EFFICIENT FLASHCOPY BACKUP AND MOUNT, CLONE, OR RESTORE COLLISION AVOIDANCE USING DYNAMIC VOLUME ALLOCATION WITH REUSE AND FROM A SHARED RESOURCE POOL

• US 20150286431A1
• Filed: 04/02/2014
• Published: 10/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DAIN, Joseph W., KISHI, Gregory T., SHASHA, Osnat, ZAREMBA, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 9,817,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• 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 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

For efficient Flashcopy backup and a mount, clone, instant restore, and/or file level restore task collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation with reuse and from a shared resource pool, performing at least one attempt to reuse an existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes that is not currently being used for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, instant restore task, and/or file level restore task at the same time for a FlashCopy backup. If the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume fails, dynamically allocate a new Flashcopy target volume for the Flashcopy backup from a global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes.

Claims

1. A method for efficient Flashcopy backup and a mount, clone, instant restore, and/or file level restore task collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation with reuse and from a shared resource pool by a processor device in a computing environment, the method comprising:

performing at least one attempt to reuse an existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes that is not currently being used for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, and the restore task at the same time for a FlashCopy backup;

wherein, if the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume fails;

dynamically allocating a new Flashcopy target volume for the Flashcopy backup from a global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes.

2. The method of claim 1, further including performing at least one of:

performing the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume in the Flashcopy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the Flashcopy chain have been ingested into a repository, and

maintaining the global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes.

3. The method of claim 2, further including performing at least one of:

determining whether the existing FlashCopy target volume are currently being used as a source for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, an instant restore task, and/or file level restore task, and

dynamically allocating the new target volume or reusing the existing FlashCopy target volume whether or not the repository exists.

4. The method of claim 3, further including performing the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes.

5. The method of claim 4, further including performing at least one of:

creating a Flashcopy Map (fcmap), and

creating the consistency group of FlashCopy backup target volumes

6. The method of claim 5, further including retrieving at least one of the target volume and the consistency group from the global pool of FlashCopy backup target volumes for dynamically allocating the new target volume for the new FlashCopy backup.

7. The method of claim 1, further including performing the at least one attempt during a predefined threshold prior to dynamically allocating the new target volume.

8. A system for efficient Flashcopy backup and mount, clone, instant restore, and/or file level restore collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation from a shared resource pool in a computing environment, the system comprising:

at least one processor device operable in the computing storage environment, wherein processor device;

performs at least one attempt to reuse an existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes that is not currently being used for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, the instant restore task, or the file level restore task at the same time for a FlashCopy backup;

wherein, if the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume fails;

dynamically allocates a new Flashcopy target volume for the Flashcopy backup from a global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor device including performs at least one of:

performing the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume in the Flashcopy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the Flashcopy chain have been ingested into a repository, and

maintaining the global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor device performs at least one of:

determining whether the existing FlashCopy target volume are currently being used as a source for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, an instant restore task, and/or file level restore task, and

dynamically allocating the new target volume or reusing the existing FlashCopy target volume whether or not the repository exists.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor device that performs the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the Flashcopy chain have been ingested into a repository.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor device performs at least one of:

creating a Flashcopy Map (fcmap), and

creating the consistency group of FlashCopy backup target volumes

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor device performs retrieves at least one of the target volume and the consistency group from the global pool of FlashCopy backup target volumes for dynamically allocating the new target volume for the new FlashCopy backup.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor device performs the at least one attempt during a predefined threshold prior to dynamically allocating the new target volume.

15. A computer program product for efficient Flashcopy backup and mount, clone, or restore collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation from a shared resource pool in a computing environment by a processor device, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion that performs at least one attempt to reuse an existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes that is not currently being used for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, and the restore task at the same time for a FlashCopy backup;

wherein, if the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume fails;

dynamically allocates a new Flashcopy target volume for the Flashcopy backup from a global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further including a second executable portion that performs at least one of:

performing the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume in the Flashcopy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the Flashcopy chain have been ingested into a repository, and

maintaining the global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further including a third executable portion that performs at least one of:

determining whether the existing FlashCopy target volume are currently being used as a source for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, an instant restore task, and/or file level restore task,

dynamically allocating the new target volume or reusing the existing FlashCopy target volume whether or not a repository exists, and

performing the at least one attempt to reuse the existing FlashCopy target volume in a Flashcopy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the Flashcopy chain have been ingested into a repository.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further including a fourth executable portion that performs at least one of:

creating a Flashcopy Map (fcmap), and

creating the consistency group of FlashCopy backup target volumes

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further including a fifth executable portion that performs retrieves at least one of the target volume and the consistency group from the global pool of FlashCopy backup target volumes for dynamically allocating the new target volume for the new FlashCopy backup.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further including a sixth executable portion that performs the at least one attempt during a predefined threshold prior to dynamically allocating the new target volume.