Replication using a virtual distributed volume

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9684576-B1
Application number	US-201514976727-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 21, 2015
Priority date	Dec 21, 2015
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

In one aspect, a method includes mirroring a logical unit between a first site and a second site, tracking the changes to the logical unit on a backlog mirrored between the first site and the second site, replicating a virtual machine from the first site to a third site, storing virtual machine disks on a file system on the mirrored logical unit and resuming replication of the virtual machine to the third site from the second site using the mirrored logical unit after failure of the first site.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
mirroring a logical unit between a first site and a second site;
tracking the changes to the logical unit on a backlog mirrored between the first site and the second site;
replicating a virtual machine from the first site to a third site;
storing virtual machine disks on a file system on the mirrored logical unit; and
resuming replication of the virtual machine to the third site from the second site using the mirrored logical unit after failure of the first site.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein resuming replication of the virtual machine comprises resuming replication of the virtual machine by obtaining the changes to the virtual machine that were not sent to the third site.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining the changes comprises:
mounting the file system;
parsing the files system to obtain the virtual machine disk locations on the logical unit containing the file system; and
comparing the virtual machine disk location with the changes tracked in the backlog.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
mapping blocks on the logical unit to the blocks of the virtual machine disks;
determining which of the blocks changed on the logical unit are blocks inside replicated virtual machine disks;
adding the changed blocks to a list of dirty block; and
resynchronizing the blocks which are marked as changed in synchronized virtual machine disks.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising erasing changes in the backlog after the virtual machines disks on the logical unit have their data reach the third site.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein erasing changes in the backlog after the virtual machines disks on the logical unit have their data reach the third site comprises:
marking a timestamp in the file systems;
for each virtual machine, waiting for the data up until the timestamp selected has reached the third site and is flushed to the replica file storage;
notifying the backlog that data up to the timestamp was flushed; and
erasing data received before the timestamp.

7. An apparatus, comprising:
electronic hardware circuitry configured to:
mirror a logical unit between a first site and a second site;
track the changes to the logical unit on a backlog mirrored between the first site and the second site;
replicate a virtual machine from the first site to a third site;
store virtual machine disks on a file system on the mirrored logical unit; and
resume replication of the virtual machine to the third site from the second site using the mirrored logical unit after failure of the first site.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the circuitry comprises at least one of a processor, a memory, a programmable logic device or a logic gate.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the circuitry configured to resume replication of the virtual machine comprises circuitry configured to resume replication of the virtual machine by obtaining the changes to the virtual machine that were not sent to the third site.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the circuitry configured to obtain the changes comprises circuitry configured to:
mount the file system;
parse the files system to obtain the virtual machine disk locations on the logical unit containing the file system; and
compare the virtual machine disk location with the changes tracked in the backlog.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising circuitry configured to:
map blocks on the logical unit to the blocks of the virtual machine disks;
determine which of the blocks changed on the logical unit are blocks inside replicated virtual machine disks;
add the changed blocks to a list of dirty block; and
resynchronize the blocks which are marked as changed in synchronized virtual machine disks.

12. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising circuitry configured to erase changes in the backlog after the virtual machines disks on the logical unit have their data reach the third site.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the circuitry configured to erase changes in the backlog after the virtual machines disks on the logical unit have their data reach the third site comprises circuitry configured to:
mark a timestamp in the file systems;
for each virtual machine, wait for the data up until the timestamp selected has reached the third site and is flushed to the replica file storage;
notify the backlog that data up to the timestamp was flushed; and
erase data received before the timestamp.

14. An article comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions, the instructions causing a machine to:
mirror a logical unit between a first site and a second site;
track the changes to the logical unit on a backlog mirrored between the first site and the second site;
replicate a virtual machine from the first site to a third site;
store virtual machine disks on a file system on the mirrored logical unit; and
resume replication of the virtual machine to the third site from the second site using the mirrored logical unit after failure of the first site.

15. The article of claim 14 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to resume replication of the virtual machine comprises instructions causing the machine to resume replication of the virtual machine by obtaining the changes to the virtual machine that were not sent to the third site.

16. The article of claim 15 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to obtain the changes comprises instructions causing the machine to:
mount the file system;
parse the files system to obtain the virtual machine disk locations on the logical unit containing the file system; and
compare the virtual machine disk location with the changes tracked in the backlog.

17. The article of claim 16 , further comprising instructions causing the machine to:
map blocks on the logical unit to the blocks of the virtual machine disks;
determine which of the blocks changed on the logical unit are blocks inside replicated virtual machine disks;
add the changed blocks to a list of dirty block; and
resynchronize the blocks which are marked as changed in synchronized virtual machine disks.

18. The article of claim 14 , further comprising instructions causing the machine to erase changes in the backlog after the virtual machines disks on the logical unit have their data reach the third site.

19. The article of claim 18 , wherein the instructions causing the machine to erase changes in the backlog after the virtual machines disks on the logical unit have their data reach the third site comprises instructions causing the machine to:
mark a timestamp in the file systems;
for each virtual machine, wait for the data up until the timestamp selected has reached the third site and is flushed to the replica file storage;
notify the backlog that data up to the timestamp was flushed; and
erase data received before the timestamp.

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Natanzon Assaf
• Cohen Saar

Classifications

• G06F11/2069

  Management of state, configuration or failover · CPC title

• G06F11/1484

  involving virtual machines · CPC title

• G06F11/1435

  using file system or storage system metadata · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F2201/84

  Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data · CPC title