Technique for efficient data failover in a multi-site data replication environment

Abstract

A technique provides efficient data failover by creation and deployment of a protection policy that ensures maintenance of frequent common snapshots between sites of a multi-site data replication environment. A global constraint optimizer executes on a node of a cluster to create the protection policy for deployment among other nodes of clusters at the sites. Constraints such as protection rules (PRs) specifying, e.g., an amount of tolerable data loss are applied to a category of data designated for failover from a primary site over a network to a plurality of (secondary and tertiary) sites typically located at geographically separated distances. The optimizer processes the PRs to compute parameters such as frequency of snapshot generation and replication among the sites, as well as retention of the latest common snapshot maintained at each site to create a recovery point and configuration of the protection policy that reduces network traffic for efficient use of the network among the sites.