Logically Partitioning Remote Virtual Library Extensions for Use in Disaster Recovery of Production Data

• US 20130173859A1
• Filed: 02/16/2012
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gorrell, Roland N., Bochula, Frank, Dawdy, Tom, Johnson, Jeff, Byrne, Vinnie
• Granted Patent: US 9,575,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/112
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/14 Protection against unauthorised use of memory or access to memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/805 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7206 Reconfiguration of flash memory system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7209 Validity control, e.g. using flags, time stamps or sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0686 Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/46 Multiprogramming arrangements

Abstract

Systems and methods that make use of logical partitions of a second tier of disk storage at a disaster recovery (DR) site remote from a production site as part of a DR setup to advantageously reduce disruption to production site data production operations during DR procedures while providing for the substantially immediate recall or retrieval of data previously migrated to the remote second tier of disk storage.

Claims

1. A method for use in disaster recovery (DR), comprising:

storing a first production dataset in one or more virtual tape volumes (VTVs) of a virtual tape library (VTL) at a production site, wherein the production site VTL comprises a first tier of disk storage having a first access time and a first capacity;

migrating copies of the one or more VTVs storing the first production dataset from the production site VTL to a first of a plurality of logical partitions of a virtual library extension (VLE) at a DR site over at least one network, wherein the DR site VLE comprises a second tier of disk storage having a second access time and a second capacity, and wherein at least one of;

a) the second access time is slower than the first access time, and b) the second capacity is greater than the first capacity; and

migrating copies of the one or more VTVs storing the first production dataset from the production site VTL to a local storage system at the production site.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of logical partitions comprises a plurality of multi-volume cartridge (MVC) pools, wherein the VTV copies are migrated to a first MVC pool of the DR site VLE.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the local storage system comprises a VLE or a tape library.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

declaring a DR procedure at the production site; and

migrating copies of VTVs storing a second production dataset generated after the DR procedure declaration from the production site VTL to a second of the plurality of logical partitions at the DR site VLE, wherein the first production dataset was generated before the DR procedure declaration.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

marking the first logical partition as read-only in response to declaring the DR procedure.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising during the DR procedure:

auditing the first logical partition to obtain copies of VTVs storing the first production dataset; and

populating one or more control data sets (CDSs) at the DR site with the audited and obtained first production dataset.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more CDSs are empty before the populating.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising during the DR procedure:

auditing the second logical partition to obtain copies of VTVs storing the second production dataset; and

populating one or more additional CDSs at the DR site with the audited and obtained second production dataset.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein an organization'"'"'s data production operations are performed at the production site before DR procedure declaration, and further comprising after populating the one or more CDSs with the audited and obtained first and second production datasets:

continuing the organization'"'"'s data production operations from the DR site.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising during the DR procedure:

generating a third production dataset at the DR site;

storing the third production dataset in one or more virtual tape volumes (VTVs) of a VTL at the DR site; and

migrating the one or more VTVs storing the third production dataset from the DR site VTL to a third of the plurality of logical partitions at the DR site VLE.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising during the DR procedure:

restricting the production site'"'"'s access to the third logical partition; and

restricting the DR site'"'"'s access to the second logical partition.

12. The method of claim 4, further comprising during the DR procedure:

modifying the first production dataset at the production site;

storing the modified first production dataset in one or more virtual tape volumes (VTVs) of the production site VTL;

migrating the one or more VTVs storing the modified first production dataset from the production site VTL to the local storage system at the production site; and

migrating copies of the one or more VTVs storing the modified first production dataset from the production site VTL to the second logical partition of the DR site VLE.

13. The method of claim 4, further comprising after the DR procedure declaration:

declaring a completion of the DR procedure;

reloading the first production dataset into one or more VTVs of the production site VTL;

reloading the second production dataset into one or more additional VTVs of the production site VTL;

migrating the first and second production datasets to the first logical partition of the DR site VLE; and

emptying the second logical partition of the DR site VLE.

14. A system, comprising:

a processing module; and

a memory module logically connected to the processing module and comprising a set of computer readable instructions executable by the processing module to;

migrate one or more virtual tape volumes (VTVs) storing a first production dataset from a virtual tape library (VTL) at a production site to a first of a plurality of logical partitions of a virtual library extension (VLE) at a disaster recovery (DR) site over at least one network, wherein the VTL comprises a first tier of disk storage having a first access time and a first capacity, wherein the VLE comprises a second tier of disk storage having a second access time and a second capacity, and wherein at least one of;

a) the second access time is slower than the first access time, and b) the second capacity is greater than the first capacity;

declare a start to a DR procedure at the production site;

perform at least one of editing and creating at least one production dataset at the production site after declaration of the DR procedure; and

migrate one or more VTVs storing the edited and/or created at least one production dataset from the VTL to a second of the plurality of logical partitions of the VLE over the at least one network.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions executable by the processing module to perform include computer readable instructions executable by the processing module to:

edit the first production dataset, wherein the edited first production dataset is migrated to the second logical partition of the VLE.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer readable instructions executable by the processing module to perform include computer readable instructions executable by the processing module to:

create a second production dataset, wherein the second production dataset is migrated to the second logical partition of the VLE.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory module comprises another set of computer readable instructions executable by the processing module during the DR procedure to:

audit the first logical partition to obtain copies of VTVs storing the first production dataset; and

populate one or more control data sets (CDSs) at the DR site with the audited and obtained first production dataset.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the memory module comprises another set of computer readable instructions executable by the processing module during the DR procedure to:

read the one or more VTLs storing the first production dataset from the first logical partition of the VLE into a VTL at the DR site;

modify the one or more VTLs storing the first production dataset at the DR site; and

migrate the modified one or more VTLs storing the first production dataset to a third of the plurality of logical partitions at the VLE.

19. A method, comprising:

first receiving, in a first of a plurality of logical partitions of a virtual library extension (VLE) at a disaster recovery (DR) site, one or more virtual tape volumes (VTVs) storing production data from a virtual tape library (VTL) of a production site over at least one network, wherein the VTL comprises a first tier of disk storage having a first access time and a first capacity, wherein the VLE comprises a second tier of disk storage having a second access time and a second capacity, and wherein at least one of;

a) the second access time is slower than the first access time, and b) the second capacity is greater than the first capacity; and

second receiving, in a second of the plurality of logical partitions of the DR site VLE, one or more VTVs storing production data from the production site VTL over the at least one network, wherein the second receiving occurs after declaration of a DR procedure between the production site and the DR site.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

third receiving, in a third of the plurality of logical partitions of the DR site VLE, one or more VTVs storing production data from a VTL at the DR site, wherein the third receiving occurs after declaration of the DR procedure.