Emc IP Holding Company LLC

Dell Products Inc.

Deepak Vokaliga

Benjamin W Yoder

Svetlana Sokolova

Mark J Halstead

Bhaskar Bora

Francisco Aquino

Kenneth Byrne

Warren Fleury

Arieh Don

Michael Ferrari

Sandeep Chandrashekhara

Subin George

George Quill

William R Stronge

Michael E Specht

Anurag Bhatnagar

Vadim Longinov

Michael Anthony

Mark Aldred

Shanmuga Anand Gunasekaran

Benoit Joseph Merlet

Ian Adams

Santoshkumar Konnur

Thiago Santos

Ananthakrishnan Anirudhan

Rong Yu

Hana Moreshet

Ning Wu

Jeffrey Wilson

Jaeyoo Jung

Benjamin Randolph

Mohammed Asher

Kevin C Heasley

Sathyanarayan Jaganathan

Akshay Kumar Srivastava

William Alan Hatstat

Toufic Tannous

Sandeep Chandrashekara

Kevin Loehfelm

Weiqun Li

Deepika Kini

Avraham Nash

Jayapaul Paul

William Hatstat

Darren Fernandes

Gopalakrishna Manjunatha

Shruti Asmita

A method for use in a storage system, comprising: detecting a first event, the first event being a cyber threat (CT) event, the first event being generated, at least in part, by using security software that is executed in the storage system; in response to the CT event, identifying a secure snapshot of the storage system and performing a first modification of a retention period of the secure snapshot in response to the first event; detecting a second event, the second event being detected after the first modification is performed; and performing a second modification of the retention period in response to the second event.

Automatic retention lock extensions

A method for reconstituting a data storage unit of a volume, the method comprising: initializing a reconstituted data storage unit that includes a plurality of portions; identifying a first type-1 data structure that corresponds to the data storage unit and a first snapshot of the volume, the first snapshot being created at a first point-in-time, the first type-1 data structure including a first bitmap, the first bitmap including a first plurality of bits, each of the first plurality of bits corresponding to a different portion of the data storage unit; retrieving, from the first snapshot, one or more portions of the data storage unit that correspond to bits in the first bitmap that are set, and storing the portions that are retrieved from the first snapshot in the reconstituted data storage unit; and returning the reconstituted data storage unit.

Sub-track granularity for preserving point-in-time data

An example methodology includes, by a computing device, receiving a request to migrate a logical unit number (LUN) from a source array to a target array and, responsive to a determination that the LUN is a large LUN, dividing the large LUN into a plurality of partitions, creating a number of sessions corresponding to the plurality of partitions, wherein each session of the created sessions is operable to migrate data from a partition of the plurality of partitions, and initiating the created sessions to start copying data from the respective partitions in parallel. The method may also include, by the computing device, responsive to a determination that the LUN is not a large LUN, creating a single session operable to migrate data from the LUN and initiating the single session to start copying data from the LUN.

Systems and methods for improved migration of large LUNs

A storage system management application contains control logic configured to enable the storage system management application to fully orchestrate setup of a containerized cloud communication system within embedded operating system, with minimal interaction from an end user. Upon receipt of an instruction to initiate cloud access, the storage system management application enrolls a cloud tethering subsystem and establishes a secure communication channel to the cloud tethering subsystem. The storage system management application also creates a cloud protection environment within the operating system for use by the cloud tethering subsystem, and registers the storage system to the cloud tethering subsystem. The storage system management application also creates external network interfaces on the cloud tethering subsystem and configures one or more private cloud provider endpoints on the cloud tethering subsystem.

Fully orchestrated setup of a containerized cloud communication system within an embedded operating system

Snapshots from a first LSU (R1) on a first storage system (A1) may be replicated to a second replica LSU (R2) on a second storage system (A2), for example, concurrently to remotely replicating (e.g., synchronously) write operations for R1 to R2. A process, P, on A1 executing the replication of the snapshots from R1 to R2 may be a separate process than the one or more processes on A1 executing remote replication of write operations for R1 to R2. During a consistency window on A1, outstanding write operations for R1 at the time the consistency window opened may be logged, and a pair of snapshots, SS1and SS1may be activated on R1 and R2, respectively. After the consistency window has closed, the SS1snapshot metadata and snapshot data may be updated based on the outstanding write operations.

Synchronous remote replication of snapshots

A port manager is configured to implement adaptive port ceiling assignment for background Input/Output (I/O) operations between heterogeneous storage arrays. The port manager generates a set of test I/O operations, applies the I/O operations to a port under test, determines a response time to complete the I/O operations on the port under test, and compares the response time of the current test with response times of a set of previous tests. Based on the test values, the port manager identifies a throughput inflection point for the port under test, which is used to set a maximum throughput of the port under test. The adaptive ceiling for the port under test is then set based on the maximum throughput times a ceiling percentage threshold value. The determined adaptive ceiling value is then used to prospectively limit background I/O operations on the port under test.

Adaptive port ceiling assignment for background I/O operations between heterogeneous storage arrays

A system application, such as a cloud tethering subsystem, is instantiated to execute in an embedded environment of a storage system. Errors of the system application that require external support such as memory overflows, daemon errors, etc., are collected and posted using an error reporting system call to an operating system of the storage system in which the virtualized environment is executing. The storage system operating system posts the errors to an error system reporting system as a dial home service request on behalf of the system application. In this manner, the system application can issue dial home service requests without having direct access to the external error resolution system. In some embodiments, a guest operating system utility uses a SCSI mechanism to post errors to the storage system operating system.

Enabling dial home service requests from an application executing in an embedded environment

Snapshots may be used to implement remote replication, for example, asynchronously, between a first storage system, A1, and a second storage system, A2. A1 may take a first snapshot, SS2, of a logical storage unit, R1. After the snapshot SS2it taken, any dependent write operations associated with SS2may be reconciled, and differences between SS2and the last snapshot for R1, SS1, may be determined and recorded as a difference set. One or more replication instructions for R1 that include the write operations (or data and metadata corresponding thereto) of the difference set may be sent from A1 to A2. A2 may apply the differences to R2, and then take (activate) a snapshot of R2, SS2, which is a replica of SS2. After A2 activates SS2, A2 may send an acknowledgement to A1 indicating that SS2has been activated, and A2 may take a next snapshot of R1.

Snapshot-based remote replication

A cloud tethering subsystem is configured to ship snapshots of an application production storage group to a cloud repository. Dynamic storage group resizing operations are allowed on the application production storage group after creation of a snapshot and before transmission of the snapshot to the cloud, or while the snapshot is accessing data of the application production storage group in connection with shipping the snapshot to the cloud. Example dynamic storage group resizing operations include adding one or more volumes to the application production storage group, removing one or more volumes from the application production storage group, and resizing one or more of the volumes of the application production storage group. The cloud tethering subsystem maintains information about the size of the snapshot at the time of creation and uses the snapshot size to prevent dynamic storage group resizing operations from interfering with cloud snapshot shipping operations.

Dynamic storage group resizing during cloud snapshot shipping

Maintaining consistency for asynchronous replication of LUNs of a local storage system to corresponding LUNs of a remote storage system includes copying application data written to LUNs to cache slots, copying metadata of LUNs to cache slots, associating a first sequence number to all metadata modifications and all application data writes that are begun after a first time and before a second time, associating a second sequence number, different from the first sequence number, to all metadata modifications and all application data writes that are begun after the second time, and, after completion of all metadata modifications and all application data writes associated with the first sequence number, initiating transfer to the remote storage system of all metadata modifications and all application data writes associated with the first sequence number. Each cache slot may include a field that indicates a corresponding sequence number.

Maintaining consistency of asynchronous replication

A SSMA (Storage System Management Application) automates creation of a cloud provider on a cloud repository. The SSMA instructs a CTS (Cloud Tethering Subsystem) to create the cloud provider, which causes the CTS to establish a secure connection to the cloud repository. The cloud repository creates the cloud provider and returns identifying information. The CTS then tests the connection to verify that the cloud provider is reachable at the cloud repository. The SSMA also instruct a solution enabler to install the cloud provider in the storage system embedded operating system. The SSMA also implements a cloud provider synchronization verification process, which enables the SSMA to determine if there are any differences between lists of cloud providers maintained by the CTS and the embedded operating system. If any differences are detected, the SSMA automates the process of installing the correct set of cloud providers in the storage system embedded operating system.

Automated cloud provider creation and synchronization in an embedded container architecture

A thin device (TDev) is tagged to identify the TDev as being used to access snapshot data on the storage system. If a snapshot is to be shipped to a cloud repository, the tagged TDev is linked to the snapshot, and mounted to a cloud tethering subsystem. When the tagged TDev is linked to the cloud tethering subsystem, the snapshot subsystem reads the thin device tag and, if the thin device is tagged, selectively does not execute a define process on the tagged thin device. By not executing the define process, the tracks of the thin device do not contain metadata identifying the location of the snapshot data on the storage system. Writes to source do not require a private copy of the old data for the snapshot, even if the snapshot is created in a different storage resource pool than the source data volume.

Snapshot access using nocopy undefined thin devices

An apparatus comprises a processing device configured to identify a snapshot lineage comprising (i) a local snapshot lineage stored on a storage system and (ii) a cloud snapshot lineage stored on cloud storage of a cloud external to the storage system. The processing device is also configured to select, in accordance with a snapshot policy, a snapshot in the local snapshot lineage to copy to the cloud snapshot lineage. The processing device is further configured to create a virtual device on the storage system, to link the selected snapshot to the virtual device, to determine data of the selected snapshot that is to be copied from the virtual device to a cloud storage volume on the cloud storage, and to copy the selected snapshot to the cloud snapshot lineage by copying the determined data from the virtual device to the cloud storage volume.

Moving snapshots from a local snapshot lineage on a storage system to a cloud snapshot lineage on cloud storage

A storage array creates snapshots of each of a plurality of devices of a storage group associated with a production device on which active application data is logically stored. Metadata that indicates associations between the snapshots and the devices is stored on cloud storage with the snapshots as a snapset object. A program running on a management station used the snapset metadata to automatically create new devices on which to recover the snapshots on a selected storage array and uses the snapset metadata to cause the snapshots to be automatically written from the cloud storage system to the new devices on the selected storage array.

Automated cloud recovery to provide a full usable application image

Growing community of inventors

Hopkinton, MA, United States of America

Deepak Vokaliga