Handling a virtual data mover (VDM) failover situation by performing a network interface control operation that controls availability of network interfaces provided by a VDM

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10146649-B2
Application number	US-201715715787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2017
Priority date	Sep 30, 2016
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

A technique handles a VDM failover situation. The technique involves adjusting a configuration file on a first platform to indicate whether data managed by an initial VDM on that platform is being replicated to a second platform. The technique further involves, following a VDM failover event, creating a replacement VDM on the first platform to replace the initial VDM. The technique further involves, after the replacement VDM is created, performing an operation that controls interfaces provided by the replacement VDM. The operation enables the interfaces when the operation determines that the data managed by the initial VDM on the first platform was not being replicated to the second platform at the time of the event, and disables the interfaces when the operation determines that the data managed by the initial VDM on the first platform was being replicated to the second platform at that time of the event.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of handling a virtual data mover (VDM) failover situation, the method comprising:
electronically adjusting a configuration file on a first physical data mover platform to indicate whether data managed by an initial VDM on the first physical data mover platform is being replicated from the first physical data mover platform to a second physical data mover platform;
following a VDM failover event in which the initial VDM on the first physical data mover platform fails, electronically creating a replacement VDM on the first physical data mover platform that replaces the initial VDM; and
after the replacement VDM is created, performing a network interface control operation that controls availability of network interfaces provided by the replacement VDM, the network interface control operation (i) enabling a set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM when the network interface control operation determines from the configuration file that the data managed by the initial VDM on the first physical data mover platform was not being replicated from the first physical data mover platform to the second physical data mover platform at the time of the VDM failover event, and (ii) disabling the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM when the network interface control operation determines from the configuration file that the data managed by the initial VDM on the first physical data mover platform was being replicated from the first physical data mover platform to the second physical data mover platform at the time of the VDM failover event.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein a first copy of the data resides on a first storage array that is coupled to the first physical data mover platform; wherein the initial VDM initially manages the first copy of the data as a production version; and wherein the method further comprises:
prior to the failover event, enabling a set of network interfaces of the initial VDM to provide host computer access to the first copy of the data that resides on the first storage array.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein a second copy of the data resides on a second storage array that is coupled to the second physical data mover platform, the second copy of the data initially forming a secondary version; and wherein the method further comprises:
prior to the failover event, providing a replication service between the first physical data mover platform and the second physical data mover platform, the replication service replicating changes to the first copy of the data that resides on the first storage array to the second copy of the data that resides on the second storage array.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein the first copy of the data includes a production logical unit of storage (LUN); wherein the second copy of the data includes a secondary LUN; and wherein providing the replication service includes:
creating a synchronous replication session that synchronously replicates information from the production LUN to the secondary LUN.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the VDM failover event includes encountering a failure of the initial VDM; and wherein creating the replacement VDM on the first physical data mover platform includes:
in response to encountering the failure of the initial VDM, booting the replacement VDM on the first physical data mover platform to replace the initial VDM.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein encountering the failure of the initial VDM includes losing power to the first physical data mover platform; and wherein booting the replacement VDM includes:
in response to restoration of power to the first physical data mover platform, automatically instantiating the replacement VDM on the first physical data mover platform.

7. A method as in claim 3 wherein the VDM failover event causes creation of a secondary VDM on the second physical data mover platform, the secondary VDM managing host computer access to the second copy of the data that resides on the second storage array; and wherein performing the network interface control operation includes:
accessing configuration data from the configuration file, and
based on the configuration data, disabling the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM to prevent a conflict with a set of network interfaces of the secondary VDM.

8. A method as in claim 7 wherein accessing the configuration data from the configuration file includes:
reading a set of flags from the configuration file, the set of flags indicating that the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM should not be enabled, the set of flags having been set in response to creation of a replication session that replicates changes to the first copy of the data that resides on the first storage array to the second copy of the data that resides on the second storage array.

9. A method as in claim 8 wherein disabling the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM includes:
creating the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM, and
placing each network interface of the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM in a “DOWN” state that disables that network interface of the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM, while each network interface of the set of network interfaces of the secondary VDM in an “UP” state that enables that network interface of the set of network interfaces of the secondary VDM.

10. A method as in claim 3 wherein each network interface is defined by a respective Internet Protocol (IP) address through which an external host computer accesses at least a portion of the data over a computerized network.

11. A method as in claim 1 , further comprising:
after performing the network interface control operation that controls the availability of the network interfaces provided by the replacement VDM, (i) performing a check operation that determines whether the replacement VDM is on a standby side or an active side, (ii) permanently setting the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM to a disabled state when the check operation indicates that the replacement VDM is on the standby side, and (iii) setting the network interfaces of the replacement VDM to an enabled state when the check operation indicates that the replacement VDM is on the active side.

12. Data storage equipment, comprising:
memory; and
control circuitry coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions which, when carried out by the control circuitry, cause the control circuitry to:
electronically adjust a configuration file on a first physical data mover platform to indicate whether data managed by an initial virtual data mover (VDM) on the first physical data mover platform is being replicated from the first physical data mover platform to a second physical data mover platform,
following a VDM failover event in which the initial VDM on the first physical data mover platform fails, electronically create a replacement VDM on the first physical data mover platform to replace the initial VDM, and
after the replacement VDM is created, perform a network interface control operation that controls availability of network interfaces provided by the replacement VDM, the network interface control operation (i) enabling a set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM when the network interface control operation determines from the configuration file that the data managed by the initial VDM on the first physical data mover platform was not being replicated from the first physical data mover platform to the second physical data mover platform at the time of the VDM failover event, and (ii) disabling the set of network interfaces of the replacement VDM when the network

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Minghui
• Xiong Tianfang
• Wu Yuanyang
• Lu Yifeng
• Xu Hongru

Classifications

• G06F11/2069 Primary

  Management of state, configuration or failover · CPC title

• G06F11/2097

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

• G06F17/30215

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30088

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F11/2023

  Failover techniques · CPC title