Data backup or restore using main memory and non-volatile storage media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9916207-B2
Application number	US-201615361680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2016
Priority date	Aug 21, 2012
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

The invention relates to a computer implemented method for creating a backup of data by a computer system. The creation of the backup comprises: assigning a first memory space in a main memory to data and loading the data into the first memory space; allocating a second memory space in the main memory for acting as container of one or more images of the data in the first memory space; creating the one or more images of the data in the first memory space; and storing the created one or more images in the second memory space and storing a respective copy of at least one of the one or more images in the one or more non-volatile storage media.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for creating a backup of data by a computer system being operatively coupled to a main memory and to one or more non-volatile storage media, wherein the creation of the backup comprises:
assigning a first memory space in the main memory to the data and loading the data into the first memory space;
allocating a second memory space in the main memory for acting as container of one or more images of the data in the first memory space;
automatically creating the one or more images of the data in the first memory space; and
automatically storing the created one or more images in the second memory space and storing a respective copy of at least one of the one or more images in the one or more non-volatile storage media, the storing in the second memory space and in the storing in the one or more non-volatile storage media being executed in accordance with one or more predefined backup-rules, wherein the one or more non-volatile storage media are assigned to one or more storage tiers, wherein non-volatile storage media of a same tier share a common characteristic, the common characteristic being an I/O response time, a service level agreement, or a particular storage medium type, wherein the one or more storage tiers are configured in a hierarchical order in accordance with the common characteristic, wherein each of the one or more storage tiers has assigned at least one of the backup-rules, the respectively assigned backup-rule specifying a maximum number of the images that can be stored in the one or more storage media of the storage tier, and wherein in case storing one of the images in the one or more storage media of the storage tier would exceed the maximum number of the images of the storage tier, the oldest one of already stored images of the storage tier is overwritten by the one image.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
restoring the data from the one or more images from the second memory space, the restoring comprising:
automatically reading one of the one or more images from the second memory space or reading one of the one or more copies of the images from the one or more non-volatile storage media, the reading being executed in accordance with one or more predefined restore-rules; and
copying the read image or copy of the image into the first memory space of the main memory for restoring data being assigned to the first memory space.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the data is a functional module of an application program and wherein the functional module is loaded into the first memory space for executing the functional module.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more images is created by applying a memory snapshot technique on the first memory space, the memory snapshot technique being selected from:
copy-on-write;
split-mirror, or
redirect-on-write.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the one or more images are created on a regular basis at subsequent time intervals,
wherein each of the one or more storage tiers has assigned at least one of the backup-rules, the respectively assigned backup-rule specifying the time intervals at which any one of the created images shall be stored to the one or more storage media of the storage tier, and
wherein time intervals specified for any one of the ordered storage tiers is identical to the time interval specified for the storage tier directly above the storage tier or is a multiple of the time interval specified for the storage tier directly above the storage tier.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the storing of the one or more images to the one or more storage media of any one of the one or more storage tiers except the top-level tier comprises:
determining, for a first storage tier, that according to one of the backup rules assigned to the first storage tier, a current one of the images needs to be stored to the first storage tier;
accessing the one or more storage media of a second storage tier directly above the first storage tier, the second storage tier having stored a copy of the current image;
creating a further copy of the copy stored in the second storage tier;
creating the further copy in the first storage tier.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:
orchestrating, by the backup rules, the creation and storing of the copy of the current image and the creation and storing of the further copy of the current image in any one of the storage tiers in a way ensuring that storing at least parts of the copy and the storing of at least parts of the further copy are executed asynchronously, wherein preferentially the asynchronous execution is a parallel execution.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the creation of each image of the one or more images comprises applying a compression algorithm on the data in the first memory space for reducing the size of the image.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein all the one or more storage tiers are managed by a storage management system; and
wherein the creation and storing of the one or more images and the restoring of the first application in the first memory space from one of the one or more images is achieved by means of a management module being interoperable with a snapshot module and the storage management system.

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program embodied therewith, wherein the computer-readable program, when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to:
in order to create a backup of data, assign a first memory space in a main memory to the data and loading the data into the first memory space, wherein the main memory is operatively coupled to the computing device and to one or more non-volatile storage media;
allocate a second memory space in the main memory for acting as container of one or more images of the data in the first memory space;
automatically create the one or more images of the data in the first memory space; and
automatically store the created one or more images in the second memory space and storing a respective copy of at least one of the one or more images in the one or more non-volatile storage media, the storing in the second memory space and in the storing in the one or more non-volatile storage media being executed in accordance with one or more predefined backup-rules, wherein the one or more non-volatile storage media are assigned to one or more storage tiers, wherein non-volatile storage media of a same tier share a common characteristic, the common characteristic being an I/O response time, a service level agreement, or a particular storage medium type, wherein the one or more storage tiers are configured in a hierarchical order in accordance with the common characteristic, wherein each of the one or more storage tiers has assigned at least one of the backup-rules, the respectively assigned backup-rule specifying a maximum number of the images that can be stored in the one or more storage media of the storage tier, and wherein in case storing one of the images in the one or more storage media of the storage tier would exceed the maximum number of the images of the storage tier, the oldest one of already stored images of the storage tier is overwritten by the one image.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the second memory space constitutes a further storage tier being on top of an order of one or more storage tiers to which the one or more non-volatile storage me

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Oberhofer Martin
• Tausch Michail
• Trinks Andreas
• Uhl Andreas

Classifications

• G06F3/0608 Primary

  Saving storage space on storage systems · CPC title

• G06F3/061

  Improving I/O performance · CPC title

• G06F3/0631

  by allocating resources to storage systems · CPC title

• G06F11/1441

  Resetting or repowering · CPC title

• G06F11/1461 Primary

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title