Managing snapshots of data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9928246-B1
Application number	US-201414230972-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2014
Priority date	Mar 31, 2014
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

A method is used in managing snapshots of data. Identity information of a snapshot of data is updated. The snapshot represents a state of the data at a particular prior point in time. A new snapshot of the data is created. The new snapshot is created based on the identity information of the snapshot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for use in managing snapshots of data, the method comprising:
receiving a request to refresh a previous snapshot of data stored on a storage system, wherein the previous snapshot represents a state of the data at a particular prior point in time, wherein the storage system stores the data and a set of snapshots of the data;
updating a user visible information of the previous snapshot of the data, wherein updating the user visible information of the previous snapshot includes changing a name of the previous snapshot to a different name, wherein the user visible information of a snapshot includes a name of the snapshot and an object identification number for the snapshot;
setting a deletion time for the previous snapshot of the data;
creating a new snapshot of the data on the storage system, wherein the new snapshot of the data represents a state of the data at another particular point in time, wherein the new snapshot is created based on the user visible identity information of the previous snapshot, wherein the new snapshot is created with a same name as the name of the previous snapshot;
providing access to the new snapshot indicating completion of the request to refresh the previous snapshot without having to wait for the previous snapshot to be deleted; and
deleting the previous snapshot asynchronously by a background process at the occurrence of the deletion time, wherein the background process executes periodically on the storage system to delete snapshots that have been renamed and identified for deletion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new snapshot is created based on the user visible information of the previous snapshot upon receiving the request to refresh the previous snapshot.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user visible information of the previous snapshot includes the name of the previous snapshot.

4. The method of claim 1 , thither comprising:
reverting the user visible information of the previous snapshot upon receiving an error when creating the new snapshot.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data includes a file system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data resides on a storage system, wherein the storage system includes a disk drive system comprising a plurality of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, each RAID system of the plurality of RAID systems having a first disk drive and, a second disk drive.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each snapshot of the set of snapshots is created at a specific time interval.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
setting an expiration timer for the previous snapshot, wherein the previous snapshot is deleted at the end of the expiration timer.

9. A system for use in managing snapshots of data, the system comprising a processor configured to:
receive a request to refresh a previous snapshot of data stored on a storage system, wherein the previous snapshot represents a state of the data at a particular prior point in time, wherein the storage system stores the data and a set of snapshots of the data;
update a user visible information of the previous snapshot of the data, wherein updating the user visible information of the previous snapshot includes changing a name of the previous snapshot to a different name, wherein the user visible information of a snapshot includes a name of the snapshot and an object identification number for the snapshot;
set a deletion time for the previous snapshot of the data;
create a new snapshot of the data on the storage system, wherein the new snapshot of the data represents a state of the data at another particular point in time, wherein the new snapshot is created based on the user visible identity information of the previous snapshot, wherein the new snapshot is created with a same name as the name of the previous snapshot;
provide access to the new snapshot indicating completion of the request to refresh the previous snapshot without having to wait for the previous snapshot to be deleted; and
delete the previous snapshot asynchronously by a background process at the occurrence of the deletion time, wherein the background process executes periodically on the storage system to delete snapshots that have been renamed and identified for deletion.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the new snapshot is created based on the user visible information of the previous snapshot upon receiving the request to refresh the previous snapshot.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the user visible information of the previous snapshot includes the name of the previous snapshot.

12. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
revert the user visible information of the previous snapshot upon receiving an error when creating the new snapshot.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data includes a file system.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the data resides on a storage system, wherein the storage system includes a disk drive system comprising a plurality of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, each RAID system of the plurality of RAID systems having a first disk drive and a second disk drive.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein each snapshot of the set of snapshots is created at a specific time interval.

16. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
set an expiration timer for the previous snapshot, wherein the previous snapshot is deleted at the end of the expiration timer.

Assignees

• Emc Corp
• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Xu Yan
• Seela Nagapraveen Veeravenkata
• Brundage Michael Christopher

Classifications

• G06F2201/82

  Solving problems relating to consistency · CPC title

• G06F16/128 Primary

  Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations or in hardware G06F11/14, G06F11/16) · CPC title

• G06F2201/84

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

• G06F11/1458

  Management of the backup or restore process · CPC title

• G06F17/30088 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic