Emc IP Holding Company LLC

Dell Products Inc.

Twinstrata Inc

Emc Corporation

Mark Aldred

Michael Anthony

Shanmuga Anand Gunasekaran

Anurag Bhatnagar

Deepak Vokaliga

David M King

Shane Sullivan

Shanmuga A Gunasekaran

Michael Malamud

John W Bates

Mithun Mahendra Varma

An apparatus comprises at least one processing device configured to identify, utilizing virtualization software running on a storage system, a snapshot lineage comprising snapshots of a storage volume, the snapshot lineage comprising (i) a local snapshot lineage on storage devices of the storage system and (ii) a cloud snapshot lineage on cloud storage external to the storage system. The processing device is also configured to utilize the virtualization software to select a given snapshot in the local snapshot lineage to copy to the cloud snapshot lineage, to create a cloud storage volume on the cloud storage, and to map the cloud storage volume to the given snapshot in the local snapshot lineage. The processing device is further configured to copy the given snapshot to the cloud snapshot lineage by utilizing a data mover of the storage system to write data of the given snapshot to the cloud storage volume.

Orchestration of storage system-based snapshot shipping

An apparatus comprises at least one processing device configured to identify, utilizing virtualization software running on a storage system, a snapshot lineage comprising snapshots of a storage volume, the snapshot lineage comprising (i) a local snapshot lineage on the storage system and (ii) a cloud snapshot lineage on cloud storage external to the storage system. The processing device is also configured to utilize the virtualization software to select a given snapshot in the cloud snapshot lineage to recover to the local snapshot lineage, to expose a cloud storage volume for the given snapshot, and to map the cloud storage volume to a target local storage volume on the storage system. The processing device is further configured to recover the given snapshot to the local snapshot lineage by utilizing a data mover of the storage system to write data of the given snapshot to the target local storage volume.

Orchestration of storage system-based snapshot recovery

An apparatus comprises a processing device configured to identify a snapshot lineage comprising snapshots of a given storage volume, the snapshot lineage comprising (i) a local snapshot lineage stored on a storage system and (ii) a cloud snapshot lineage stored on cloud storage of at least one cloud external to the storage system, the cloud snapshot lineage comprising at least a subset of the snapshots of the given storage volume. The processing device is also configured to determine whether the local snapshot lineage is associated with any current local storage volume of the storage system corresponding to the given storage volume and, responsive to determining that the storage system is not associated with any current local storage volume corresponding to the given storage volume, to select a snapshot from the cloud snapshot lineage and recover the selected snapshot to a new local storage volume on the storage system.

Recovering a storage volume associated with a snapshot lineage from cloud storage

An apparatus comprises at least one processing device configured to select a snapshot lineage comprising one or more snapshots of a storage volume comprising data stored on one or more storage devices of a storage system, the snapshot lineage comprising at least one cloud snapshot lineage, the at least one cloud snapshot lineage comprising at least a subset of the one or more snapshots of the storage volume that have been copied to cloud storage of at least one cloud external to the storage system. The at least one processing device is also configured to generate configuration data for accessing the at least one cloud snapshot lineage. The at least one processing device is further configured to transfer the configuration data to at least one additional processing device to enable the at least one additional processing device to access the at least one cloud snapshot lineage.

Generating configuration data enabling remote access to portions of a snapshot lineage copied to cloud storage

An apparatus includes a processing device configured to identify a snapshot policy for creating a snapshot lineage comprising snapshots of a storage volume comprising data stored on a storage system, the snapshot lineage comprising (i) a local snapshot lineage stored on the storage system and (ii) at least one cloud snapshot lineage stored on cloud storage. The processing device is also configured to generate snapshots of the storage volume in accordance with the snapshot policy, to store the snapshots in the local snapshot lineage, and to copy snapshots from the local snapshot lineage to the at least one cloud snapshot lineage in accordance with the at least one snapshot policy. The processing device is further configured to provide an interface for managing the snapshot lineage by accessing, from the storage system, snapshots of the storage volume in the local snapshot lineage and the at least one cloud snapshot lineage.

Managing snapshots stored locally in a storage system and in cloud storage utilizing policy-based snapshot lineages

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

An apparatus comprises a processing device configured to identify a snapshot lineage comprising snapshots of a storage volume and to maintain, for the snapshot lineage, a multi-level tree structure comprising (i) a first level comprising a primary volume object representing the storage volume and snapshot volume objects representing the snapshots of the storage volume and (ii) additional levels comprising data objects, where the primary and snapshot volume objects comprise pointers to the data objects, the data objects comprising data of the storage volume and snapshots. The processing device is also configured to determine storage capacity usage by the snapshot lineage based on a collective size of the data objects pointed to by the primary and snapshot volume objects, to store the determined storage capacity usage as metadata associated with the primary volume object, and to dynamically update the metadata responsive to changes in the snapshot lineage.

Tracking storage capacity usage by snapshot lineages using metadata in a multi-level tree structure

An apparatus comprises a processing device configured to identify a snapshot lineage comprising snapshots of a given set of storage volumes, the 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 a snapshot to recover from the cloud snapshot lineage to the storage system, to create a set of new storage volumes on the storage system, to generate a recovery map linking each of a set of cloud storage volumes on the cloud storage that comprises data of the selected snapshot to at least one of the new storage volumes, and to recover the selected snapshot from the cloud snapshot lineage by copying data from the set of cloud storage volumes to corresponding linked ones of the new storage volumes.

Recovering snapshots from a cloud snapshot lineage on cloud storage to a storage system

A multi-cloud data replication method includes providing a data replication cluster comprising at least a first host node and at least a first online storage cloud. The first host node is connected to the first online storage cloud via a network and comprises a server, a cloud array application and a local cache. The local cache comprises a buffer and a first storage volume comprising data cached in one or more buffer blocks of the local cache's buffer. Next, requesting authorization to perform cache flush of the cached first storage volume data to the first online storage cloud. Upon receiving approval of the authorization, encrypting the cached first storage volume data in each of the one or more buffer blocks with a data private key. Next, assigning metadata comprising at lest a unique identifier to each of the one or more buffer blocks and then encrypting the metadata with a metadata private key. Next, transmitting the one or more buffer blocks with the encrypted first storage volume data to the first online cloud storage. Next, creating a sequence of updates of the metadata, encrypting the sequence with the metadata private key and then transmitting the sequence of metadata updates to the first online storage cloud.

Growing community of inventors

Franklin, MA, United States of America

Mark Aldred