Virtual incremental storage method

• US 7,412,583 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2003
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Burton, David Alan, Otterness, Noel Simen
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough; Hyung S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Walter; Craig E
• Application Number:
  US10/713,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20050108292A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A method for managing incremental storage includes a storage pool management module that allocates storage volumes to a virtual volume. Also included is an incremental log corresponding to the virtual volume, which maps virtual addresses to storage addresses. The method may also include a replication module that sends replicated data to the virtual volume and a policy management module that determines allocation criteria for the storage pool management module. In one embodiment, the incremental log includes a look up table that translates read and write requests to physical addresses on storage volumes within the virtual volume. The replicated data may include incremental snapshot data corresponding to one or more primary volumes. The various embodiments of the virtual incremental storage method facilitate dynamic adjustment of the storage capacity of the virtual volume to accommodate changing amounts of storage utilization.

Claims

1. A method for managing incremental storage, the method comprising:

monitoring available storage capacity of an existing incremental backup virtual volume and changing a storage capacity of the of the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to a storage management policy and the available storage capacity, wherein the existing incremental backup virtual volume stores incremental storage data from an incremental storage operation of a primary volume and the existing incremental backup virtual volume comprises at least one storage volume of a storage pool, the at least one storage volume allocated to the existing incremental backup virtual volume;

dynamically allocating and de-allocating a storage volume of the storage pool to the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to a change to the storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume; and

mapping in an incremental log corresponding to the existing incremental backup virtual volume a virtual address of the existing incremental backup virtual volume assigned to the incremental storage data to a physical storage address of the at least one storage volume of the storage pool.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing incremental snapshot data of the primary volume in response to a replication operation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein changing a storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume further comprises alerting a user of a storage over-utilization or under-utilization and changing the storage capacity in response to user input.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising reading data stored in the existing incremental backup virtual volume by way of a data path independent from a data path used to store the incremental storage data.

5. A method for deploying a computer readable medium for managing incremental storage, the method comprising:

determining customer requirements for incremental storage;

deploying a storage management program for managing incremental storage, the storage management program comprising

monitoring available storage capacity of an existing incremental backup virtual volume and changing a storage capacity of the of the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to a storage management policy and the available storage capacity, wherein the existing incremental backup virtual volume stores incremental storage data from an incremental storage operation of a primary volume and the existing incremental backup virtual volume comprises at least one storage volume of a storage pool, the at least one storage volume allocated to the existing incremental backup virtual volume;

dynamically allocating and de-allocating a storage volume of the storage pool to the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to a change to the storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume; and

mapping in an incremental log corresponding to the existing incremental backup virtual volume a virtual address of the existing incremental backup virtual volume assigned to the incremental storage data to a physical storage address of the at least one storage volume of the storage pool; and

maintaining the storage management program.