Storage system with data consistency checking in synchronous replication using active snapshot set

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11288286-B2
Application number	US-201916253793-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2019
Priority date	Jan 22, 2019
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

An apparatus comprises at least one processing device configured to define a consistency group comprising a plurality of storage volumes subject to replication from a source storage system to a target storage system. In conjunction with a transition from asynchronous replication of the consistency group to synchronous replication of the consistency group, the at least one processing device completes a current asynchronous replication cycle, utilizes a current asynchronous snapshot set on the target storage system to establish an active snapshot set on the target storage system, transfers differential data of a subsequent asynchronous replication cycle to the active snapshot set on the target storage system, specifies the active snapshot set on the target storage system as a destination of the synchronous replication, and performs a data consistency check on the target storage system utilizing an additional snapshot set generated from the active snapshot set.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory;
said at least one processing device being configured:
to define a consistency group comprising a plurality of storage volumes subject to replication from a source storage system to a target storage system;
in conjunction with a transition from asynchronous replication of the consistency group to synchronous replication of the consistency group:
to complete a current asynchronous replication cycle;
to utilize a current asynchronous snapshot set on the target storage system to establish an active snapshot set on the target storage system;
to transfer differential data of a subsequent asynchronous replication cycle to the active snapshot set on the target storage system;
to specify the active snapshot set on the target storage system as a destination of the synchronous replication; and
to perform a data consistency check on the target storage system utilizing an additional snapshot set generated from the active snapshot set;
wherein transferring differential data of a subsequent asynchronous replication cycle to the active snapshot set on the target storage system comprises transferring differential data representing a differential between a previous asynchronous snapshot set of the consistency group on the source storage system and a current asynchronous snapshot set on the source storage system, the current asynchronous snapshot set on the source storage system corresponding to the current asynchronous snapshot set on the target storage system that was utilized to establish the active snapshot set; and
wherein performing a data consistency check on the target storage system utilizing an additional snapshot set generated from the active snapshot set comprises:
generating the additional snapshot set from the active snapshot set;
refreshing the consistency group on the target storage system to the additional snapshot set; and
performing the data consistency check utilizing the refreshed consistency group.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one processing device is implemented at least in part within at least one of the source storage system and the target storage system.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said at least one processing device comprises at least a portion of a storage controller of at least one of the source storage system and the target storage system.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the storage volumes comprise respective logical storage volumes each comprising at least a portion of a physical storage space of one or more storage devices.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a given one of the snapshot sets comprises a plurality of snapshot trees each associated with a different one of the storage volumes of the consistency group.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a given one of the snapshot trees corresponding to a particular one of the storage volumes comprises:
a root node;
at least one branch node; and
a plurality of leaf nodes;
wherein a given one of the leaf nodes comprises a snapshot providing a particular point-in-time copy of the storage volume.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein a given one of the snapshot trees is associated with one or more additional trees including at least one of:
a dirty tree that characterizes updates to logical addresses of the corresponding storage volume; and
a hash tree comprising content-based signatures of respective ones of the logical addresses of the corresponding storage volume.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein specifying the active snapshot set on the target storage system as a destination of the synchronous replication comprises:
specifying the active snapshot set on the target storage system as the destination of the synchronous replication responsive to the synchronous replication not being in an active-active configuration; and
specifying the consistency group on the target storage system as the destination of the synchronous replication responsive to the synchronous replication being in an active-active configuration.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein refreshing the consistency group on the target storage system to the additional snapshot set comprises performing a snap-and-reassign operation for the consistency group utilizing the additional snapshot set.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one processing device is further configured to perform a replication failover operation for the synchronous replication.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein performing the replication failover operation comprises:
terminating a current session of synchronous replication from the source storage system to the target storage system;
generating a failover snapshot set from the active snapshot set;
refreshing the consistency group on the target storage system to the failover snapshot set; and
initiating a new session of synchronous replication from the target storage system to the source storage system.

12. A method comprising:
defining a consistency group comprising a plurality of storage volumes subject to replication from a source storage system to a target storage system;
in conjunction with a transition from asynchronous replication of the consistency group to synchronous replication of the consistency group:
completing a current asynchronous replication cycle;
utilizing a current asynchronous snapshot set on the target storage system to establish an active snapshot set on the target storage system;
transferring differential data of a subsequent asynchronous replication cycle to the active snapshot set on the target storage system;
specifying the active snapshot set on the target storage system as a destination of the synchronous replication; and
performing a data consistency check on the target storage system utilizing an additional snapshot set generated from the active snapshot set;
wherein transferring differential data of a subsequent asynchronous replication cycle to the active snapshot set on the target storage system comprises transferring differential data representing a differential between a previous asynchronous snapshot set of the consistency group on the source storage system and a current asynchronous snapshot set on the source storage system, the current asynchronous snapshot set on the source storage system corresponding to the current asynchronous snapshot set on the target storage system that was utilized to establish the active snapshot set;
wherein performing a data consistency check on the target storage system utilizing an additional snapshot set generated from the active snapshot set comprises:
generating the additional snapshot set from the active snapshot set;
refreshing the consistency group on the target storage system to the additional snapshot set; and
performing the data consistency check utilizing the refreshed consistency group; and
wherein the method is implemented by at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein a given one of the snapshot sets comprises a plurality of snapshot trees each associated with a different one of the storage volumes of the consistency group.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein refreshing the consistency group on the target storage system to the additional snapshot set comprises performing a snap-and-reassign operation for the consistency group utilizing the additional snapshot set.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
performing a replication failover operation for the synchronous replication;
wherein per

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Harduf Yuval
• Chen Xiangping
• Meiri David

Classifications

• G06F16/2246

  Trees, e.g. B+trees · CPC title

• G06F16/273

  Asynchronous replication or reconciliation · CPC title

• G06F16/275 Primary

  Synchronous replication · CPC title

• G06F16/128

  Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations or in hardware G06F11/14, G06F11/16) · CPC title

• G06F16/2365

  Ensuring data consistency and integrity · CPC title