Dynamic Journal Snapshot Replication via Bookmark Extraction
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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, which hinder continuous data protection and minimize downtime.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a fully dynamic journal with a punch command and thin LUNs to efficiently replicate snapshots between production and replication sites, allowing for on-demand journal size adjustment and optimized storage usage, enabling efficient data replication and recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If continuous data protection is implemented using journaling to enable recovery to any specified point in time, then the ability to recover to any point in time is improved, but the journal size increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the journal into multiple smaller journals, where each journal stores a specific time window of data changes. This allows the system to maintain the ability to recover to any point in time while keeping each individual journal size manageable. The segmentation principle divides the large journal into manageable portions that can be independently managed and accessed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested structure where multiple journals are organized in a hierarchical manner, with journals containing subsets of the total data change history. This nesting allows efficient access to specific time periods without requiring the entire journal to be loaded or managed as a single large structure, optimizing both recovery capability and storage efficiency.
2Reliability
If snapshots are replicated between production and replication sites, then data protection is improved, but data transmission time and network bandwidth consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential bookmark information (metadata indicating snapshot points) from the full data set and transmits this extracted information to the replication site. Instead of transmitting entire snapshots or full journal data, the system extracts and transmits only the critical bookmark markers, significantly reducing data transmission time and network bandwidth consumption while maintaining data protection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates lightweight bookmark copies that represent snapshot points without copying the actual snapshot data. These bookmark copies serve as references that enable recovery to specific points in time without requiring the transmission and storage of large amounts of actual data, thus reducing transmission time while maintaining protection reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a large journal is maintained to enable recovery to any point in time, then recovery flexibility is improved, but storage space consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the journal storage into multiple smaller journals, each managing a specific time window or portion of the data change history. This segmentation maintains recovery flexibility by preserving access to any time period while optimizing storage space by allowing individual journals to be managed, compressed, or archived independently based on their age and importance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a mechanism where older journal data can be discarded or archived after it is no longer needed for active recovery operations, while the ability to recover to those time periods is preserved through bookmark references. This allows the system to maintain recovery flexibility for historical data without consuming excessive storage space, as the actual data can be discarded while the recovery capability is maintained through metadata references.
Data Source
AI summary
Example embodiments of the present invention provide methods for replicating a production site snapshot to a replication site. A first example embodiment creates a snapshot of the production volume at the production site and creates a bookmark in a do metadata stream. The bookmark may be sent to the replication site and, when processed from the do metadata stream at the replication site, cause the replication site to create a snapshot of the replication volume according to the bookmark. A second example embodiment replicates to a replication site snapshot by generating a list of differences between the production site snapshot and the replication site snapshot and performs replication according to the differences. The differences may include differences between the production site volume and the production site snapshot, differences between the production site volume and the replication site volume and differences between the replication site volume and the replication site snapshot.