METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NO DOWNTIME RESYNCHRONIZATION FOR REAL-TIME, CONTINUOUS DATA PROTECTION

• US 20100198788A1
• Filed: 01/29/2010
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: BakBone Software, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BakBone Software, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sim-Tang, Siew Yong
• Application Number:
  US12/696,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20100198788A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2082 Data synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A data management system or “DMS” provides an automated, continuous, real-time data protection service to one or more data sources associated with a set of application host serves. To facilitate the service, a host driver embedded in an application server captures real-time data transactions. When a data protection command for a given data source is forwarded to a host driver, an event processor enters into an initial upload state. During this state, the event processor gathers a list of data items to be protected and creates a data list. Then, the event processor moves the data to a DMS core to create initial baseline data. The upload is a stream of application-aware data chunks that are attached to upload events. A resynchronization state is entered when there is a suspicion that the state of the data in the host is out-of-sync with the state of the most current data in the DMS.

Claims

1. A method of synchronizing data as a data protection service is being provided to a given data source in a first processing environment, where, in connection with the data protection service, a continuous, application-aware data stream is being generated and transferred to a data store remote from the first processing environment, the method comprising:

determining whether a state of given data in the first processing environment is or may be out of synchronization with respect to a state of the given data in the data store remote from the first processing environment; and

if the state of the given data in the first processing environment is or may be out of synchronization with respect to the state of the given data in the data store, initiating a given operation with respect to the data source in a first processing environment to synchronize the given data, wherein the data synchronization operation occurs while the given application continues to execute and as the continuous, application-aware data stream continues to be generated and transferred to the data store.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the given operation is initiated after a blackout when the given data in the first processing environment is changed.

3. The method as described in claim 2 further including the step of updating the state of the given data in the first processing environment during the blackout.

4. The method as described in claim 3 further including the step of comparing an updated state of the given data with the state of the given data in the data store.

5. The method as described in claim 4 further including the step of transferring to the data store at least one difference value that results from the comparing step.

6. The method as described in claim 5 wherein the difference value is a checkpoint.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the given operation is initiated after a host in the first processing environment is rebooted and a determination is made that the state of the given data in the data store is unknown.

8. The method as described in claim 7 further including the step of examining a state of each of a set of data items associated with the data source.

9. The method as described in claim 8 further including the step of transferring to the data store at least one difference value that results from the examining step.

10. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the data source is a file system associated with the first processing environment.

11. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the data source is a database associated with the first processing environment.

12. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the determining step uses a data structure having an ordered set of data items.

13. The method as described in claim 12 wherein the data structure is a sorted source tree.

14. A system for protecting a data source associated with a host in a first processing environment, comprising:

a data structure having a list of data items associated with the data source;

code responsive to initiation of a data protection service for transferring to a data store remote from the first processing environment a continuous, application-aware data stream; and

code responsive to information in the data structure for synchronizing a state of given data at the host with a state of the given data at the data store.

15. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the data structure is a sorted source tree.

16. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the data source is a file system.

17. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the data source is a database.

18. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the application-aware data stream includes checkpoint data.

19. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the application-aware data stream includes metadata.

20. The system as described in claim 14 wherein the application-aware data stream includes information about a given event associated with the data source.