Apparatus, system and method for temporary copy policy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9606873-B2
Application number	US-201414276777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2014
Priority date	May 13, 2014
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A method according to one embodiment includes copying data incoming to and/or generated at a production site to a copy cluster at a remote copy site, thereby creating a redundant copy of the data at the copy cluster. When the copy cluster becomes unavailable, data incoming to and/or generated at the production site is copied to a backup reserve site after the copy cluster becomes unavailable. Additional systems, methods, and computer programs products are also presented.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
copying data incoming to and/or generated at a production site to a copy cluster at a remote copy site, thereby creating a redundant copy of the data at the copy cluster;
when the copy cluster becomes unavailable, copying data incoming to and/or generated at the production site to a backup reserve site after the copy cluster becomes unavailable;
setting the backup reserve site as a new primary remote copy site for the production site when the copy cluster becomes unavailable; and
copying the data stored on the backup reserve site to the copy cluster of the remote copy site when the copy cluster becomes available,
wherein a temporary ownership of the data at the backup reserve site is removed when the data is copied to the copy cluster,
wherein a permanent ownership of the data by the copy cluster is set when the copying completes,
wherein the production site receives indication that the ownership of the copied data resides with the copy cluster.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the production site, remote copy site and backup reserve site are connected in a grid-type system, wherein the remote copy site and the backup reserve site are geographically separated from the production site.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising selecting the backup reserve site from a plurality of backup reserve sites based on predefined criteria, wherein the predefined criteria include one or more of: a distance separating the backup reserve site from the remote copy site and/or production site, a data storage size of the backup reserve site, and a data storage media type associated with the backup reserve site.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising copying data incoming to and/or generated at the production site to the copy cluster at the remote copy site and discontinuing copying the data to the backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available, wherein the data copied to the backup reserve site is maintained as a redundant copy of the data on the production site, wherein the data is not transferred to the remote copy site.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising copying data incoming to and/or generated at the production site to the copy cluster at the remote copy site and discontinuing copying the data to the backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available, wherein the data stored on the backup reserve site is maintained on the backup reserve site as a second redundant copy of the data at the copy cluster, wherein when the data stored on the backup reserve site is copied to the copy cluster is based on activity at the copy cluster.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising setting the copy cluster as a new backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available again.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the data stored on the backup reserve site is copied to the copy cluster is based on activity at the copy cluster.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions readable and/or executable by a device to cause the device to:
copy data incoming to and/or generated at a production site to a copy cluster at a remote copy site, thereby creating a redundant copy of the data at the copy cluster;
when the copy cluster becomes unavailable, copy data incoming to and/or generated at the production site after the copy cluster becomes unavailable to a backup reserve site;
set the backup reserve site as a new primary remote copy site for the production site when the copy cluster becomes unavailable; and
copy the data stored on the backup reserve site to the copy cluster of the remote copy site when the copy cluster becomes available,
wherein a temporary ownership of the data at the backup reserve site is removed when the data is copied to the copy cluster,
wherein a permanent ownership of the data by the copy cluster is set when the copying completes,
wherein the production site receives indication that the ownership of the copied data resides with the copy cluster.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the production site, remote copy site and backup reserve site are connected in a grid-type system, wherein the remote copy site, the backup reserve site, and the production site are geographically separated from each other.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions readable and/or executable by the device further causes the device to:
select the backup reserve site from a plurality of backup reserve sites based on predefined criteria, wherein the predefined criteria include one or more of: a distance separating the backup reserve site from the remote copy site and/or production site, a data storage size of the backup reserve site, and a data storage media type associated with the backup reserve site.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions readable and/or executable by the device further causes the device to:
copy data incoming to and/or generated at the production site to the copy cluster at the remote copy site and discontinuing copying the data to the backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available, wherein the data copied to the backup reserve site is maintained as a redundant copy of the data on the production site, wherein the data is not transferred to the remote copy site.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the program instructions readable and/or executable by the device further causes the device to:
set the copy cluster as a new backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available again.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein when the data stored on the backup reserve site is copied to the copy cluster is based on activity at the copy cluster.

14. A system, comprising:
a hardware processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the hardware processor, the logic being configured to:
copy data incoming to and/or generated at a production site to a copy cluster at a remote copy site, thereby creating a redundant copy of the data at the copy cluster;
when the copy cluster becomes unavailable, set a backup reserve site as a new primary remote copy site for the production site, and copy data incoming to and/or generated at the production site after the copy cluster becomes unavailable to the backup reserve site;
select the backup reserve site from a plurality of backup reserve sites based on predefined criteria; and
copy the data stored on the backup reserve site to the copy cluster of the remote copy site when the copy cluster becomes available,
wherein a temporary ownership of the data at the backup reserve site is removed when the data is copied to the copy cluster,
wherein the production site, remote copy site and backup reserve site are connected in a grid-type system.

15. The system of claim 14 , the logic being further configured to copy data incoming to and/or generated at the production site to the copy cluster at the remote copy site and discontinuing copying the data to the backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available; and deleting the data stored on the backup reserve site after copying the data stored on the backup reserve site to the copy cluster of the remote copy site.

16. The system of claim 14 , the logic being further configured to designate the copy cluster as the new backup reserve site when the copy cluster becomes available again, wherein the predefined criteria include one or more of: a distance separating the backup reserve

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Brettell David A
• Earle Vanessa R
• Fisher Alan J
• Lee Duke A
• Swingler Joseph M

Classifications

• G06F11/1464 Primary

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F11/1456

  Hardware arrangements for backup · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F11/2094

  Redundant storage or storage space (G06F11/2056 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F11/14

  Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16) · CPC title