Mirror split brain avoidance
First Claim
1. A method for transferring service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system of a cluster configuration during a system outage, the method comprising the steps of:
- splitting data sets of the failed storage system to allow comparison of the data sets;
marking a failed data set out-of-date;
selecting a correct volume from the surviving data set of a surviving storage system;
assigning the surviving data set an ordinalindicating, by a time stamp associated with the ordinal, a point in time when the volume claims the ordinal;
giving precedence to a volume with the most recent claim to the ordinal over volumes with less recent claims to the ordinal; and
assigning other ordinals to the any remaining volumes in a monotonically increasing order according to precedence.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A technique includes a set of procedures utilized during the transfer of service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system of a cluster failover (CFO) configuration during a system outage, such as a disaster scenario. The procedures are executed by a RAID subsystem of the surviving storage system during disaster takeover, storage healing and node restart operations. The procedures prevent the possibility that clients accessing the storage system will see out-of-date versions of the data either during transfer of service of the system during the disaster scenario or subsequently after the storage system is healed and service on the failed system has been restored.
74 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for transferring service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system of a cluster configuration during a system outage, the method comprising the steps of:
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splitting data sets of the failed storage system to allow comparison of the data sets; marking a failed data set out-of-date; selecting a correct volume from the surviving data set of a surviving storage system; assigning the surviving data set an ordinal indicating, by a time stamp associated with the ordinal, a point in time when the volume claims the ordinal; giving precedence to a volume with the most recent claim to the ordinal over volumes with less recent claims to the ordinal; and assigning other ordinals to the any remaining volumes in a monotonically increasing order according to precedence. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A storage server comprising:
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means for splitting data sets of a failed system to allow comparison of the data sets; means for marking a failed data set out-of-date; means for selecting a correct volume from a surviving data set; means for assigning the surviving data set an ordinal; means for indicating a point in time when the volume claims the ordinal; means for giving precedence to a volume with the most recent claim to the ordinal over volumes with less recent claims to the ordinal; and means for assigning other ordinals to the any remaining volumes in a monotonically increasing order according to precedence.
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14. A computer readable media for transferring service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system of a cluster configuration during a system outage, said computer readable media containing instructions for causing a processor to execute a method comprising:
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splitting data sets of the failed system to allow comparison of the data sets; marking a failed data set out-of-date; selecting a correct volume from a surviving data set; assigning the surviving data set an ordinal; indicating, by a time stamp associated with the ordinal, a point in time when the volume claims the ordinal. giving precedence to a volume with the most recent claim to the ordinal over volumes with less recent claims to the ordinal; and assigning other ordinals to the any remaining volumes in a monotonically increasing order according to precedence.
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15. Electromagnetic signals propagating on a computer network for transferring service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system of a cluster configuration during a system outage, said electromagnetic signals carrying instructions for causing a processor to execute a method comprising:
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splitting data sets of the failed system to allow comparison of the data sets; marking a failed data set out-of-date; selecting a correct volume from the surviving data set; and assigning the surviving data set an ordinal; indicating, by a time stamp associated with the ordinal, a point in time when the volume claims the ordinal; giving precedence to a volume with the most recent claim to the ordinal over volumes with less recent claims to the ordinal; and assigning other ordinals to the any remaining volumes in a monotonically increasing order according to precedence.
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16. A method for transferring service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system during a system outage, the method comprising the steps of:
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splitting an accessible data set from its original volume to thereby form a new volume; assigning the new volume a base ordinal and a time stamp indicating a point in time when the volume claims the base ordinal; and giving preference to a volume with a more recent claim to the base ordinal over other volumes with less recent claims to the base ordinal to resolve conflicts among volumes. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A storage server comprising:
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means for splitting an accessible data set from its original volume to thereby form a new volume; means for assigning the new volume a base ordinal and a time stamp indicating a point in time when the volume claims the base ordinal; and means for giving preference to a volume with a more recent claim to the base ordinal over other volumes with less recent claims to the base ordinal to resolve conflicts among volumes.
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28. A computer readable media, including program instructions executing on a processor for transferring service of a failed storage system to a surviving storage system during a system outage, the program instructions including instructions for performing the steps of:
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splitting an accessible data set from its original volume to thereby form a new volume; assigning the new volume a base ordinal and a time stamp indicating a point in time when the volume claims the base ordinal; and giving preference to a volume with a more recent claim to the base ordinal over other volumes with less recent claims to the base ordinal to resolve conflicts among volumes.
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Specification