Systems and methods for incremental restore

• US 7,913,116 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2008
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Van Riel, Henri H., Kenna, Herman Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel; Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Arcos; Jeison C
• Application Number:
  US12/038,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20090217085A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• Field of Search: 714/1, 714/4, 714/6, 714/52, 709/202, 709/203, 707/200, 707/202
• US Class Current: 714/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

An embodiment relates generally to a method of restoring data in storage systems. The method includes providing for a current snapshot of a primary storage system at a secondary storage system and mounting an empty volume in the primary storage system. The method also includes receiving a request for a selected block of data in the primary storage system and retrieving a restore block from the secondary storage system, where the restore block encompasses the selected block of data. The method further includes writing the restore block to the empty volume in the primary storage system as an incremental restore process.

Claims

1. A method of restoring data in storage systems, the method comprising:

mounting an empty volume in a primary storage system;

determining a set of most active blocks that restore to the empty volume;

restoring the set of most active blocks from a secondary storage system to the empty volume before restoring blocks that are not in the set of most active blocks;

receiving a request for a selected block of data in the primary storage system;

retrieving a restore block from the secondary storage system at a higher priority than the restoring, wherein the restore block encompasses the selected block of data; and

writing the restore block to the empty volume in the primary storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing a backup process simultaneously with the restoring and retrieving.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of most active blocks comprises:

analyzing access statistics maintained by the primary storage system to identify at least one most active block.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein restoring comprises:

copying current blocks from the secondary storage system to the empty volume; and

copying a history of file modifications from the secondary storage system to the empty volume, wherein the history of file modifications relates to a file in the current blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein restoring further comprises:

marking the set of most active blocks for prioritized restoring.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the set of most active blocks includes at least one active block that restores to the new volume.

7. A method of restoring data in storage systems, the method comprising:

storing a current snapshot of a primary storage system in a secondary storage system, wherein the secondary storage system backs up the primary storage system;

mounting an empty volume in the primary storage system;

executing a restore process that transfers blocks from the current snapshot in the secondary storage system to the empty volume of the primary storage system, prioritized according to an access activity level associated with each of the blocks;

receiving a request for a selected block of data in the primary storage system; and

writing the selected block from the secondary storage system to the empty volume in the primary storage system at a higher priority than the restore process.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

selecting a past snapshot; and

attaching a revision change containing information regarding a difference between the current snapshot and the past snapshot with the selected block.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the writing further comprises:

retrieving a restore block from the secondary storage system, wherein the restore block encompasses the selected block.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the writing the selected block to the empty volume in the primary storage system further comprises:

writing the restore block to the empty volume.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining at least one most active block in the secondary storage system; and

marking the at least one most active block for prioritized restoration in the primary storage system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one most active block is the at least one active block in a volume corresponding to the empty volume.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one most active block is the at least one active block in the current snapshot.

14. A system for restoring data, the system comprising:

a primary storage system, wherein the primary storage system comprises at least one disk drive having a new volume and a storage server;

a secondary storage system configured to provide a backup of data for the primary storage system, wherein the secondary storage system comprises at least a disk drive; and

a background restore module configured to execute by the storage server, wherein the background restore module is configured to perform operations comprising;

detecting the new volume;

determining a set of most active blocks that restore to the new volume;

restoring the set of most active blocks from the secondary storage system to the new volume before restoring blocks that are not in the set of most active blocks;

receiving a request for a selected block of data in the new volume of the primary storage system;

retrieving a restore block from the secondary storage system at a higher priority than the restoring, wherein the restore block encompasses the selected block of data; and

writing the restore block to the new volume.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the storage server is configured to execute a backup function simultaneously with the background restore module.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the set of most active blocks comprises:

analyzing access statistics maintained by the primary storage system to identify at least one active block.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the background restore module is further configured to perform operations comprising:

copying current blocks from the secondary storage system to the new volume; and

copying a history of file modifications from the secondary storage system to the new volume, wherein the history of file modifications relates to a file in the current blocks.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the background restore module is further configured to mark at least one block in the set of most active blocks for prioritized restoration in the primary storage system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the set of most active blocks includes at least one active block that restores to the new volume.