Data replication using active and passive data storage modes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11748004-B2
Application number	US-201916403417-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2019
Priority date	May 3, 2019
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

Described herein, system that facilitates replication of data in a geographically distributed storage environment. According to an embodiment, a system can comprise determining whether a data storage system is in an active data storage mode or a passive data storage mode. In active data storage mode, the data storage system can accept connections from an application, permit the application to store new data objects, replicate the new data objects to other data storage systems, and accept replicated data. In passive data storage mode, the data storage system can block storage of new data objects by the application while accepting replicated data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A data storage system, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
determining whether the data storage system is in an active data storage mode or a passive data storage mode in connection with data stored on behalf of an application;
in response to determining that the data storage system is in the active data storage mode, accepting a connection from the application, permitting the application to store one or more new data objects at the data storage system, replicating the one or more new data objects to other data storage systems other than the data storage system, participating in object ownership management for the application, and accepting replicated data from one or more of the other data storage systems,
wherein the replicating the one or more new data objects to the other data storage systems comprises replicating the one or more new data objects to at least one first active data storage system that is in the active data storage mode, and replicating the one or more new data objects to at least one second passive data storage system that is in the passive data storage mode,
wherein the replicating the one or more new data objects to the at least one first active data storage system further comprises replicating the one or more new data objects to at most a defined number of active data storage systems,
wherein participating in object ownership management for the application comprises, in response to a site outage being determined to have taken place at the at least one first active data storage system, selecting, from among one or more other active data storage systems, a new owner for one or more data objects owned by the at least one first active data storage system,
wherein the selecting, from among the one or more other active data storage systems, the new owner for the one or more data objects owned by the at least one first active data storage system comprises participating in an election process with the one or more other active data storage systems, and wherein the at least one second passive data storage system is not included in the election process,
wherein the data storage system and the other data storage systems are located at respective sites within active regions or passive regions, wherein active data storage systems in the active data storage mode are located in the active regions, wherein passive data storage systems in the passive data storage mode are located in the passive regions; and
in response to determining that the data storage system is in the passive data storage mode, blocking at least storage of the one or more new data objects by the application, and accepting replicated data from one or more of the other data storage systems.

2. The data storage system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in further response to determining that the data storage system is in the passive data storage mode, blocking the connection from the application.

3. The data storage system of claim 1 , wherein:
the replicating the one or more new data objects to at least one second passive data storage system comprises replicating the one or more new data objects to at least one of the passive data storage systems in each of the passive regions.

4. The data storage system of claim 1 , wherein the replicating the one or more new data objects to at most the defined number of the active data storage systems comprises applying a distribution protocol to select among the active data storage systems.

5. The data storage system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
protecting the one or more new data objects locally at the data storage system using one or more of a mirroring, a parity, and an erasure coding protection measure.

6. The data storage system of claim 1 , wherein the data storage system is designated as an owner of the one or more new data objects stored at the data storage system by the application, and wherein participating in object ownership management for the application comprises handling requests related to the one or more new data objects forwarded from the at least one first active data storage system.

7. The data storage system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to a failure of multiple of the other data storage systems, switching the data storage system from the passive data storage mode to the active data storage mode and initiating replication of application data at data storage systems located at sites within a same region as the data storage system.

8. A method, comprising:
when a data storage system is in an active data storage mode in connection with data stored on behalf of an application, accepting, by the data storage system, a connection from the application, permitting, by the data storage system, the application to store one or more new data objects at the data storage system, replicating, by the data storage system, the one or more new data objects to other data storage systems other than the data storage system, participating, by the data storage system, in object ownership management for the application, and accepting, by the data storage system, replicated data from one or more of the other data storage systems,
wherein participating in the object ownership management for the application comprises, in response to a site outage being determined to have taken place at the data storage system in the active data storage mode, selecting, from among one or more of the other data storage systems that are in the active data storage mode, a new owner for one or more data objects owned by the data storage system in the active data storage mode,
wherein replicating, by the data storage system, the one or more new data objects to the other data storage systems comprises replicating the one or more new data objects to at least one first active data storage system that is in the active data storage mode, and replicating the one or more new data objects to at least one second passive data storage system that is in the passive data storage mode,
wherein the replicating the one or more new data objects to the at least one first active data storage system further comprises replicating the one or more new data objects to at most a defined number of active data storage systems,
wherein the data storage system and the other data storage systems are located at respective sites within active regions or passive regions, wherein active data storage systems in the active data storage mode are located in the active regions, wherein passive data storage systems in the passive data storage mode are located in the passive regions;
in response to a return of the data storage system to an operational state, reconciling conflicts between the new owner and the data storage system in the active data storage mode; and
when the data storage system is in a passive data storage mode in connection with data stored on behalf of the application, blocking, by the data storage system, at least storage of the one or more new data objects by the application, and accepting, by the data storage system, replicated data from one or more of the other data storage systems.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, when the data storage system is in the passive data storage mode, blocking, by the data storage system, the connection from the application.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the replicating, by the data storage system, the one or more new data objects to at least one second passive data storage system comprises replicating the one or more new data objec

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Danilov Mikhail
• Medvedev Igor
• Menzies Brett A

Classifications

• G06F3/0634 Primary

  by changing the state or mode of one or more devices · CPC title

• G06F3/0604

  Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management · CPC title

• G06F3/065

  Replication mechanisms · CPC title

• G06F3/067 Primary

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06F3/0659

  Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling · CPC title