MAINTAINING CHECKPOINTS DURING BACKUP OF LIVE SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- transmitting a logical container to a backup system from a network storage controller one block of the logical container at a time to create a backup of the logical container while creating a checkpoint including a number of blocks of the logical container that have been transmitted until an interruption of transmission;
restarting transmission of the logical container from the checkpoint including transmitting changed meta-data to the backup system to replace meta-data in the backup of the logical container to ensure consistency of the backup with changes to the meta-data of the logical container made prior to restarting transmission.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques introduced here support block level transmission of a logical container from a network storage controller to a backup system. In accordance with the techniques, transmission can be restarted using checkpoints created at the block level by allowing restarts from various points within a logical container, for example a point at which 10%, 50%, or 75% of the logical container had been transmitted. The transmission can be restarted while maintaining data consistency of the logical container data and included meta-data. Advantageously, changes made prior to a checkpoint restart to, for example, meta-data, do not lead to inconsistent logical container backups.
14 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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transmitting a logical container to a backup system from a network storage controller one block of the logical container at a time to create a backup of the logical container while creating a checkpoint including a number of blocks of the logical container that have been transmitted until an interruption of transmission; restarting transmission of the logical container from the checkpoint including transmitting changed meta-data to the backup system to replace meta-data in the backup of the logical container to ensure consistency of the backup with changes to the meta-data of the logical container made prior to restarting transmission. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A network storage controller comprising:
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a block transmission module sending a logical container to a backup system one block at a time while creating checkpoints, each checkpoint including a number of blocks of the logical container that have been transmitted; a logical container meta-data inspection unit identifying an attribute modified prior to restarting transmission of the logical container; and an interruption recovery module instructing the block transmission module to restart transmission of the logical container from a checkpoint including transmitting the attribute to the backup system to store in the backup to ensure consistency of the backup with the logical container. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer readable medium storing instructions for execution by a processor of a network storage controller, the instructions comprising:
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creating a snapshot including a logical container; transmitting a copy of the logical container from the network storage controller to a backup system one block of the logical container at a time while creating checkpoints reflecting a number of blocks of the logical container that have been transmitted, until an interruption stops the network storage controller from transmitting; and restarting transmission of the logical container from the checkpoint including transmitting changed meta-data to the backup system to replace meta-data in a backup of the logical container to ensure consistency of the backup with the logical container to reflect changes to the meta-data of the logical container made prior to restarting transmission. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method comprising:
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transmitting a block of a logical container to a backup system; determining that the transmission of the logical container is not complete; creating a checkpoint including a number of blocks of the logical container that have been transmitted; determining that an interruption has caused the transmission to stop; identifying changes to meta-data of a logical container; recording an entry in a logical container meta-data database identifying changed meta-data of the logical container; and restarting transmission of the logical container from the checkpoint including transmitting the changed meta-data to the backup system to replace meta-data in the backup of the logical container to ensure consistency of the backup for changes to meta-data made prior to restarting transmission. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification