Replication System Role Reversal Using Pre-Stored File Handles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data replication methods between primary and secondary sites in disaster recovery setups often result in significant delays and data loss due to the need for snapshot creation and inode scanning, which are time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially when reversing roles after a failure.
Innovation Solution
A method that involves processing I/O operations such as create and rename operations to generate and store local attributes of files in both primary and secondary storage systems, allowing for immediate role reversal with minimal replication delay by using file handles to sync data directly when the primary replication system becomes available again.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If snapshot creation and inode scanning are used for role reversal, then data synchronization is achieved, but replication delay and data loss increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by storing file handle information in advance during normal replication operations. When role reversal is needed, the system can immediately use these pre-stored file handles to synchronize data without performing time-consuming snapshot creation and inode scanning, thus reducing replication delay while maintaining data synchronization reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the file handle information from the complete inode structure and stores it separately during normal operations. This extraction allows the system to quickly access and use only the necessary file handle data during role reversal, avoiding the need to scan entire inodes or create snapshots, thereby reducing replication delay while achieving data synchronization
2Reliability
If snapshot creation and inode scanning are performed, then data changes are identified, but computational resources and time are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and stores file handle information separately during normal replication. During role reversal, the system uses these pre-extracted file handles directly to identify data changes, eliminating the need for computationally intensive snapshot creation and inode scanning operations, thus improving role reversal speed while maintaining data synchronization reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates and stores copies of file handle information during normal operations. These copied file handles are then used during role reversal to quickly identify and synchronize data changes without performing resource-intensive snapshot creation and inode scanning, thereby improving productivity while ensuring data synchronization
3Reliability
If all inodes are queued for synchronization, then data consistency is ensured, but replication performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts file handle information from the complete inode structure and stores it separately during normal operations. During role reversal, the system uses these pre-extracted file handles to directly access and synchronize only the necessary files, avoiding the need to queue and process all inodes, thus improving replication speed while maintaining data consistency reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary extraction and storage of file handle information during normal replication. This preliminary action enables the system to quickly identify and synchronize only the necessary files during role reversal using the pre-stored file handles, rather than queuing all inodes for processing, thereby improving replication speed while ensuring data consistency
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are techniques for role reversal of primary and secondary sites with minimal replication delay. During a backup phase, an Input/Output (I/O) operation selected from a group comprising a create operation and a rename operation is received with one or more local attributes of a local file. The I/O operation is processed to generate one or more remote attributes. The one or more local attributes are stored with the one or more remote attributes. During a reversed phase, a write operation for the remote file is processed, and, the write operation is sent to the primary replication system with the one or more local attributes, where the primary replication system uses a local file handle in the one or more local attributes to access the local file for processing the write operation to sync the local file with the remote file.