Pre-created Recovery Disks for VM Disaster Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing disaster recovery processes in data protection environments are inefficient due to the time-consuming process of filling recovery disks with segmented backup data, which can lead to increased costs and resource utilization, especially when dealing with large VMs, as they require significant storage space and processing time.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that intelligently pre-creates recovery disks only for selected backup copies in a cloud storage environment, determining the maximum number of new or modified segments that can be stored without requiring a new full disk backup, and using snapshots to store differential data efficiently, thereby reducing storage needs and DR time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If full disks are created for each backup copy to reduce DR time, then recovery time is improved, but storage space and processing resources are significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the disk into segments and creates backup copies of only the changed segments rather than the entire disk. This segmentation allows the system to store minimal data for each backup while still enabling full disk recovery when needed, thus reducing storage space requirements while maintaining acceptable DR time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent pre-creates empty full disk images before actual backup operations. These pre-created disks are prepared in advance with the correct structure and size, so when a disaster occurs, the system only needs to fill in the changed segments rather than creating the entire disk structure during recovery, thereby reducing DR time without requiring full disks to be created for each backup.
2Quantity of substance
If segmented backup copies are used to save storage space, then storage costs are reduced, but DR process time is significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-creates empty full disk images in advance and maintains a mapping between segments and their locations. When a disaster occurs, the system has the complete disk structure ready and only needs to copy the changed segments to the appropriate locations, dramatically reducing DR process time compared to creating entire disks from scratch while still using space-efficient segmented storage.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of copying entire disks for each backup, the patent copies only the changed segments to pre-created empty disk images. This selective copying approach reduces storage space requirements while the pre-creation of disk images ensures that the recovery process can quickly assemble the complete disk structure without time-consuming creation operations.
3Loss of time
If recovery disks are created and filled with data upon backup creation, then DR time is reduced, but processing time and resources are significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the backup process into creating empty disk images (quick operation) and copying only changed segments (minimal data transfer). This segmentation allows the system to spend minimal processing time creating backup copies while the pre-created disk images ensure fast recovery, thus improving productivity by reducing the time and resources required for backup operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs the time-consuming disk creation operation in advance during backup time, creating empty full disk images that are ready for rapid population during recovery. This preliminary action shifts the processing burden from the critical recovery path to the non-critical backup path, reducing DR time without significantly increasing the processing time and resources required for routine backup operations.
Data Source
AI summary
One example method includes receiving data segments that are not already part of a full disk image of a backup, storing the data segments in storage, determining whether or not an aggregate total of data segments in the storage, that are not already part of a full disk image of a backup, equals or exceeds a threshold, when the aggregate total of data segments in the storage equals or exceeds the threshold, creating a full disk image of a backup that includes the data segments in storage, and storing the created full disk image of the backup to a recovery disk.