Replicating selected snapshots from one storage array to another, with minimal data transmission
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- creating a snapshot of a production volume at a production site storage array;
creating a bookmark indicative of a point in time the snapshot of the production volume was created;
replicating the bookmark from a production site replication appliance to a replication site replication appliance; and
creating a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by creating a snapshot of a replication volume at a replication site storage array according to the replicated bookmark.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Example embodiments of the present invention provide methods for replicating a production site snapshot to a replication site. A first example embodiment creates a snapshot of the production volume at the production site and creates a bookmark in a do metadata stream. The bookmark may be sent to the replication site and, when processed from the do metadata stream at the replication site, cause the replication site to create a snapshot of the replication volume according to the bookmark. A second example embodiment replicates to a replication site snapshot by generating a list of differences between the production site snapshot and the replication site snapshot and performs replication according to the differences. The differences may include differences between the production site volume and the production site snapshot, differences between the production site volume and the replication site volume and differences between the replication site volume and the replication site snapshot.
161 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
creating a snapshot of a production volume at a production site storage array; creating a bookmark indicative of a point in time the snapshot of the production volume was created; replicating the bookmark from a production site replication appliance to a replication site replication appliance; and creating a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by creating a snapshot of a replication volume at a replication site storage array according to the replicated bookmark. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A system comprising:
-
a production site, comprising a production site replication appliance and a production site storage array, configured to create a snapshot of a production volume at the production site storage array, create a bookmark indicative of a point in time the snapshot of the production volume was created, and replicate the bookmark to a replication site; and a replication site, comprising a replication site replication appliance and a replication site storage array, configured to create a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by creating a snapshot of a replication volume at the replication site storage array according to the replicated bookmark. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A computer-program product including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-program code that, when executed on a processor of a computer, cause the computer to replicate a snapshot, the computer-program code comprising:
-
computer-program code for creating a snapshot of a production volume at a production site storage array; computer-program code for creating a bookmark indicative of a point in time the snapshot of the production volume was created; computer program code for replicating the bookmark from a production site replication appliance to a replication site replication appliance; and computer program code for creating a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by creating a snapshot of a replication volume at a replication site storage array according to the replicated bookmark. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
-
-
12. A method comprising:
-
generating, by one or more splitters, a list of differences between a snapshot of a production site volume at a production site storage array and a snapshot of a replication site volume at a replication site storage array, the production site volume replicated to the replication site volume via a production site replication appliance and a replication site replication appliance; replicating the list of differences between the snapshot of the production site volume at the production site storage array and the snapshot of the replication site volume at the replication site storage array via the production site replication appliance and the replication site replication appliance; and creating a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by applying the replicated list of differences at the replication site storage array to the snapshot of the replication volume at the replication site storage array. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A system comprising:
-
a production site comprising a production site replication appliance and a production site storage array; a replication site comprising a replication site replication appliance and a replication site storage array; and one or more splitters configured to generate a list of differences between a snapshot of a production site volume at the production site storage array and a snapshot of a replication site volume at the replication site storage array; the production site replication appliance configured to replicate the production site volume, the list of differences between the snapshot of the production site volume at the production site storage array, and the snapshot of the replication site volume at the replication site storage array to the replication site via the replication site replication appliance; and the replication site replication appliance configured to create a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by applying the replicated list of differences at the replication site storage array to the snapshot of the replication volume at the replication site storage array. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A computer-program product including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-program code that, when executed on a processor of a computer, cause the computer to replicate a snapshot, the computer-program code comprising:
-
computer-program code for generating, by one or more splitters, a list of differences between a snapshot of a production site volume at a production site storage array and a snapshot of a replication site volume at a replication site storage array, the production site volume replicated to the replication site volume via a production site replication appliance and a replication site replication appliance; computer-program code for replicating the list of differences between the snapshot of the production site volume at the production site storage array and the snapshot of the replication site volume at the replication site storage array via the production site replication appliance and the replication site replication appliance; and computer-program code for creating a replica of the snapshot of the production volume at the production site storage array at the replication site storage array by applying the replicated list of differences at the replication site storage array to the snapshot of the replication volume at the replication site storage array. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
-
Specification