Efficient flashcopy backup and mount, clone, or restore collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation from a shared resource pool

• US 9,817,718 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2014
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dain, Joseph W., Kishi, Gregory T., Shasha, Osnat, Zaremba, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Sadler, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US14/243,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20150286430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

For efficient Flashcopy backup and a mount, clone, or restore task collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation with reuse and from a shared resource pool, dynamically using a Flashcopy target volume for the Flashcopy backup from a global pool of Flashcopy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes for avoiding a collision between the Flashcopy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task.

Claims

1. A method for efficient point-in-time copy backup and a mount, clone, or restore task collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation from a shared resource pool by a processor device in a computing environment, the method comprising:

dynamically using a point-in-time copy target volume for the point-in-time copy backup from a global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes, the plurality of device classes comprising a plurality of backup management application initiators, for avoiding a collision between the point-in-time copy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task; and

performing at least one attempt to reuse the existing point-in-time copy target volume in a point-in-time copy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the point-in-time copy chain have been ingested into a repository;

wherein if the at least one attempt to reuse the existing point-in-time copy target volume fails;

allocating a new point-in-time copy target volume for the point-in-time copy backup, the new point-in-time copy target volume allocated to avoid the collision between the point-in-time copy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task when the existing point-in-time copy target volume contains an older point-in-time copy backup being ingested into the repository.

2. The method of claim 1, further including maintaining the global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes.

3. The method of claim 2, further including performing at least one of:

determining whether the existing point-in-time copy target volume are currently being used as a source for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, and the restore task, and

dynamically allocating the new target volume or reusing the existing point-in-time copy target volume.

4. The method of claim 1, further including performing at least one of:

creating a point-in-time copy map, and

creating the consistency group of point-in-time copy backup target volumes.

5. The method of claim 4, further including retrieving at least one of a target volume and the consistency group from the global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes for dynamically allocating the new target volume for the new point-in-time copy backup.

6. The method of claim 1, further including performing the at least one attempt during a predefined threshold prior to dynamically allocating the new target volume.

7. A system for efficient point-in-time copy backup and mount, clone, or restore collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation from a shared resource pool in a computing environment, the system comprising:

at least one processor device operable in the computing storage environment, wherein processor device;

dynamically uses a point-in-time copy target volume for the point-in-time copy backup from a global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes, the plurality of device classes comprising a plurality of backup management application initiators, for avoiding a collision between the point-in-time copy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task; and

performs at least one attempt to reuse the existing point-in-time copy target volume in a point-in-time copy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the point-in-time copy chain have been ingested into a repository;

wherein if the at least one attempt to reuse the existing point-in-time copy target volume fails;

allocating a new point-in-time copy target volume for the point-in-time copy backup, the new point-in-time copy target volume allocated to avoid the collision between the point-in-time copy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task when the existing point-in-time copy target volume contains an older point-in-time copy backup being ingested into the repository.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor device maintains the global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor device performs at least one of:

determining whether the existing point-in-time copy target volume are currently being used as a source for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, and the restore task, and

dynamically allocating the new target volume or reusing the existing point-in-time copy target volume.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor device performs at least one of:

creating a point-in-time copy map, and

creating the consistency group of point-in-time copy backup target volumes.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor device performs retrieving at least one of a target volume and the consistency group from the global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes for dynamically allocating the new target volume for the new point-in-time copy backup.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor device performs the at least one attempt during a predefined threshold prior to dynamically allocating the new target volume.

13. A computer program product for efficient point-in-time copy backup and mount, clone, or restore collision avoidance using dynamic volume allocation from a shared resource pool in a computing environment by a processor device, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion that dynamically uses a point-in-time copy target volume for the point-in-time copy backup from a global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes shared by a plurality of device classes, the plurality of device classes comprising a plurality of backup management application initiators, for avoiding a collision between the point-in-time copy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task; and

performs at least one attempt to reuse the existing point-in-time copy target volume in a point-in-time copy chain of target volumes after the target volumes in the point-in-time copy chain have been ingested into a repository;

wherein if the at least one attempt to reuse the existing point-in-time copy target volume fails;

allocating a new point-in-time copy target volume for the point-in-time copy backup, the new point-in-time copy target volume allocated to avoid the collision between the point-in-time copy backup and the mount, the clone, or the restore task when the existing point-in-time copy target volume contains an older point-in-time copy backup being ingested into the repository.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, further including a second executable portion that maintains the global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further including a third executable portion that performs at least one of:

determining whether the existing point-in-time copy target volume are currently being used as a source for at least one of the mount task, the clone task, and the restore task, and

dynamically allocating the new target volume or reusing the existing point-in-time copy target volume.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further including a fourth executable portion that performs at least one of:

creating a point-in-time copy map, and

creating the consistency group of point-in-time copy backup target volumes.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further including a fifth executable portion that performs retrieving at least one of a target volume and the consistency group from the global pool of point-in-time copy backup target volumes for dynamically allocating the new target volume for the new point-in-time copy backup.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further including a sixth executable portion that performs the at least one attempt during a predefined threshold prior to dynamically allocating the new target volume.