Workflows for series of snapshots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10055307-B2
Application number	US-201514755375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2015
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure is related to methods, systems, and machine-readable media for workflows for series of snapshots. A server can manage replication of a number of series of snapshots of a virtual computing instance (VCI). An on-host agent can replicate a parent series of the number of series of snapshots to at least one child series of the number of series of snapshots. The parent series can precede the at least one child series in the number of series of snapshots. A change in the parent series can be propagated to the child series. Management of the replication of the numbers of series of snapshots can be switched from the server to a different server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
managing, with a server, replication of a number of series of snapshots of a virtual computing instance (VCI);
replicating, with an on-host agent, a parent series of the number of series of snapshots to at least one child series of the number of series of snapshots, wherein the parent series precedes the at least one child series in the number of series of snapshots;
subsequent to the replicating, propagating a change in the snapshots of the parent series to the child series including propagating one or more snapshots from the parent series to the child series; and
switching management of the replication of the number of series of snapshots from the server to a different server, wherein switching management comprises:
determining that the different server has more resource availability than the first server,
deactivating replication of the parent series, and
activating management of the parent series by the different server including loading the parent series from a data store.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein switching the management to the different server comprises:
deactivating management by the server of the at least one child series; wherein data associated with the at least one child series is stored to the data store associated with the at least one child series.

3. The method of claim 2 , where switching management of the at least one child series to the different server further comprises:
activating management of the child series by the different server including loading the child series from the data store to the different server; and
linking the loaded series as parent and child.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching of the management of the parent series and the child series is initiated by at least one of a user and a manager engine of the server and the different server.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising pausing replication of the parent series, wherein the child series associated with the parent series replicates until the child series has completed replication of snapshots associated with the child series.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein replication of the parent series and the child series is based on a recovery point objective (RPO) that indicates a minimum time interval between each replication.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising suppressing the RPO after the child series has completed replicating the snapshots to avoid an error that would otherwise occur for a violation of the RPO.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising;
locating, in parallel, physical storage for the parent series and the child series; and
storing the parent series and the child series, in parallel, in the physical storage.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising updating the parent series and the child series in the physical storage when a change has occurred in at least one of the parent series and the child series.

10. A system, comprising:
one or more computers having one or more processors and one or more storage media having instructions that when executed perform operations comprising:
managing, with a server, replication of a number of series of snapshots of a virtual computing instance (VCI);
replicating, with an on-host agent, a parent series of the number of series of snapshots to at least one child series of the number of series of snapshots, wherein the parent series precedes the at least one child series in the number of series of snapshots;
subsequent to the replicating, propagating a change in the snapshots of the parent series to the child series including propagating one or more snapshots from the parent series to the child series; and
switching management of the replication of the number of series of snapshots from the server to a different server, wherein switching management comprises:
determining that the different server has more resource availability than the first server,
deactivating replication of the parent series, and
activating management of the parent series by the different server including loading the parent series from a data store.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein switching the management to the different server comprises:
deactivating management by the server of the at least one child series; wherein data associated with the at least one child series is stored to the data store associated with the at least one child series.

12. The system of claim 11 , where switching management of the at least one child series to the different server further comprises:
activating management of the child series by the different server including loading the child series from the data store to the different server; and
linking the loaded series as parent and child.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the switching of the management of the parent series and the child series is initiated by at least one of a user and a manager engine of the server and the different server.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions when executed further comprise pausing replication of the parent series, wherein the child series associated with the parent series replicates until the child series has completed replication of snapshots associated with the child series.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein replication of the parent series and the child series is based on a recovery point objective (RPO) that indicates a minimum time interval between each replication.

16. The system of claim 15 , comprising suppressing the RPO after the child series has completed replicating the snapshots to avoid an error that would otherwise occur for a violation of the RPO.

17. The system of claim 10 , comprising;
locating, in parallel, physical storage for the parent series and the child series; and
storing the parent series and the child series, in parallel, in the physical storage.

18. The system of claim 17 , comprising updating the parent series and the child series in the physical storage when a change has occurred in at least one of the parent series and the child series.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by a processing resource to cause a computing system to perform operations comprising:
managing, with a server, replication of a number of series of snapshots of a virtual computing instance (VCI);
replicating, with an on-host agent, a parent series of the number of series of snapshots to at least one child series of the number of series of snapshots, wherein the parent series precedes the at least one child series in the number of series of snapshots;
subsequent to the replicating, propagating a change in the snapshots of the parent series to the child series including propagating one or more snapshots from the parent series to the child series; and
switching management of the replication of the number of series of snapshots from the server to a different server, wherein switching management comprises:
determining that the different server has more resource availability than the first server,
deactivating replication of the parent series, and
activating management of the parent series by the different server including loading the parent series from a data store.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Ren Joanne
• Barry David W
• Farkas Keith
• Zucca Mike
• Valkanov Martin

Classifications

• G06F2201/84

  Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data · CPC title

• G06F11/2097

  maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated (initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups) · CPC title

• G06F11/1471

  involving logging of persistent data for recovery · CPC title

• G06F11/2094

  Redundant storage or storage space (G06F11/2056 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/1469

  Backup restoration techniques · CPC title