System and method for transferring data between different raid data storage types for current data and replay data

• US 9,489,150 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2012
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell International LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell International LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Aszmann, Lawrence E., Klemm, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iqbal, Nadeem
• Application Number:
  US13/465,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,646 Days
• Field of Search: 714 1- 57
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2056 by mirroring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2089 Redundant storage control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a data storage system including a RAID subsystem having a first and second type of RAID storage. A virtual volume configured to accept I/O is stored on the first type of RAID storage, and snapshots of the virtual volume are stored on the second type of RAID storage. A method of the present disclosure includes providing an active volume that accepts I/O and generating read-only snapshots of the volume. In certain embodiments, the active volume is converted to a snapshot. The active volume includes a first type of RAID storage, and the snapshots include a second type of RAID storage. The first type of RAID storage has a lower write penalty than the second type of RAID storage. In typical embodiments, the first type of RAID storage includes RAID 10 storage and the second type of RAID storage includes RAID 5 and/or RAID 6 storage.

Claims

1. A method for transferring data between data storage types of a RAID storage system comprising:

providing an active volume of data storage space that accepts I/O; and

generating a read-only snapshot of the active volume;

wherein the active volume comprises a first type of RAID storage and the read-only snapshot comprises a second type of RAID storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second type of RAID storage comprises at least one of RAID 5 or RAID 6 storage.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of RAID storage comprises RAID 10 storage.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second type of RAID storage comprises at least one of RAID 5 or RAID 6 storage.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a view volume of the read-only snapshot that may accept I/O.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the view volume comprises a third type of RAID storage.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third type of RAID storage is the same as the first type of RAID storage.

8. A method of transferring data between data storage types of a RAID storage system comprising:

providing an active volume comprising a first type of RAID storage, the active volume configured to accept I/O; and

converting the active volume to a read-only Point-In-Time Copy of the active volume;

wherein converting the active volume to a read-only Point-In-Time Copy comprises transferring the data from the first type of RAID storage to a second type of RAID storage.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first type of RAID storage has a lower write penalty than the second type of RAID storage.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second type of RAID storage comprises at least one of RAID 5 or RAID 6 storage.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first type of RAID storage comprises RAID 10 storage.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second type of RAID storage comprises at least one of RAID 5 or RAID 6 storage.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a view volume of the read-only snapshot that may accept I/O, wherein the view volume comprises the first type of RAID storage.

14. A data storage system comprising:

a RAID subsystem comprising a first and second type of RAID storage;

a virtual volume configured to accept I/O, the virtual volume stored on the first type of RAID storage; and

one or more read-only snapshots of the virtual volume stored on the second type of RAID storage.

15. The data storage system of claim 14, wherein the first type of RAID storage has a lower write penalty than the second type of RAID storage.

16. The data storage system of claim 15, wherein the second type of RAID storage comprises at least one of RAID 5 or RAID 6 storage.

17. The data storage system of claim 15, wherein the first type of RAID storage comprises RAID 10 storage.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second type of RAID storage comprises at least one of RAID 5 or RAID 6 storage.