Method and system for automatically constructing a replica catalog for maintaining protection relationship information between primary and secondary storage objects in a network storage system

• US 8,190,947 B1
• Filed: 02/11/2010
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Network Appliance Incorporated (NetApp, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chankhunthod, Anawat, Roussos, Konstantinos, Holl, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Baderman, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, KAMINI B
• Application Number:
  US12/704,327
• Time in Patent Office: 838 Days
• Field of Search: 714/15
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a technique for automatically constructing a replica catalog providing information otherwise unavailable due to a loss of or failure with the registry file for maintaining protection relationship information of primary and secondary storage objects by extracting storage object settings from an encoded attribute of the secondary storage object. An administrator provides protection relationship information for the primary and secondary storage objects at a remote computer system (e.g., protection manager), which may be automatically encoded in an attribute of the secondary storage object and stored in a replica catalog at the protection manager. A secondary storage server constructs the secondary storage object using the encoded attribute and stores data replicated from the primary storage object. If the replica catalog is lost, the replica catalog may be automatically reconstructed by retrieving the encoded attribute and extracting the protection relationship information from the encoded attribute.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing, in a network storage system, protection relationship information of a primary storage object protected by a secondary storage object in a replica catalog, the replica catalog located remotely to the primary storage object;

generating an encoded attribute of the secondary storage object using the protection relationship information;

constructing the secondary storage object using the encoded attribute;

detecting a failure with the replica catalog; and

constructing a new replica catalog by retrieving the encoded attribute from the secondary storage object and extracting protection relationship information from the encoded attribute.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the protection relationship information comprises a storage object setting of the primary storage object.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the replica catalog is stored at a protection manager connected to a primary storage server servicing the primary storage object and a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the new replica catalog is constructed at the protection manager.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the new replica catalog is constructed at the secondary storage server.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the encoded attribute is generated based on a storage object type of the primary storage object and an encoding convention associated with the storage object type.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the encoded attribute comprises requesting a storage object name and storage object type from a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object, and receiving the encoded attribute from the secondary storage server in response to the request.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein extracting protection relationship information comprises parsing the encoded attribute based on a storage object type of the secondary storage object and an encoding convention associated with the storage object type.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising an administrator supplying the protection relationship information by interfacing with a protection manager storing the replica catalog.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising updating the protection relationship information, the updating comprising:

updating protection relationship information stored in the replica catalog;

generating a new encoded attribute of the secondary storage object based on the updated protected relationship information; and

implementing the new encoded attribute at the secondary storage object.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a failure with the primary storage object;

retrieving a storage object setting of the primary storage object from the reconstructed replica catalog; and

constructing a new primary storage object using the storage object setting indicated in the reconstructed replica catalog.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

encoding, in a network storage system, a storage object setting of a primary storage object in an attribute of a secondary storage object, the secondary storage object configured in a protection relationship with the primary storage object;

detecting a failure with the primary storage object;

determining the storage object setting of the primary storage object by retrieving the attribute from the secondary storage object and extracting the storage object setting from the attribute; and

implementing the protection relationship between a reconstructed storage object and the secondary storage object by configuring the reconstructed storage object based on the extracted storage object setting.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the encoding is performed at a protection manager connected to a primary storage server servicing the primary storage object and a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the encoding is performed based on a storage object type of the primary storage object and an encoding convention associated with the storage object type.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein retrieving the attribute comprises requesting a storage object name and storage object type from a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object and receiving the attribute from the secondary storage server in response to the request.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein extracting the storage object setting comprises parsing the attribute based on a storage object type of the secondary storage object and an encoding convention associated with the storage object type.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further updating the storage object setting of the primary storage object, the updating comprising:

implementing a new storage object setting on the primary storage object;

generating a new attribute of the secondary storage object based on the new storage object setting; and

implementing the new attribute at the secondary storage object.

18. A system comprising:

an encoding engine for generating an attribute encoded with information of a protection relationship between a primary storage object and a secondary storage object;

a construction engine for configuring the secondary storage object to include the generated attribute; and

a cataloging engine for determining protection relationship information of the primary storage object by retrieving the attribute from the secondary storage object and extracting the protection relationship information from the retrieved attribute.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the encoding engine, construction engine, and cataloging engine are operative at a protection manager connected to a primary storage server servicing the primary storage object and a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the attribute is generated based on a storage object type of the primary storage object and an encoding convention associated with the storage object type.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein retrieving the attribute comprises requesting a storage object name and storage object type from a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object and receiving the attribute from the secondary storage server in response to the request.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein extracting the protection relationship information comprises parsing the attribute based on a storage object type of the secondary storage object and an encoding convention associated with the storage object type.

23. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving, by the encoding engine, an update to the protection relationship;

generating, by the encoding engine, a new attribute of the secondary storage object based on the update;

providing, by the construction engine, the new attribute to a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object.

24. A network storage system comprising:

a protection manager generating an attribute of a secondary storage object encoded with protection relationship information of a primary storage object protected by the secondary storage object and storing the attribute in a replica catalog;

a primary storage server servicing the primary storage object, the primary storage server replicating data to the secondary storage object according to the protection relationship information;

a secondary storage server servicing the secondary storage object configured with the attribute generated by the protection manager;

wherein upon a failure of the replica catalog and the primary storage object, performing;

constructing, by the protection manager, a new replica catalog using the attribute retrieved from the secondary storage object; and

constructing, by the primary storage server, a new primary storage object to implement the protection relationship with the secondary storage object using information stored in the new replica catalog.