Virtual incremental storage apparatus method and system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for managing incremental storage, the apparatus comprising:
- a policy management module that sets a storage management policy for storage capacity of an existing incremental backup virtual volume, 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;
a storage pool management module that monitors available storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume and to change the storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to the storage management policy and the available storage capacity, wherein changing the storage capacity comprises dynamically allocating and de-allocating a storage volume of the storage pool to the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to the change to the storage capacity; and
an incremental log corresponding to the existing incremental backup virtual volume, wherein the incremental log maps 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 poolwherein the policy management module and the storage module comprise at least one of logic hardware elements and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable media.
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Abstract
An apparatus 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 apparatus 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 lookup 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 apparatus, method, and system facilitate dynamic adjustment of the storage capacity of the virtual volume to accommodate changing amounts of storage utilization.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An apparatus for managing incremental storage, the apparatus comprising:
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a policy management module that sets a storage management policy for storage capacity of an existing incremental backup virtual volume, 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; a storage pool management module that monitors available storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume and to change the storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to the storage management policy and the available storage capacity, wherein changing the storage capacity comprises dynamically allocating and de-allocating a storage volume of the storage pool to the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to the change to the storage capacity; and an incremental log corresponding to the existing incremental backup virtual volume, wherein the incremental log maps 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 wherein the policy management module and the storage module comprise at least one of logic hardware elements and executable code, the executable code stored on one or more computer readable media. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for managing incremental storage, the system comprising:
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a primary volume; a baseline volume that stores a baseline backup copy of data on the primary volume; a storage pool with at least one storage volume that stores incremental storage data from an incremental storage operation of the primary volume in response to changes in data stored on the primary volume after storing the baseline backup copy on the baseline volume, wherein the storage volume is allocated as an existing incremental backup virtual volume; a policy management module that sets a storage management policy for available storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume; a storage pool management module that monitors available storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume and changes the storage capacity of the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to the storage management policy and the available storage capacity, wherein changing the storage capacity comprises dynamically allocating and de-allocating a storage volume of the storage pool to the existing incremental backup virtual volume in response to the change to the storage capacity; and an incremental log corresponding to the existing incremental backup virtual volume, wherein the incremental log maps 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. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code for managing incremental storage, wherein the program code:
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monitors available storage capacity of an existing incremental backup virtual volume; changes a storage capacity 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 allocates and de-allocates 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 maps 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. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification