IO Alignment for Continuous Data Replication on Deduplicated Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional data protection systems face challenges such as system shutdown during backups, limited recovery points, and lengthy data recovery processes, especially when using periodic backups or traditional data replication methods.
Innovation Solution
Implementing continuous data replication on deduplicated storage systems that create initial backup snapshots and maintain journals for synthesizing new snapshots, allowing for point-in-time recovery while reducing storage consumption and network traffic through continuous data protection and alignment of IOs with deduplicated block sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional periodic backup systems are used, then storage capacity is sufficient for backup operations, but system shutdown is required during backup and recovery time is excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous data replication where backup operations run continuously in the background without requiring system shutdown. The replication process continuously copies data from production storage to backup storage, maintaining uninterrupted backup operations that can be restored at any point in time, thereby eliminating both system shutdown requirements and excessive recovery times.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary backup actions by continuously replicating data in real-time before any potential failure occurs. This ensures that up-to-date backup copies are already available on backup storage, eliminating the need for time-consuming recovery operations and allowing immediate restoration if needed.
2Reliability
If traditional data replication methods are used, then data protection is provided, but storage consumption is high and network traffic is excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes duplicate data blocks from the replication process by implementing deduplication technology. Instead of replicating entire datasets, the system identifies and eliminates redundant data blocks, storing only unique blocks on backup storage. This significantly reduces storage consumption while maintaining complete data protection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of data representation by using block-level deduplication and compression techniques. Data is transformed from full-block replication to reference-based storage where multiple references point to the same unique block, reducing the quantity of stored data while preserving data integrity and protection.
3Productivity
If continuous data replication is implemented on deduplicated storage, then storage efficiency is improved, but IO alignment issues arise that can affect synthesis performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary alignment of I/O operations to deduplicated block boundaries before data synthesis operations. By pre-aligning the I/O requests to match the deduplication block structure, the system ensures that subsequent synthesis operations can efficiently reconstruct data without misalignment penalties, thereby maintaining both storage efficiency and synthesis performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary alignment layer between the I/O subsystem and the deduplicated storage backend. This intermediary component translates and aligns incoming I/O operations to the deduplication block boundaries, ensuring that data operations maintain proper alignment while preserving the storage efficiency benefits of deduplication.
Data Source
AI summary
The system, process, and methods herein describe a mechanism for aligning IOs with block sizes. The alignment may occur on a data protection appliance as part of a continuous replication process. The IO offset may be rounded down, and the size may be rounded up, so that each is a multiple of the block size.