RESILIENCY WITH A DESTINATION VOLUME IN A REPLICATION ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140040574A1
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: McDowell, Jonathan Andrew, Nazari, Siamak, Dalzell, Richard T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• 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 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method to provide resiliency with a destination volume in a replication environment is disclosed. Data from a source volume, such as a primary volume or a secondary volume in a replication relationship, is migrated to the destination volume. A snapshot representing data on a source volume is generated. The replication relationship between the source volumes is broken, and a new relationship between a source volume and the destination volume is established. A delta of data between the snapshot and one of the volumes in the new relationship is generated. The delta is sent to the other of the volumes in the new relationship.

Claims

1. A method of providing resiliency with a destination volume of a plurality of volumes in a replication environment, the plurality of volumes further having a plurality of source volumes in a relationship with each other, the method comprising:

migrating data from a source volume of the plurality of source volumes to the destination volume;

generating a snapshot representing data on a source volume of the plurality of source volumes;

breaking the relationship between the source volumes;

establishing a new relationship between one of the source volumes of the plurality of volumes and the destination volume of the plurality of volumes;

generating a delta of data between the snapshot and one of the plurality of volumes in the new relationship; and

sending data of the delta to another of the plurality of volumes in the new relationship.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the source volumes include a primary volume and a secondary volume.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the secondary volume is a backup volume to the primary volume.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the destination volume and the source volumes each include storage arrays.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the destination volume and the source volumes each include computing devices.

6. The method of claim 1 and further comprising adding the destination volume to the replication environment to replace one of the source volumes.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein breaking the relationship between the source volumes occurs prior to establishing the new relationship between the one of the source volumes and the destination volume.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein data is not being replicated after breaking the relationship between the source volumes and prior to establishing the new relationship.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of volumes is three volumes.

10. A method of providing resiliency with a destination volume in a replication environment of a plurality of source volumes having a primary volume in a replication relationship with a secondary volume, the method comprising:

migrating data from the primary volume to the destination volume;

generating a snapshot on the destination volume representing data on the source volumes after migration;

breaking the relationship between the primary volume and the secondary volume;

establishing a relationship between the secondary volume and the destination volume;

generating a delta of data between the snapshot and a current state of the destination volume; and

sending data of the delta to the secondary volume.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the destination volume becomes a new primary volume when the relationship between the secondary volume and the destination volume is established.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein generating a snapshot on the destination volume represents data on the primary volume after migration to the destination volume.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the snapshot is representative of data being synchronized on the primary volume and secondary volume during migration until the relationship between the primary volume and the secondary volume is broken.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the current state of the destination volume is representative of the data on the destination volume at the time of establishing the new relationship between the secondary volume and the destination volume.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein sending data of the delta to the secondary volume includes copying the data of the delta to the secondary volume.

16. A method of providing resiliency with a destination volume in a replication environment having a plurality of source volumes including a primary volume in a relationship with a secondary volume, the method comprising:

coordinating a snapshot of the source volumes representing data on a source volume of the source volumes;

migrating the snapshot to the destination volume;

breaking the relationship between the primary volume and the secondary volume;

establishing a relationship between the primary volume and the destination volume;

generating a delta of data between the snapshot and a current state of the primary volume; and

sending data of the delta to the destination volume.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the destination volume becomes a new secondary volume when the relationship between the primary volume and the destination volume is established.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein migrating the snapshot to the destination volume includes migrating a snapshot of the secondary volume.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein generating a delta of data between the snapshot and a current state of the primary volume includes generating a delta of data between a snapshot of the primary volume.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the delta represent the change of data on the primary volume between beginning the migration to the destination volume and establishing the relationship between the primary volume and the destination volume.