Checkpoint Recovery Using Change Block Tracking Driver
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing backup/restore applications require unnecessary data recovery and restoration of unchanged blocks, leading to inefficiencies in restoring data to a previous state, as they read and restore all blocks instead of identifying and recovering only changed blocks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a change block tracking driver to identify and recover only the changed blocks since a specified point in time, using incremental backup files and sector bitmaps to determine which blocks need to be restored, thereby reducing the data to be read and restored.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all blocks are read and restored during checkpoint recovery, then complete data restoration is ensured, but recovery time and processing resources are significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and identifies only the changed blocks since the checkpoint time using a change block tracking driver and sector bitmaps, rather than processing all blocks. This selective extraction of necessary data blocks significantly reduces recovery time while maintaining restoration completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by recovering only the subset of blocks that have changed since the checkpoint, rather than performing excessive action of recovering all blocks. This is achieved through change block tracking that identifies only the necessary blocks for restoration.
2Reliability
If all blocks are processed during incremental backup, then comprehensive backup coverage is achieved, but backup speed and efficiency are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the blocks that have changed since the last backup using change block tracking, rather than processing all blocks during incremental backup. This selective approach maintains comprehensive backup coverage for changed data while significantly improving backup speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by performing backup operations only on the subset of changed blocks rather than all blocks. This reduces the backup workload and increases productivity while ensuring that all necessary changes are captured.
3Productivity
If change block tracking is implemented to identify only changed blocks, then recovery efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases due to additional tracking mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a change block tracking driver as an intermediary layer between the file system and storage, which maintains sector bitmaps to track changed blocks. This intermediary mechanism enables efficient identification of changed blocks without requiring complex modifications to the core backup/restore application logic.
Data Source
AI summary
Check point recovery based on identifying changed blocks for block-based backup files is described. At least one data block is identified that changed for a system since a point in time in response to receiving a request to restore the system based on the point in time. At least one data block, corresponding to the identified at least one data block, is recovered from at least one backup file for the system, without reading each data block backed up via the at least one backup file for the system. The system is restored based on the recovered at least one data block.