Storage Aggregation Unit Replication for Virtualized Disaster Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage provisioning approaches for disaster recovery in cloud environments are often platform-specific and incur high overhead costs, limiting their efficiency and flexibility in virtualized environments.
Innovation Solution
A method for storage system-based replication in virtualized environments that allows dynamic enabling or disabling of replication status through an optimization algorithm to minimize data copy overhead, implemented across multiple storage aggregation units, enabling platform- and replication technology-agnostic flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing storage provisioning approaches are used for disaster recovery, then platform-specific replication can be implemented, but data copy overhead and costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the replication granularity parameter from traditional block-level or file-level to storage aggregation unit level, and introduces dynamic replication status parameters (enabled/disabled) that can be adjusted based on disaster recovery needs, thereby optimizing data copy overhead while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic replication status that can be enabled or disabled for different storage aggregation units based on disaster recovery requirements, allowing the replication behavior to adapt dynamically rather than being static across all storage resources
2Reliability
If traditional storage provisioning approaches are used, then replication can be implemented, but the system becomes platform-specific and less flexible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal storage aggregation unit abstraction layer that can work across different virtualization platforms and hypervisors, making the disaster recovery replication system platform-independent while maintaining reliable replication capabilities through standardized interfaces and mechanisms
3Reliability
If replication is enabled for all storage units, then disaster recovery coverage is maximized, but data copy overhead and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage system into multiple storage aggregation units, each with independent replication status control, allowing selective replication only for units that require disaster recovery coverage, thereby reducing overall data copy volume while maintaining adequate reliability coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements partial replication by enabling disaster recovery only for specific storage aggregation units that require it, rather than applying replication universally to all storage units, thus performing exactly the necessary amount of replication without excess
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer program products for storage system-based replication for disaster recovery in virtualized environments are provided herein. A computer-implemented method includes identifying, among multiple storage aggregation units within a virtualized environment, one or more of the storage aggregation units to undergo a change in disaster recovery replication status from (i) enabled to disabled or (ii) disabled to enabled; determining one of multiple mechanisms to execute the change in disaster recovery replication status for each of the identified storage aggregation units by (i) implementing an optimization algorithm to each of the multiple mechanisms and (ii) identifying the one of the multiple mechanisms that minimizes data copy overhead based on the optimization algorithm; and executing the change in disaster recovery replication status for each of the identified storage aggregation units within the virtualized environment in accordance with the one of the multiple mechanisms that minimizes data copy overhead.