Hierarchical Consistency Group for Storage Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional storage systems using single-level consistency groups (CGs) are inefficient as they require multiple operations to configure and manage multiple CGs, leading to increased complexity and resource consumption, especially for applications with multiple related volumes.
Innovation Solution
A hierarchical consistency group (CG) object model is introduced, allowing a parent CG to be associated with child CGs, enabling atomic provisioning, automatic volume association, and shared quality of service policies, which simplifies management and reduces operational overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple consistency groups are managed separately in conventional storage systems, then data protection is maintained, but management complexity and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple consistency groups into a hierarchical structure where parent CGs contain child CGs. This allows related CGs to be managed together through a single API call, reducing management complexity while maintaining individual CG protection capabilities. The hierarchical structure enables batch operations on multiple CGs simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments consistency groups into hierarchical levels (parent and child CGs) with specific containment relationships. This segmentation allows for organized management where child CGs can be independently configured within parent CGs, providing both granularity and consolidation for management purposes.
2Reliability
If multiple consistency groups are configured individually, then data protection is ensured, but provisioning time and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the provisioning of multiple consistency groups into a single atomic API call. When a parent CG is provisioned, all child CGs are automatically provisioned simultaneously in the same operation. This eliminates the need for sequential provisioning of multiple CGs, significantly improving provisioning efficiency and reducing resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements automatic provisioning of child CGs as a preliminary action within the parent CG provisioning process. When a parent CG is created, the system automatically creates all associated child CGs before the parent CG becomes operational, ensuring all necessary structures are in place without requiring additional manual provisioning steps.
3Reliability
If multiple consistency groups are managed separately, then data protection is maintained, but quality of service management becomes cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges quality of service (QoS) management into the hierarchical CG structure. QoS policies can be applied at parent CG level and automatically propagate to child CGs, or be individually configured at child CG level. This unified approach simplifies QoS management compared to handling multiple separate CGs independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The hierarchical CG structure provides universal QoS management capability that works across all CG levels. The same QoS management mechanisms apply whether managing a single CG or multiple CGs at different hierarchical levels, reducing the operational burden of managing QoS across multiple separate CG structures.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for using a hierarchical consistency group (CG) in a storage system are provided. A parent CG is associated with at least a first child CG having a plurality of storage volumes. An atomic application programming interface (API) provisions the parent CG and the first child CG by allocating storage and storing policies for the parent CG and the first CG. A storage service selected from a backup service, a replication service and a cloning service for the parent CG and the first CG is executed based on the stored policies.