Information replication system having automated replication storage

• US 6,978,282 B1
• Filed: 09/04/2001
• Issued: 12/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Dings, Thomas, Pillai, Ananthan K., Shekhar, Ajay, Mutalik, Madhav, Schutzman, Neil
• Primary Examiner(s): Kindred, Alford
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAM LINH T
• Application Number:
  US09/946,005
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 707/204, 707/202, 707/200, 711/162, 711170-172, 711/202
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2308 Concurrency control transaction processing G06F9/466
• 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 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

An information recovery system automatically selects storage for a replication of a data volume.

Claims

1. In a data storage system having data recovery, a method for automatically selecting storage for a data volume, comprising:

receiving a request to replicate at least one data volume;

obtaining a plurality of replication storage locations in the data storage system that may be used for the requested replication;

determining whether the plurality of replication storage locations have sizes compatible with the at least one data volume;

identifying resource contention for each standard volume and potential replication storage solution; and

selecting a respective one of the plurality of replication storage locations for each standard volume replication request.

2. The method according to claim 1, further including limiting replication storage selection to those matching assigned criteria.

3. The method according to claim 2, further including requesting a user to configure available storage at initialization.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the configuration request includes a criteria assignment.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the configuration request includes dividing the available storage into a plurality of storage locations.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resource contention can include storage device bus contention, disk spindle contention, memory bus contention, disk adapter contention, and host bus contention.

7. The method according to claim 1, further including generating pairs comprising a first one of the at least one data volume to be replicated and a respective one of the plurality of replication storage locations.

8. The method according to claim 7, further including identifying system resource use by each of the pairs.

9. The method according to claim 8, further including selecting one or more pairs based upon the level of resource contention.

10. The method according to claim 9, further including weighting resources used by a pair.

11. The method according to claim 8, further including ranking the pairs based upon resource contention level.

12. The method according to claim 7, further including defining a group of pairs based upon the resource contention.

13. The method according to claim 12, further including determining a group score for the group of pairs that is indicative of overall replication performance.

14. The method according to claim 13, further including determining whether to accept a replication solution corresponding to the group of pairs based upon the group score.

15. The method according to claim 7, further including determining whether the pairs contain a replication storage location that is established with the paired data volume.

16. The method according to claim 7, further including determining whether the pairs contain a replication storage location that is associated with the paired data volume.

17. The method according to claim 16, further including computing a number of invalid tracks for a pair.

18. The method according to claim 1, further including translating logical volume information and physical storage information for at least one data volume.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the logical volume information and physical storage information is translated by a data storage device.

20. The method according to claim 1, further including determining whether a potential replication storage solution is visible to the requesting host.

21. A data storage system that enables information recovery, comprising:

a data storage system including a plurality of storage devices;

a first and second computer system in communication with the data storage system; and

computer-executable logic that enables;

receiving a request to replicate at least one data volume;

obtaining a plurality of replication storage locations that may be used for the requested replication;

determining whether the plurality of replication storage locations have sizes compatible with the at least one data volume;

identifying resource contention for each standard volume and potential replication storage solution; and

providing a respective one of the plurality of replication storage locations for each standard volume replication request.

22. The system according to claim 21, further including limiting replication storage selection to those matching assigned criteria.

23. The system according to claim 21, wherein the resource contention can include storage device bus contention, disk spindle contention, memory bus contention, and host bus contention.

24. The system according to claim 21, further including generating pairs comprising a data volume to be replicated and a potential replication storage location for the data volume.

25. The system according to claim 24, further including identifying resource use by each of the pairs.

26. The system according to claim 24, further including selecting one or more pairs based upon the level of resource contention.

27. The system according to claim 24, further including defining a group of pairs based upon the resource contention.

28. The system according to claim 27, further including determining a group score for the group of pairs that is indicative of overall replication performance.

29. The system according to claim 28, further including determining whether to accept a replication solution corresponding to the group of pairs based upon the group score.

30. The system according to claim 27, further including weighting resources used by a pair.

31. The system according to claim 21, further including determining whether a potential replication storage solution is visible to the requesting host.

32. A computer program product for use with a data storage system, the computer program product for executing steps in a data storage system, comprising:

receiving a request to replicate at least one data volume;

obtaining a plurality of replication storage locations in the data storage system that may be used for the requested replication;

determining whether the plurality of replication storage locations have sizes compatible with the at least one data volume;

identifying resource contention for each standard volume and potential replication storage solution; and

providing a respective one of the plurality of replication storage locations for each standard volume replication request.