Provisioning and managing replicated data instances

• US 9,336,292 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2012
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: McAlister, Grant Alexander MacDonald, Sivasubramanian, Swaminathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Leroux, Etienne
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US13/621,044
• Publication Number:
  US 20130066834A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,333 Days
• Field of Search: 707/634, 707/617
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; 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], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0766 Error or fault reporting or storing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2076 Synchronous techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A replicated database can be provisioned that provides primary and secondary replicas located in different data zones or geographical locations. The database can be installed on the primary replica, and both the primary and secondary replica can include a block level replication mechanism that allows any I/O operation to be replicated between the replicas. Any failure of the primary replica can be addressed by performing a failover operation to the secondary replica. A DNS name or other such approach can be used such that the name can be aliased to the secondary replica during a failover. The creation of the database and provisioning of the replicated instance can be initiated using a Web service call to a control environment. A replicated database can also be scaled according to storage or computing capacity with no disruption of service using a Web service call to the control environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of creating a replicated database, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

providing an interface to enable one or more service requests to be submitted to a control environment, each of the one or more service requests corresponding to a respective specified action to be performed with respect to a database in a data environment, the control environment being separate from the data environment;

obtaining a service request to create a replicated database through the interface;

causing a first instance replica and a second instance replica for the replicated database to be provisioned in the data environment via a workflow service in the control environment, the workflow service generating one or more workflow tasks corresponding to the service request and providing a respective state for the one or more workflow tasks;

causing a replication mechanism to be configured for the replicated database to apply any write operation of the first instance replica to the second instance replica;

providing a Domain Name System (DNS) name or network address information associated with the first instance replica to enable access to the replicated database via the first instance replica; and

automatically causing the DNS name or the network address information associated with the first instance replica to be associated with the second instance replica upon a failure of the first instance replica.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first instance replica and the second instance replica are provisioned in a single data zone, in separate data zones at separate geographical locations, in a single data zone across multiple geographical locations, or across multiple data zones in a single geographical region.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interface enables specification of at least one of a first location where the first instance replica is to be provisioned or a second location where the second instance replica is to be provisioned.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more workflow tasks correspond to one or more host tasks to be performed by one or more host managers in the data environment.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein causing the first instance replica to be provisioned in the data environment comprises at least one of causing the first instance replica to be instantiated, causing one or more block storage volumes to be allocated and attached for the first instance replica, causing a security group to be created that performs functions similar to a firewall for the replicated database, causing a host manager for the first instance replica to be installed and started, causing the block storage volumes for the first instance replica to be mounted, causing a file system for the first instance replica to be created, causing one or more logical volumes for the first instance replica to be created, causing the replication mechanism to be started, causing a security mechanism to be installed for the host manager, cause a database engine for the first instance replica to be downloaded and installed, causing a root password for the first instance replica to be updated, causing a root user to be created for the first instance replica, or starting the first instance replica.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein causing the second instance replica to be provisioned in the data environment comprises at least one of causing the second instance replica to be instantiated, causing to be taken one or more block storage snapshots of one or more first block storage volumes of the first instance replica, causing a scale compute of the second instance replica to be performed, causing a host manager for the second instance replica to be started, causing second block storage volumes for the second instance replica to be mounted, causing the first instance replica and the second instance replica to be connected, or starting the second instance replica.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interface enables a non-replicated database to be converted to the replicated database.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interface enables specification of one of a plurality of database engines for the replicated database.

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

monitoring for failure of the first instance replica or the second instance replica using one or more monitoring components in the control environment.

10. A computer-implemented method of scaling storage for a replicated database, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

providing an interface to enable one or more service requests to be submitted to a control environment, each of the one or more service requests corresponding to a respective specified action to be performed with respect to a database in a data environment, the control environment being separate from the data environment;

obtaining a service request to scale storage for a replicated database through the interface;

executing a workflow via a workflow service in the control environment for causing scaling of the storage for a first instance replica and a second instance replica of the replicated database, the workflow service generating one or more workflow tasks corresponding to the service request and providing a respective state for the one or more workflow tasks;

causing a replication mechanism of the replicated database to be resized according to a respective new configuration for each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica, the replication mechanism configured to apply any write operation of the first instance replica to the second instance replica; and

automatically causing a DNS name or network address information associated with the first instance replica to be associated with the second instance replica upon a failure of the first instance replica.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the service request is based upon at least one of a user request, user preferences, or configuration information.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the one or more workflow tasks correspond to at least one of modifying an existing number of respective block storage volumes of each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica to a new number of block storage volumes, causing one or more of the block storage volumes to be rebalanced according to the new number of block storage volumes, causing one or more respective logical volumes for each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica to be resized according to the new number of block storage volumes, and causing a respective file system for each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica to be resized according to the new number of block storage volumes.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein executing the workflow for scaling the storage for the first instance replica and the second instance replica comprises:

executing a first portion of the workflow for scaling the storage for the second instance replica to completion before beginning execution a second portion of the workflow for scaling the storage for the first instance replica;

causing the first instance replica to failover to the second instance replica; and

executing the second portion of the workflow for scaling the storage for the first instance replica.

14. A computer-implemented method of scaling computing capacity for a replicated database, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

providing an interface to enable one or more service requests to be submitted to a control environment, each of the one or more service requests corresponding to a respective specified action to be performed with respect to a database in a data environment, the control environment being separate from the data environment;

obtaining, through the interface, a service request to scale computing capacity for a replicated database having at least a first instance replica and a second instance replica;

causing a third instance replica and a fourth instance replica for the replicated database to be provisioned in the data environment according to a specified compute class via a workflow service in the control environment, the workflow service generating one or more workflow tasks and providing a respective state for the one or more workflow tasks;

causing a replication mechanism to be configured for the replicated database to apply any write operation of the third instance replica to the fourth instance replica;

causing a DNS name or network address information associated with the first instance replica to be associated with the third replica; and

automatically causing the DNS name or the network address information associated with the third instance replica to be associated with the fourth instance replica upon a failure of the third instance replica.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the service request is based upon at least one of a user request, user preferences, or configuration information.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the one or more workflow tasks comprise at least one of causing each of the third instance replica and the fourth instance replica to be instantiated according to the specified compute class, causing one or more respective block storage volumes to be detached from each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica, causing a respective file system for each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica to be unmounted, causing one or more respective logical volumes for each of the first instance replica and the second instance replica to be deactivated, causing the one or more block storage volumes to be attached respectively to the third instance replica and the fourth instance replica, causing a host manager for each of the third instance replica and the fourth instance replica to be installed and started, causing the one or more respective logical volumes for each of the third instance replica and the fourth instance replica to be activated, and causing the respective file system for each of the third instance replica and the fourth instance replica to be mounted.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the third instance replica is provisioned prior to the fourth instance replica, the method further comprising:

causing the first instance replica to failover over to the third instance replica upon the third instance replica being provisioned.

18. A system for creating a replicated database, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

enable one or more service requests to be received to a control environment, each of the one or more service requests corresponding to a respective action to be performed with respect to a database in a data environment, the control environment being separate from the data environment;

obtain a service request to create the replicated database;

cause a first instance replica and a second instance replica for a replicated database to be provisioned in the data environment via a workflow service in the control environment, the workflow service generating one or more workflow tasks corresponding to the service request and providing a respective state for the one or more workflow tasks;

cause a replication mechanism to be configured for the replicated database to apply any write operation of the first instance replica to the second instance replica;

provide a DNS name or network address information associated with the first instance replica to enable access to the replicated database via the first instance replica; and

automatically cause the DNS name or network address information associated with the first instance replica to be associated with the second instance replica upon a failure of the first instance replica.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first instance replica and the second instance replica are provisioned in a single data zone, in separate data zones at separate geographical locations, in a single data zone across multiple geographical locations, or across multiple data zones in a single geographical region.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the service request to create the replicated database specifies at least one of a first location where the first instance replica is to be provisioned or a second location where the second instance replica is to be provisioned.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more workflow tasks correspond to one or more host tasks to be performed by one or more host managers in the data environment.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for creating a replicated database, the instructions when executed by a processor causing the processor to:

expose an interface for receiving one or more requests at a control environment to cause a respective specified action to be performed with respect to a database in a data environment, the control environment being separate from the data environment;

obtain a request to create a replicated database at the control environment;

cause a replicated database to be provisioned in the data environment via a workflow service in the control environment, the replicated database including at least a first instance replica, a second instance replica, and a replication mechanism configured to apply any write operation of the first instance replica to the second instance replica, the workflow service generating one or more workflow tasks corresponding to the request and providing a respective state for the one or more workflow tasks;

provide a DNS name or network address information associated with the first instance replica to enable access to the replicated database via the first instance replica; and

automatically cause the DNS name or the network address information associated with the first instance replica to be associated with the second instance replica upon a failure of the first instance replica.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the interface enables specification of at least one of a first location where the first instance replica is to be provisioned or a second location where the second instance replica is to be provisioned.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein one or more workflow tasks correspond to one or more host tasks to be performed by one or more host managers in the data environment.