Distributed computing system with resource managed database cloning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11487624-B2
Application number	US-201916569290-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2019
Priority date	Jan 23, 2015
Publication date	Nov 1, 2022
Grant date	Nov 1, 2022

Abstract

When multiple backup database instances most recently experienced an update is determined. If a most recently updated backup database instance was updated within a defined time period of one or more other backup database instances, a source instance for cloning is selected as the backup database instance that satisfies at least one of a physical or logical proximity criteria relative to a designated database instance. If a difference in update times is greater than the defined time period, e.g., for the two most recent backup database instances, the source instance for cloning is selected to be the most recently updated backup database instance. Cloning to a target instance is performed using the selected backup database instance as a source instance as long as preparatory operations all pass. If not, the source databases are used for the cloning while still being accessible to clients.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for cloning database instances, comprising:
a control device coupled to computerized servers through a network, wherein the computerized servers comprise a first computerized server and a second computerized server, wherein at least some of the computerized servers are configured to store backup database instances respectively constructed by copying data from another database stored in the first computerized server or the second computerized server, the control device comprising:
a processor; and
machine-readable instructions stored in a non-transitory storage medium that cause the control device to perform a cloning operation at least in part by:
identifying a most recently updated one of the backup database instances as a first backup database instance;
identifying another of the backup database instances that was updated most recently after the first backup database instance as a second backup database instance;
upon a first condition that that a time difference between an update time of the first backup database instance and an update time of the second backup database instance is less than a defined value, selecting, as a source instance for cloning, one of the first backup database instance or the second backup database instance satisfying at least one of a geographical proximity criterion or a logical proximity criterion with respect to a designated database instance, wherein the logical proximity criterion is based on whether the first backup database instance or the second backup database instance is hosted by a particular computerized server of the computerized servers that also hosts the designated database instance;
upon a second condition that the time difference is greater than the defined value, selecting, as the source instance for cloning, the second backup database instance; and
cloning the source instance to the designated database instance, wherein cloning the source instance to the designated database instance comprises copying data associated with the source instance from one or more of the computerized servers that stores the data associated with the source instance to the particular computerized server that hosts the designated database instance.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:
a first datacenter coupled to the network, wherein the first datacenter comprises the first computerized server; and
a second datacenter coupled to the network, wherein the second datacenter comprises the second computerized server, wherein the control device is located within a control center separate from the first datacenter and the second datacenter.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the control center is configured to receive a command or event trigger to initiate the cloning from one of the first datacenter or the second datacenter.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the designated database instance is located at a third computerized server within the first datacenter or the second datacenter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable instructions comprise instructions that cause the control device to perform the cloning at least in part by receiving a command or event trigger to initiate the cloning.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the computerized servers are disposed in respective datacenters of a plurality of datacenters coupled to the network, and the control device receives the command or the event trigger from one of the plurality of datacenters.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising machine-readable records listing update times when each of the backup database instances most recently experienced an update.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable instructions comprise instructions that cause the control device to perform the cloning at least in part by:
conducting preparatory operations comprising conducting a preflight check, provisioning the designated database instance, or both; and
in response to failure of at least one of the preparatory operations, using a processing node as the source instance.

9. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable code executable by one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes a control device to perform operations for cloning database instances, comprising:
identifying a most recently updated one of a plurality of backup database instances as a first backup database instance, wherein at least some of the plurality of backup database instances were constructed by copying data from one of a primary database or a secondary database;
identifying another of the plurality of backup database instances that was updated most recently after the first backup database instance as a second backup database instance;
upon a first condition that a time difference between an update time of the first backup database instance and an update time of the second backup database instance is less than a defined value, selecting, as a source instance for cloning, one of the first backup database instance or the second backup database instance satisfying at least one of a geographical proximity criterion or a logical proximity criterion with respect to a designated database instance, wherein the logical proximity criterion is based on whether the first backup database instance or the second backup database instance is hosted by a particular computerized server of the computerized servers that also hosts the designated database instance;
upon a second condition that the time difference is greater than the defined value, selecting, as the source instance for cloning, the second backup database instance;
conducting a preparatory operation; and
upon passing of the preparatory operation, cloning the source instance to the designated database instance, wherein cloning the source instance to the designated database instance comprises copying data associated with the source instance from one or more of the computerized servers that store the data associated with the source instance to a corresponding computerized server that hosts the designated database instance.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the preparatory operation comprises passing each of a plurality of preparatory operations.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable code for cloning the source instance to the designated database instance comprises computer-readable code executable by the one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the control device to perform operations comprising:
re-pointing an application node from a previously-created backup database to the designated database instance.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11 , comprising computer-readable code executable by the one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the control device to perform operations comprising:
rolling back of the designated database instance to the previously-created backup database for a defined time period after the application node is linked to the designated database instance.

13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises computer-readable code executable by the one or more processors that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the control device to perform the cloning upon failure of any one of the plurality of preparatory operations by performing operations comprising:
cloning the primary database or the secondary database to the designated database instance while ma

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Wang Paul
• Ye Xiaoyi
• Lu Xuejia
• Chandrashekar Sridhar

Classifications

• G06F16/27

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title

• G06F16/275

  Synchronous replication · CPC title

• G06F2201/80

  Database-specific techniques · CPC title

• G06F11/1448 Primary

  Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore · CPC title