Dot Hill Systems Corporation

Elizabeth Guadalupe Rodriguez

James George Wayda

Kent Lee

Ngoclan Thi Vu

Pat Craig

Cathy O'Leary

A data storage system, device, and method are provided for replicating data between different data storage systems or appliances. More specifically, the present invention affords communications between heterogeneous data storage systems that potential employ different communication protocols. A bridging communication protocol is utilized by one or both storage systems in order to accommodate different communication protocols. Alternatively, a storage appliance connecting the data storage systems may employ the bridging communication protocol.

Pull data replication model

A method, device, and system for resetting snapshots are provided. The reset of a snapshot incorporates the traditional snapshot delete and snapshot create operations into a single operation. Additionally, a snapshot created under the reset operation may receive an array partition from a snapshot being deleted under the same snapshot reset operation thereby retaining its identifying characteristics.

Snapshot reset method and apparatus

A method, device, and system are provided for determining when to re-initialize a backing store in a data storage system. More specifically, when all snapshots associated with a specified backing store are either being deleted or are marked for deletion the backing store is re-initialized rather than deleting each snapshot independently. The re-initialization of the backing store provides for a quicker way to delete all snapshots than can be achieved by deleting each snapshot independently.

Automatic triggering of backing store re-initialization

A method and device for managing snapshot data is provided. Snapshots may be created having a preserved data area and a write data area. The preserved data area is used to maintain snapshot data corresponding to the point-in-time when the snapshot was created while the write data area is used to facilitate host read/write access to the snapshot. By maintaining two separate areas, the snapshot can be written to without altering the point-in-time representation of the snapshot.

Method and apparatus for separating snapshot preserved and write data

A method, device, and system are provided for re-initializing a backing store in a data storage system. More specifically, when all snapshots associated with a specified backing store are either being deleted or are marked for deletion the backing store is re-initialized rather than deleting each snapshot independently. The re-initialization of the backing store provides for a quicker way to delete all snapshots than could previously be achieved when each snapshot was deleted independently.

Growing community of inventors

Carlsbad, CA, United States of America

Elizabeth Guadalupe Rodriguez