Cross-Region Snapshot Replication Using Provenance ID Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing file system replication technologies lack efficiency and consistency in maintaining snapshot data during replication between different cloud infrastructure regions, leading to resource wastage and potential data integrity issues.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing provenance IDs to identify matching snapshots across regions, allowing for efficient replication by transferring only deltas and employing in-region cloning when necessary, along with control plane communication to manage snapshot creation and deletion requests for consistency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full snapshot replication is performed between regions, then data consistency is ensured, but network traffic and cloud resources are wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the changed portions (deltas) from snapshots rather than replicating entire snapshots. The system identifies and transfers only the differences between snapshot versions, significantly reducing network traffic while maintaining data consistency. This is achieved through provenance ID comparison to determine what has changed.
Solution Approach 2:
The replication process is segmented into identifying base snapshots, determining deltas, and transferring only necessary data portions. The system divides the replication task into manageable segments based on provenance ID matching, allowing efficient resource utilization while ensuring consistency.
2Reliability
If snapshots are replicated across regions, then fault tolerance is improved, but cloud resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and replicates only the essential changed data portions rather than complete snapshots. By using provenance IDs to track changes, the patent replicates minimal necessary data to maintain fault tolerance across regions, reducing cloud resource consumption for storage and processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by replicating only the necessary portions of snapshot data (deltas) rather than complete snapshots. This partial replication approach maintains sufficient fault tolerance while optimizing cloud resource utilization by avoiding redundant data transfer.
3Productivity
If provenance ID matching is implemented, then replication efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The provenance ID serves multiple functions: it uniquely identifies snapshots, tracks changes across regions, enables delta identification, and facilitates base snapshot matching. This universal identifier simplifies the overall system by consolidating multiple tracking functions into a single mechanism, making the complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-generating and storing provenance IDs with snapshots before replication occurs. This preliminary tagging allows for efficient matching and delta identification during replication without requiring complex real-time analysis, reducing the computational complexity during the actual replication process.
4Loss of energy
If in-region cloning is used for matched snapshots, then network traffic is reduced, but additional storage operations are required
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts matched snapshots locally within the target region through cloning rather than importing them from source regions. This extraction of already-persisted snapshots eliminates unnecessary cross-region network traffic while the cloning operation is performed efficiently within the same region, managing storage operations locally.
Data Source
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AI summary
Techniques are described for efficient replication and maintaining snapshot data consistency during file storage replication between file systems in different cloud infrastructure regions. In certain embodiments, provenance IDs are used to efficiently identify a starting point (e.g., a base snapshot) for a cross-region replication process, conserve cloud resources while reducing network and IO traffic. In certain embodiments, snapshot creation and deletion requests that occur during cross-region replications may be temporarily withheld until appropriate times to execute such requests safely, depending on the timing relationship between such requests and cross-region replication cycles.