtual storage position storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, is a backup object;

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any virtual storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a snapshot acquisition time to a next snapshot acquisition time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated position becomes known, and at the snapshot acquisition time, said differential management unit performs a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element at this time, overwrites the result of this logical operation on said second differential management information element, resets said third differential management information element, overwrites said first differential management information element at this time on said third differential management information element after the rest, and then resets said first differential management information element;

in said differential backup, specifying is performed to determine a virtual storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, in which a differential data element is present, from the second differential management information element at the time of the differential backup; and

in said incremental backup, a position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, in which a differential data element is present is specified from the third differential management information element at the time of the incremental backup.

24. The storage system according to claim 15, wherein

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any virtual storage position, from among a plurality of virtual storage positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a snapshot acquisition time to a next snapshot acquisition time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated virtual storage position becomes known, and at the snapshot acquisition time, said differential management unit performs a logical operation of said first differential management information element and said second differential management information element at this time, overwrites the result of this logical operation on said second differential management information element, and then resets said first differential management information element.

25. The storage system according to claim 17, wherein

said differential management unit is configured such that if an update occurs in any position, from among a plurality of positions in said snapshot volume, within an interval from a snapshot acquisition time to a next snapshot acquisition time, then said first differential management information element is updated so that the updated position becomes known, and at the snapshot acquisition time, said differential management unit resets said second differential management information element, overwrites said first differential management information element at this time on said second differential management information element after the reset, and then resets said first differential management information element.

20. A storage control method comprising the steps of:

managing a correspondence between a plurality of virtual storage positions in a snapshot volume that is a virtual logical volume for logically holding a snapshot image of a main volume that is a logical volume in which an update is generated by writing a data element transmitted from a higher-level device and a plurality of address information elements indicating a plurality of actual storage positions of a plurality of data elements constituting the snapshot image of the main volume that are stored in both said main volume and a copy storage area that is a storage area in which a data element prior to updating in said main volume is copied, or stored in one of said main volume and said copy storage area;

backing up data elements from all the storage positions indicated by said plurality of address information elements to a backup destination storage device in an initial backup;

updating differential management information for managing which virtual storage position within said snapshot volume is equivalent to a difference when the difference occurs between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device due to updating said snapshot volume is updated following an update of said main volume, after said initial backup; and

specifying, in the next and subsequent backups, an actual storage position of one or more data elements equivalent to the difference between said snapshot volume and said backup destination storage device from an address information element corresponding to a virtual storage position specified from said differential management information and backing up one or more data elements present in the specified actual storage position to said backup destination storage device.