OPTIMIZING REPLICATION BY DISTINGUISHING USER AND SYSTEM WRITE ACTIVITY

• US 20160098191A1
• Filed: 10/07/2014
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Inventors: Golden, Christopher, Sharpe, Malcolm, Hodgson, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 10,430,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/10 Address translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1016 Performance improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1032 Reliability improvement, data loss prevention, degraded operation etc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/2532 comprising a plurality of modules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/261 Storage comprising a plurality of storage devices
• 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 3/0641 De-duplication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0658 Controller construction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer readable storage mediums for maintaining the history of remapped data in a storage system. A first portion of a first medium may be remapped to a second medium as part of read optimization operations, wherein the second medium is younger than the first medium. A tag associated with the first portion of the first medium may be retained when the first portion is remapped to the second medium. When the second medium is replicated to another storage array, the first portion of the first medium may be prevented from being replicated based on the tag identifying the first portion as being part of a previous replication operation.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more storage devices; and

a storage controller coupled to the one or more storage devices, wherein the

storage controller is configured to;

remap a first block of a first dataset;

retain a first tag that identifies the first block of the first dataset with a previous point in time; and

utilize the first tag to prevent the first block of the first dataset from being replicated during a replication operation involving the first dataset.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first block is remapped from a first medium to a second medium, and wherein the first medium is older than the second medium.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the first block is remapped from the first medium to the second medium while performing read optimization operations.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the first tag is a sequence number.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the storage controller is further configured to:

record a current sequence number when the second medium is created; and

replicate only blocks of the second medium with a sequence number greater than or equal to the recorded current sequence number responsive to detecting a request to replicate the second medium.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the previous point in time is when the first block was written to the first dataset.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first tag is a timestamp.

8. A method comprising:

remapping a first block of a first dataset;

retaining a first tag that identifies the first block of the first dataset with a previous point in time; and

utilizing the first tag to prevent the first block of the first dataset from being replicated during a replication operation involving the first dataset.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the first block is remapped from a first medium to a second medium, and wherein the first medium is older than the second medium.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the first block is remapped from the first medium to the second medium while performing read optimization operations.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first tag is a sequence number.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

recording a current sequence number when the second medium is created; and

replicating only blocks of the second medium with a sequence number greater than or equal to the recorded current sequence number responsive to detecting a request to replicate the second medium.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the previous point in time is when the first block was written to the first dataset.

14. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the first tag is a timestamp.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to:

remap a first block of a first dataset;

retain a first tag that identifies the first block of the first dataset with a previous point in time; and

utilize the first tag to prevent the first block of the first dataset from being replicated during a replication operation involving the first dataset.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the first block is remapped from a first medium to a second medium, and wherein the first medium is older than the second medium.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the first block is remapped from the first medium to the second medium while performing read optimization operations.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the first tag is a sequence number.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the program instructions are further executable by a processor to:

record a current sequence number when the second medium is created; and

replicate only blocks of the second medium with a sequence number greater than or equal to the recorded current sequence number responsive to detecting a request to replicate the second medium.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the previous point in time is when the first block was written to the first dataset.