Methods of consistent data protection for multi-server applications

• US 8,250,036 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2010
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Elrom, Ofer, Raichstein, Eran, Tevis, Gregory J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Xue, Belinda
• Application Number:
  US12/960,366
• Publication Number:
  US 20110078115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/639
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/273 Asynchronous replication or reconciliation

Abstract

A system according to one embodiment includes at least one processor configured to: receive a request to perform a snapshot of data associated with an application running on multiple servers; instruct I/O Freezers on different servers to freeze data requests from instances of the application running on the servers; and instruct the I/O Freezers to initiate snapshot processing on the data associated with the application so that the I/O Freezers perform the snapshot processing within the same window of synchronization.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive a request to perform a snapshot of data associated with an application running on multiple servers;

instruct In/Out (I/O) Freezers on the servers to freeze data requests from instances of the application running on the servers; and

instruct the In/Out Freezers to initiate snapshot processing on the data associated with the application so that the In/Out Freezers perform the snapshot processing within a same window of synchronization,

wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

automatically discover the servers running instances of the application;

automatically discover storage devices associated with each instance of the application;

determine whether the In/Out Freezers have frozen the data requests after instructing the In/Out Freezers on the servers to freeze the data requests;

determine whether the In/Out Freezers have initiated the snapshot processing; and

after determining that all of the In/Out Freezers have initiated the snapshot processing, instruct the In/Out Freezers to no longer freeze data requests.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the servers is a virtual server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the In/Out Freezers initiates a portion of the snapshot, the portion being associated with the instance of the application running on a same server as the In/Out Freezer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine an association of the In/Out Freezers with the application.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine an association of the application with a data storage device coupled to a server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to automatically discover storage devices and the servers associated with each instance of the application.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is configured to automatically discover operating system and configuration information associated with each instance of the application.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the discovering is performed upon occurrence of a predefined event.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to instruct the In/Out Freezers to no longer freeze data requests.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein data requests made during the freezing are copied and applied after the In/Out Freezers are instructed to no longer freeze the data requests.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the snapshot operation takes a snapshot of the data within a window of synchronization.

12. A system, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

automatically discover servers running instances of an application;

automatically discover storage devices associated with each instance of the application;

receive a request to perform a snapshot of data associated with an application running on the servers;

instruct In/Out (I/O) Freezers on the servers to freeze data requests from instances of the application running on the servers;

determine whether the In/Out Freezers have frozen the data requests;

after determining that all of the In/Out Freezers have frozen the data requests, instruct the In/Out Freezers to initiate snapshot processing on the data associated with the application so that the In/Out Freezers perform the snapshot processing within the same window of synchronization;

determine whether the In/Out Freezers have initiated the snapshot processing; and

after determining that all of the In/Out Freezers have initiated the snapshot processing, instruct the In/Out Freezers to no longer freeze data requests.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine an association of the In/Out Freezers with the application.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

automatically discover operating system and configuration information associated with each instance of the application.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein data requests made during the freezing are copied and applied after the In/Out Freezers are instructed to no longer freeze the data requests.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein data requests from the instances of the application are rejected during the freezing.

17. A system, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

automatically discover servers running instances of an application;

automatically discover storage devices associated with each instance of the application;

automatically discover operating system and configuration information associated with each instance of the application;

receive a request to perform a snapshot of data associated with an application running on multiple servers;

determine an association of In/Out (I/O) Freezers on the servers with the application;

instruct the In/Out Freezers on different servers to freeze data requests from instances of the application running on the servers;

determine whether the In/Out Freezers have frozen the data requests;

after determining that all of the In/Out Freezers have frozen the data requests, instruct the In/Out Freezers to initiate snapshot processing on the data associated with the application so that the In/Out Freezers perform the snapshot processing within the same window of synchronization;

determine whether the In/Out Freezers have initiated the snapshot processing; and

after determining that all of the In/Out Freezers have initiated the snapshot processing, instruct the In/Out Freezers to no longer freeze the data requests,

wherein the data requests made during the freezing are copied and applied after the In/Out Freezers are instructed to no longer freeze the data requests.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the discovering is performed at predetermined intervals.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the discovering is performed upon occurrence of a predefined event.