Unordered idempotent replication operations
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of replicating data residing in a data container of a source storage server, the method comprising:
- creating a snapshot of the data container;
identifying changes in the data container of the source storage server over a period of time by comparing the snapshot with a previous snapshot, the previous snapshot corresponding to an earlier replication operation; and
asynchronously transferring the changes in the data container of the source storage server to a destination storage server in a stream of individual data units without first determining a relationship between the data units and a directory structure of a file system associated with the data container to replicate the data container of the source storage server in the destination storage server at a logical block level without regard to differences in geometry of physical persistent storage of the source and destination storage servers, and without regard to differences in data container format of the source and destination storage servers.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
At least certain embodiments disclose a method and apparatus for replicating a file system at the logical block level in an unordered stream of individual data units. In at least certain embodiments, the replication operations include creating a snapshot of a file system of a source storage system, identifying changes in the file system since a previous replication operation by comparing the snapshot with a previous snapshot created during the earlier replication operation, and asynchronously transferring the identified changes to a destination storage system in an unordered stream of individual data units.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A method of replicating data residing in a data container of a source storage server, the method comprising:
-
creating a snapshot of the data container; identifying changes in the data container of the source storage server over a period of time by comparing the snapshot with a previous snapshot, the previous snapshot corresponding to an earlier replication operation; and asynchronously transferring the changes in the data container of the source storage server to a destination storage server in a stream of individual data units without first determining a relationship between the data units and a directory structure of a file system associated with the data container to replicate the data container of the source storage server in the destination storage server at a logical block level without regard to differences in geometry of physical persistent storage of the source and destination storage servers, and without regard to differences in data container format of the source and destination storage servers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A method of replicating data residing in a data container of a source storage server, the method comprising:
-
receiving, at a destination storage server from a source storage server, a stream of individual data units transferred without a relationship between the data units and a directory structure of a file system associated with the data container having been determined, the stream of individual data units including changes in the data container of the source storage server since a previous replication operation; and replicating the changes in the data container of the source storage server at the destination storage server at a logical block level using the stream of individual data units without regard to differences in geometry of physical persistent storage of the source and destination storage servers and without regard to differences in data container format of the source and destination storage servers. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A source storage system comprising:
-
a processor; a network interface through which the source storage system can communicate with a destination storage server; a storage manager configured to perform asynchronous replication operations, the storage manager including; a snapshot differential module configured to; create a snapshot of a data container stored in a source storage server; and identify changes in the data container of the source storage server over a period of time by comparing the snapshot with a previous snapshot, the previous snapshot corresponding to an earlier replication operation; and a source replication engine coupled with the snapshot differential module, the source replication engine configured to transfer the changes in the data container of the source storage server to the destination storage server in a stream of individual data units without first determining a relationship between the data units and a directory structure of a file system associated with the data container to replicate the data container of the source storage server in the destination storage server at a logical block level without regard to either differences in geometry of physical persistent storage of the source and destination storage servers or differences in data container format of the source and destination storage servers. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A destination storage system comprising:
-
a processor; a network interface through which the destination storage system can communicate with a source storage system; a storage manager configured to perform asynchronous replication operations, the storage manager including; a destination replication engine configured to receive from a source storage server a stream of individual data units transferred without a relationship between the data units and a directory structure of a file system associated with the source storage server having been determined, the stream of individual data units including changes in a data container of the source storage server since a previous replication operation; and a write allocation module coupled with the destination replication engine, the write allocation module configured to replicate the changes in the data container of the source storage server at a destination storage server at a logical block level using the stream of individual data units without regard to differences in geometry of physical persistent storage of the source and destination storage servers, and without regard to differences in data container format of the source and destination storage servers. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
Specification