Snapshot Lineage Migration to Cloud Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current information processing systems face challenges in efficiently managing and migrating snapshots between local and cloud storage, particularly in ensuring data integrity and cost-effectiveness across multiple storage arrays and platforms.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a snapshot and file tiering management service that creates a virtual device to link selected snapshots, determines subsets of data to copy, and transfers them from local storage to cloud storage, utilizing snapshot policies for efficient archiving and recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If snapshots are stored locally on storage devices, then data accessibility and performance are improved, but storage costs and device capacity consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the storage architecture from a single local storage dimension to a multi-dimensional hierarchy by introducing cloud storage as an additional layer. Snapshots are distributed across local storage devices and cloud storage based on policy criteria, transforming the monolithic storage approach into a layered architecture that optimizes both accessibility and capacity utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The snapshot storage function is segmented between local storage devices and cloud storage. Different portions of the snapshot lineage are placed in different storage locations based on their access patterns and importance, with critical snapshots remaining local and less critical ones moved to cloud storage, thereby resolving the contradiction between accessibility and capacity consumption.
2Quantity of substance
If snapshots are migrated to cloud storage, then storage costs are reduced, but data migration complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing snapshot lineages and identifying candidates for cloud migration before actual data transfer. The snapshot policy is configured in advance to automatically determine which snapshots should be migrated, allowing the system to prepare and stage data movements without causing operational disruptions or excessive migration times.
Solution Approach 2:
The snapshot migration process is made self-service through automated policy-based decision-making. The system autonomously identifies snapshots eligible for cloud migration, initiates the transfer process, and manages the migration without requiring manual intervention, thereby reducing both migration time and operational complexity.
3Quantity of substance
If snapshot policies are enforced for cloud migration, then storage cost optimization is improved, but system complexity and management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The snapshot policy mechanism serves multiple functions simultaneously: it identifies snapshots for cloud migration, determines migration timing, manages data integrity, and coordinates the actual transfer process. This multi-functional policy engine reduces the need for separate management systems and procedures, thereby optimizing storage costs without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges snapshot management functions with the existing storage system infrastructure. The snapshot policy is integrated into the storage controller's existing operations, combining snapshot creation, management, and cloud migration coordination into a unified system rather than adding separate complex management layers.
4Reliability
If virtual devices are created to link snapshots, then data integrity and accessibility are maintained, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual device creates and maintains references to snapshot data rather than duplicating the actual data. The virtual device structure stores metadata pointers to snapshot locations (both local and cloud-based), allowing data integrity to be maintained through reference management rather than through complex data duplication and synchronization mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus comprises a processing device configured to identify a snapshot lineage comprising (i) a local snapshot lineage stored on a storage system and (ii) a cloud snapshot lineage stored on cloud storage of a cloud external to the storage system. The processing device is also configured to select, in accordance with a snapshot policy, a snapshot in the local snapshot lineage to copy to the cloud snapshot lineage. The processing device is further configured to create a virtual device on the storage system, to link the selected snapshot to the virtual device, to determine data of the selected snapshot that is to be copied from the virtual device to a cloud storage volume on the cloud storage, and to copy the selected snapshot to the cloud snapshot lineage by copying the determined data from the virtual device to the cloud storage volume.