System and method for file system snapshot of a virtual logical disk

• US 7,340,486 B1
• Filed: 10/10/2002
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chapman, Dennis E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ehichioya; Fred I
• Application Number:
  US10/268,840
• Time in Patent Office: 1,972 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/4, 707/8, 707/10, 707/101, 707/102, 707/103.R, 707/200, 707/205, 707/201, 707/202, 709/201, 709/207, 709/208, 709/230, 709/214, 709/226, 365/230.01, 711/114, 711/206, 711/112
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A system and method generates a consistent file system snapshot of a virtual logical disk (VLD). The system and method ensures that database files are stored on the VLD are consistent at the time a snapshot is generated by first flushing all buffers and then blocking I/O operations to the VLD until the snapshot is generated.

Claims

1. A method for generating a snapshot of a virtual logical disk of a storage system, comprising:

operating a computer data storage system in a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

writing data received from the first computer into file system buffers maintained by the second computer;

maintaining a virtual logical disk by the second computer;

writing data in the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

receiving a backup command, the backup command initiating a backup of the virtual logical disk;

moving, in response to receiving the backup command, data contents of the application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer;

blocking input/output (I/O) operations directed to the virtual logical disk after

the data contents of the application buffers of the first computer are written to the file system buffers of the second computer;

writing, in response to the application buffers of the first computer being written to the file system buffers of the second computer, the contents of the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk; and

generating a snapshot of the virtual logical disk while the I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

queuing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

allowing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

queuing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked;

allowing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated; and

processing queued I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are allowed.

5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

performing the steps of moving, writing, blocking, and generating in response to activating a backup mode for the virtual logical disk.

6. The method as in claim 5, further comprising:

returning the virtual logical disk to a normal mode in response to the snapshot of the virtual logical disk being generated.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein the operating application is a database.

8. An apparatus for generating a snapshot of a virtual logical disk of a storage system, the apparatus comprising:

means for operating a computer data storage system in a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

means for writing data received from the first computer into file system buffers maintained by the second computer;

means for maintaining a virtual logical disk by the second computer;

means for writing data in the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

means for receiving a backup command, the backup command initiating a backup of the virtual logical disk;

means for moving, in response to receiving the backup command, data contents of the application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer;

means for blocking input/output (I/O) operations directed to the virtual logical disk after

the data contents of the application buffers of the first computer are written to the file system buffers of the second computer;

means for writing, in response to the application buffers of the first computer being written to the file system buffers of the second computer, the contents of the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk; and

means for generating a snapshot of the virtual logical disk while the I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

9. The apparatus as in claim 8, further comprising:

means for queuing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

10. The apparatus as in claim 8, further comprising:

means for allowing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated.

11. The apparatus as in claim 8, further comprising:

means for queuing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked;

means for allowing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated; and

means for processing queued I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are allowed.

12. The apparatus as in claim 8, further comprising:

means for performing the steps of moving, writing, blocking, and generating in response to activating a backup mode for the virtual logical disk.

13. The apparatus as in claim 12, further comprising:

means for returning the virtual logical disk to a normal mode in response to the snapshot of the virtual logical disk being generated.

14. Software encoded in one or more computer-readable media and when executed operable to:

operating a computer data storage system in a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

writing data received from the first computer into file system buffers maintained by the second computer;

maintaining a virtual logical disk by the second computer;

writing data in the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

receiving a backup command, the backup command initiating a backup of the virtual logical disk;

moving, in response to receiving the backup command, data contents of the application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer;

blocking input/output (I/O) operations directed to the virtual logical disk after

the data contents of the application buffers of the first computer are written to the file system buffers of the second computer;

writing, in response to the application buffers of the first computer being written to the file system buffers of the second computer, the contents of the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk; and

generating a snapshot of the virtual logical disk while the I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

15. The software as in claim 14, when executed further operable to:

queue I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

16. The software as in claim 14, when executed further operable to:

allow I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated.

17. The software as in claim 14, when executed further operable to:

queue I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked;

allow I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated; and

process queued I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are allowed.

18. The software as in claim 14, when executed further operable to:

perform the move, write, block, and generate in response to activation of a backup mode for the virtual logical disk.

19. The software as in claim 18, when executed further operable to:

return the virtual logical disk to a normal mode in response to generation of the snapshot of the virtual logical disk.

20. A method for generating a snapshot of a virtual logical disk of a storage system, comprising:

operating a computer data storage system in a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

writing data received from the first computer into file system buffers maintained by the second computer;

maintaining a virtual logical disk by the second computer;

writing data in the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

issuing a backup command by a snapshot manager;

receiving the backup command, the backup command initiating a backup of the virtual logical disk;

moving, in response to receiving the backup command by the first computer, data contents of all application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer;

writing, in response to the application buffers of the first computer being written to the file system buffers of the second computer, the contents of the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

blocking all input/output (I/O) operations directed to the virtual logical disk after

the data contents of the application buffers of the first computer are written to the file system buffers of the second computer;

generating a snapshot of the virtual logical disk while the I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

21. The method as in claim 20, further comprising:

queuing all I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

22. The method as in claim 20, further comprising:

allowing all I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated.

23. The method as in claim 20, further comprising:

queuing all I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked;

allowing all I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated; and

processing queued I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are allowed.

24. A method for generating a snapshot of a virtual logical disk of a storage system, comprising:

operating a computer data database system in a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

writing data received from the first computer into file system buffers maintained by the second computer;

maintaining a virtual logical disk by the second computer;

writing data in the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

receiving a backup command, the backup command initiating a backup of the first computer;

moving, in response to receiving the backup command, data contents of the application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer;

blocking output of the first computer from being sent to the second computer after the data contents of the application buffers of the first computer are moved to the file system buffers of the second computer;

writing the contents of the file system buffers of the second computer to the virtual logical disk after output from the first computer is blocked from being sent to the second computer; and

generating a snapshot of the virtual logical disk while the output of the first computer is blocked from being sent to the second computer.

25. The method as in claim 24, further comprising:

queuing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

26. The method as in claim 24, further comprising:

allowing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated.

27. The method as in claim 24, further comprising:

queuing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk while I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked;

allowing I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once the snapshot is generated; and

processing queued I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk once I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are allowed.

28. The method as in claim 24, further comprising:

performing the steps of moving, writing, blocking, and generating in response to activating a backup mode for the virtual logical disk.

29. The method as in claim 28, further comprising:

returning the virtual logical disk to a normal mode in response to the snapshot of the virtual logical disk being generated.

30. A method for generating a snapshot of a virtual logical disk of a storage system, comprising:

operating a computer database system in a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

writing data received from the first computer into file system buffers maintained by the second computer;

maintaining a virtual logical disk by the second computer;

writing data in the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk;

moving, in response to receiving the backup command, data contents of one or more application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer emulating a physical disk attached to an application using the virtual logical disk, wherein a driver within the application provides support for mapping block access commands to file level protocol;

receiving a backup command, the backup command initiating a backup of the virtual logical disk;

moving, in response to receiving the backup command, data contents of one or more application buffers of the first computer to the file system buffers of the second computer;

blocking input/output (I/O) operations directed to the virtual logical disk after data contents of the one or more application buffers of the first computer are moved to the file system buffers of the second computer, and

writing data contents of the file system buffers to the virtual logical disk after the application buffers of the first computer are moved to the file system buffers of the second computer;

generating a snapshot of the virtual logical disk while the I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.

31. A storage system, comprising:

a computer data storage system operating on a first computer, the first computer performing I/O operations with application buffers, the first computer writing contents of the application buffers to a file system operating in a second computer;

file system buffers maintained by the second computer, the contents of the application buffers of the first computer to be written into the file system buffers of the second computer;

a virtual logical disk maintained by the second computer, data written into the file system buffers to be written to the virtual logical disk;

a backup command to initiate a backup of the virtual logical disk;

data contents of the application buffers of the first computer to be moved to the file system buffers of the second computer in response to receiving the backup command;

input/output (I/O) operations directed to the virtual logical disk blocked, after data contents of the application buffers of the first computer are moved to the file system buffers of the second computer;

the contents of the file system buffers of the second computer to be written to the virtual logical disk, in response to the application buffers of the first computer being written to the file system buffers of the second computer; and

a snapshot of the virtual logical disk generated while the I/O operations directed to the virtual logical disk are blocked.