Delta Backup Snapshot Tree for Fast Restore
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current backup and restore methods require significant storage and bandwidth to recover a system to a specific point in time, as they involve transferring full and incremental backup snapshots, leading to inefficiencies and increased recovery times.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a fully hydrated backup snapshot system using a tree data structure that tracks changes and clones snapshot trees, allowing for the identification and transfer of only the necessary data blocks that have changed since the last backup, thereby reducing the data needed for recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full backup snapshots and incremental backup snapshots are stored at a secondary storage system, then backup completeness is improved, but storage space requirement increases and data transfer time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the backup data into change blocks (modified since last backup) and unchanged blocks. Only change blocks are stored in the incremental backup snapshot, while unchanged blocks reference the parent snapshot. This segmentation reduces redundant storage while maintaining complete backup capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested snapshot structure where child snapshots are nested within parent snapshots. The child snapshot contains only the changes (delta) relative to the parent, creating a nested hierarchy where inner snapshots reference outer snapshots for unchanged data. This reduces total storage while preserving all backup states.
2Reliability
If all backup snapshots are transferred from secondary storage to primary system, then recovery completeness is improved, but recovery time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary change blocks from the incremental backup snapshot during recovery, rather than transferring all backup data. The recovery process identifies which blocks have changed since the parent snapshot and transfers only those blocks, significantly reducing transfer time while ensuring complete recovery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary identification of changed blocks before the actual data transfer during recovery. By pre-processing the snapshot hierarchy to determine which blocks need to be transferred, the system prepares the minimal necessary data set in advance, reducing the actual recovery time when disruption occurs.
3Volume of stationary object
If incremental backup snapshots are used to reduce storage, then storage efficiency is improved, but recovery complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (snapshot manager or file system driver) that handles the complexity of navigating the snapshot hierarchy and identifying changed blocks. This intermediary abstracts the complex recovery process, presenting a simple interface to users while managing the intricate details of delta reconstruction automatically.
Data Source
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AI summary
An indication of one or more changes to file system data since a last backup snapshot is received. One or more changes to the file system data between a requested backup version and the last backup snapshot are determined. One or more data blocks corresponding to the one or more changes to the file system data since the last backup snapshot and one or more data blocks corresponding to the one or more changes to file system data between the requested backup version and the last backup snapshot are provided to a primary system.