Method and system for improving the efficiency and ensuring the integrity of a data transfer

• US 7,836,225 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2007
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ATTO Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ATTO Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Miller, Michael H., Cuddihy, David J., Martin, Shawn C., Snell, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai; Henry W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Roche; John B
• Application Number:
  US11/709,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20070174413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 710/33, 709/214
• US Class Current: 710/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved method and system of improving the efficiency, and ensuring the integrity, of a data transfer in a serverless backup, or third party copy, system having one or more physical storage devices. The present invention provides improvements to the processing of serverless copy, or EXTENDED COPY, commands, and transfers of data associated with such commands. These improvements increase the speed at which such commands are executed and completed, and increase the capabilities of copy managers in serverless backup systems. The improvements also make better use of the storage devices involved in the data backup process. The method broadly includes determining a desired manner of execution of segment descriptors, or instructions, as a function of components of those instructions. Other aspects of the invention allow for execution of data segments of any size, and validation of segment descriptors and target descriptors prior to data transfer.

Claims

1. A method of executing a command comprising one or more segment descriptors designating the transfer of data from at least one source storage object to at least one destination storage object, in a serverless backup system having at least one physical storage device and a base memory buffer size, and being associated with a host and a data mover, comprising the steps of:

transferring from said host to said data mover a command comprising a segment descriptor, said segment descriptor designating a transfer of data in a source storage object;

comparing said base memory buffer size with the size of said data in said source storage object;

generating a plurality of pseudo-segments in said data mover corresponding to a plurality of data portions, each of said data portions having a size less than or equal to said base memory buffer size, if said size of said data in said source storage object is greater than said base memory buffer size; and

transferring said data in said source storage object in accordance with said pseudo-segments;

thereby allowing segment descriptors designating a transfer of data of any size to be processed by said serverless backup system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said command is an EXTENDED COPY command.