REGULATING A REPLICATION OPERATION

• US 20150032696A1
• Filed: 03/15/2012
• Published: 01/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Camble, Peter Thomas, Todd, Andrew, Nirmal, Ramadoss
• Granted Patent: US 9,824,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/634
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• 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: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC

Abstract

A technique includes determining at least one metric associated with a replication operation to replicate at least a portion of a first object stored on one of a client, a first storage appliance and a second storage appliance onto another one of the client, the first storage appliance and the second storage appliance. The technique further includes regulating the replication operation including selectively regulating at least one parameter of the replication operation based on the metric(s).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining at least one metric associated with a replication operation to replicate at least a portion of a first object stored on one of a client, a first storage appliance and a second storage appliance onto another one of the client, the first storage appliance and the second storage appliance; and

regulating the replication operation, the regulating comprising selectively regulating at least one parameter of the replication operation based at least in part on the at least one metric.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one metric comprises determining a metric associated with a performance of a prior or a current operation to replicate another object,

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the at least one metric comprises determining at least one of the following metrics:

a bandwidth of a link employed in the replication operation, a data compression ratio associated with the replication operation and a processing power of at least one of the client, the first storage appliance and the second storage appliance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the regulating comprises:

selectively weighting at least two of the at least one of the bandwidth, the data compression ratio and the processing power; and

regulating the replication operation based at least in part on the weighting.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the at least one metric associated with the replication operation comprises determining a first processor utilization associated with a client and a second processor utilization associated with the first storage appliance; and

selectively regulating comprises regulating a whether the client or the first storage appliance performs data compression in connection with the replication operation based on the determined first and second processor utilizations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the at least one metric associated with the replication operation comprises determining a data compression ratio associated with the replication operation; and

selectively regulating comprises regulating a whether the client or the first storage appliance performs data compression in connection with the replication operation based on the determined data compression ratio.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the at least one metric associated with the replication operation comprises determining a type of network used for routing replicated data; and

selectively regulating comprises regulating whether error correction codes or error detection codes are used in the replication operation based on the determined network type.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor-based metric analyzer to determine at least one metric associated with replication operation to replicate at least part of a first object stored on one of a client, a first storage appliance and a second storage appliance onto another one of the client, the first storage appliance and the second storage appliance; and

a processor-based replication controller to regulate the replication operation, the controller being adapted to selectively regulate at least one parameter of the replication operation based at least in part on the at least one metric.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the metric analyzer is adapted to determine a metric associated with a performance of a prior operation to replicate another object.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the metric analyzer is adapted to determine a metric associated with a performance of an operation to replicate the object.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the metric analyzer is adapted to determine a type of network used for routing replication data; and

the replication controller is adapted to regulate a buffer size used in the replicating based on the determined network type.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the metric analyzer is adapted to determine a first processor utilization associated with a client and a second processor utilization associated with the first storage appliance; and

the replication controller is adapted to regulate whether the client or the first storage appliance performs data compression in connection with the replication operation based on the determined first and second processor utilizations.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the metric analyzer is adapted to determine a data compression ratio associated with the replication operation; and

the replication controller is adapted to regulate whether the client or the first storage appliance performs data compression in connection with the replication operation based on the determined data compression ratio.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the metric analyzer is adapted to determine a type of network used for routing replication data; and

the replication controller is adapted to regulate whether error correction codes or error detection codes are used in the replication operation based on the determined network type.

15. An article comprising a computer readable storage medium to store instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:

determine at least one metric associated with a replication operation to replicate at least part of a first object stored on one of a client, a first storage appliance and a second storage appliance onto another one of the client, the first storage appliance and the second storage appliance; and

regulate the replication operation, the regulation comprising selectively regulating at least one parameter of the replication operation based at least in part on the at least one metric.