Data protection using change-based measurements in block-based backup

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10496323-B2
Application number	US-201715667256-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2017
Priority date	Jun 5, 2014
Publication date	Dec 3, 2019
Grant date	Dec 3, 2019

Abstract

Data protection using change-based measurements in block-based backup is disclosed. Block change information indicating an extent of change associated with a volume may be determined. The block change information may be based at least in part on stored information indicating monitored changes to blocks in the volume. A backup operation may be initiated based at least in part on the determined block change information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
obtaining block change information, wherein at least part of the block change information indicates an extent of change associated with a volume, the block change information being based at least in part on stored information indicating block-level changes to a first set of one or more blocks in the volume or one or more access events with respect to a second set of one or more blocks in the volume;
determining a type of backup operation of a backup operation based at least in part on the block change information, the determining the type of backup operation comprising:
determining an extent of block-level changes to the first set of the one or more blocks;
determining an extent of access events with respect to the second set of the one or more blocks; and
determining the type of back up operation based at least in part on whether a combination of the extent of block-level changes to the first set of the one or more blocks and the extent of access events with respect to the second set of the one or more blocks exceeds a predefined threshold; and

initiating the backup operation based at least in part on the determined type of backup operation and the block change information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring the block change information, wherein the monitoring of the block change information comprises tracking block-level changes to the first set of one or more blocks in a volume, and storing the block change information, wherein the block change comprises information associated with the block-level changes and one or more access events with respect to a second set of one or more blocks in the volume.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating a backup operation includes:
determining that the block change information exceeds a threshold value;
determining an occurrence of a backup-trigger event based at least in part on the determination that the block change information exceeds the threshold; and
initiating the backup operation based at least in part on the determined occurrence.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving backup settings including the threshold value.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating a backup operation includes:
determining that the block change information satisfies a backup-trigger rule;
determining an occurrence of a backup-trigger event based at least in part on the determination that the rule has been satisfied; and
initiating the backup operation based at least in part on the determined occurrence.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the backup-trigger rule includes a combination of threshold values.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the backup-trigger rule includes two or more trigger conditions combined using logical operators.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extent of change includes a percentage change to blocks in the volume.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extent of change includes a number of blocks in the volume changed over a period of time.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the block change information comprises:
querying a data structure comprising the information indicating the monitored changes to the first set of one or more blocks in the volume; and
determining the block change information based at least in part on information received at least in part in response to the querying the data structure.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein querying the data structure comprises:
querying the data structure at predetermined intervals.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating the backup operation includes initiating an incremental backup of the first set of one or more blocks in the volume.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating the backup operation includes:
retrieving information identifying at least one of the first set of one or more blocks changed since a previous backup from a data structure comprising the information indicating monitored changes to blocks in the volume; and
initiating a backup operation to backup the identified at least one of the first set of one or more blocks.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising resetting the data structure based at least in part on a completion of the backup operation.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initiating the backup operation based at least in part on the determined block change information comprises:
determining that the extent of change exceeds one of a plurality of threshold values based at least in part on the block change information;
in response to a determination that the extent of change is determined to exceed a first threshold value,
determining that a first backup trigger event occurred; and
initiating a first backup operation based at least in part on the determined occurrence of the first backup trigger event, wherein the first backup operation is associated with the first backup trigger event and the first threshold value; and

in response to a determination that the extent of change is determined to exceed a second threshold value,
determining that a second backup trigger event occurred; and
initiating a second backup operation based at least in part on the determined occurrence of the second backup trigger event, wherein the second backup operation is associated with the second backup trigger event and the second threshold value.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the backup operation includes using a mapping of blocks in the volume with blocks in a backup volume in connection with backing up corresponding data.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the block change information comprises time information associated with a time at which a corresponding one or more blocks were changed.

18. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to:
obtain block change information, wherein at least part of the block change information indicates an extent of change associated with a volume, the block change information being based at least in part on stored information indicating block-level changes to a first set of one or more blocks in the volume or one or more access events with respect to a second set of one or more blocks in the volume;
determine a type of backup operation of a backup operation based at least in part on the block change information, to determine the type of backup operation comprising:
determining an extent of block-level changes to the first set of the one or more blocks;
determining an extent of access events with respect to the second set of the one or more blocks; and
determining the type of back up operation based at least in part on whether a combination of the extent of block-level changes to the first set of the one or more blocks and the extent of access events with respect to the second set of the one or more blocks exceeds a predefined threshold; and

initiate the backup operation based at least in part on the determined type of backup operation and the block change information.

19. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
obtaining block change information, wherein at least part of the block change information indicates an extent of change associated with a volume, the block change information being based at least in part on stored informati

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Chopra Shelesh
• Mandic Vladimir

Classifications

• G06F3/065 Primary

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/064

  Management of blocks · CPC title

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• G06F3/0683

  Plurality of storage devices · CPC title

• G06F11/1451 Primary

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title