Unified Snapshot Coordination for Storage Policy Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current snapshot technologies take inefficient snapshots of entire logical volumes even when only one application requests a snapshot, leading to unused data and increased resource utilization, and often exceed licensed snapshot limits due to the need for frequent snapshots.
Innovation Solution
An information management system that coordinates snapshot operations to take a single combined snapshot for multiple applications with similar snapshot frequencies, creating metadata to track which data belongs to which application, reducing the number of snapshots needed and optimizing resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a snapshot is taken of the entire logical volume to accommodate one application's request, then data integrity for the requesting application is ensured, but system resources are wasted due to capturing unused data from other applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the logical volume into application-specific data segments and creates snapshots only for the segments requested by applications. The snapshot manager identifies which portions of the volume belong to which applications and coordinates snapshots to capture only the necessary segments, thereby ensuring data integrity for requesting applications while avoiding waste of system resources on unused data.
2Reliability
If frequent snapshots are taken to meet licensed limits and ensure data protection, then data recovery capability is improved, but the number of snapshots exceeds licensed limits and increases storage costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple application snapshot requests into a single coordinated snapshot operation when multiple applications share the same logical volume. The snapshot manager detects when multiple applications require snapshots and coordinates a single snapshot that satisfies all their requirements simultaneously. This reduces the total number of snapshots from multiple individual snapshots to one combined snapshot, thereby improving data recovery capability while staying within licensed snapshot limits and reducing storage costs.
3Ease of operation
If individual snapshots are taken for each application requesting a snapshot, then each application gets its dedicated backup, but the total number of snapshots increases and resource efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal snapshot mechanism where a single snapshot operation serves multiple applications simultaneously. The snapshot manager creates a unified snapshot infrastructure that can satisfy the backup requirements of multiple applications through one coordinated operation. This multi-functional approach maintains application-specific backup capabilities while dramatically improving snapshot operation efficiency by reducing the total number of snapshot operations required.
Data Source
AI summary
An information management system according to certain aspects may determine whether storage operations will work prior to executing them. The system may check various factors or parameters relating to a storage policy to verify whether the storage policy will work at runtime without actually executing the policy. Some examples of factors can include: availability of primary storage devices, availability of secondary storage devices, license availability for performing that operation, user credentials for connecting to primary and/or second storage devices, available storage capacity, connectivity to storage devices, etc. The system may also check whether a particular system configuration is supported in connection with storage operations. The result of the determination can be provided in the form of a report summarizing any problems found with the storage policy. The report can include recommended courses of action or solutions for resolving any identified issues.