Snapshot Chain Reverse Operation with Inline Garbage Collection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data management systems face inefficiencies in reversing snapshot chains due to the need for multiple read and write operations, especially when expired snapshots are involved, leading to increased latency and processing overhead.
Innovation Solution
Implementing inline garbage collection and consolidation during the reverse operation of snapshot chains, where data is written from expired snapshots to non-expired snapshots with empty data sets, thereby avoiding writes to expired snapshots and reducing the need for separate consolidation and garbage collection operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a reverse operation is performed on snapshot chains with expired snapshots, then data can be recovered, but multiple read and write operations are required including writes to expired snapshots, increasing latency and processing overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification of expired snapshots and their associated data partitions before executing the reverse operation. By pre-determining which data should not be written (expired data) and preparing the target snapshot structure in advance, the system avoids unnecessary write operations to expired snapshots during the reverse operation, thereby reducing latency while maintaining data recovery capability
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and separates the handling of expired snapshot data from the standard reverse operation流程. By identifying expired snapshots and their data partitions in advance, the system excludes these from the write operations during reverse, effectively removing the problematic writes to expired snapshots while preserving the ability to recover non-expired data
2Volume of stationary object
If separate consolidation and garbage collection operations are performed after reverse operation, then storage capacity is improved, but processing overhead and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the consolidation and garbage collection operations with the reverse operation into a single integrated process. By identifying expired snapshots and consolidating their data to non-expired snapshots during the reverse operation itself, the system eliminates the need for separate post-processing steps, thereby reducing processing overhead and latency while still achieving storage optimization
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous useful action by performing consolidation and garbage collection inline with the reverse operation rather than as separate batch processes. This continuous approach allows data to be consolidated and expired snapshots to be garbage collected in the same operation pass, improving efficiency and reducing total processing time
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for data management are described. A snapshot chain may include a full snapshot of a data block and incremental snapshots including changes to partitions of the data block since the full snapshot. A snapshot in the snapshot chain may be marked for deletion. A data management system (DMS) may perform an operation to convert a most recent incremental snapshot to a full snapshot. As part of the operation, the DMS may write, from snapshots in the snapshot chain that include data in different partitions of the data block, the data to more recent snapshots that satisfy conditions. The conditions may include the more recent snapshot not being marked for deletion and being a most recent snapshot in the snapshot chain that has an empty data set in the respective partition. As part of the operation, the DMS may delete snapshots that are marked for deletion.