Backup acquisition method and disk array apparatus

1. A backup acquisition method for acquiring a whole or a differential backup from a disk array apparatus to a backup device, said method comprising;

receiving a snapshot capture instruction from a server to said disk array apparatus having a first disk device storing data in a plurality of blocks and a plurality of pre-update data disk devices connected to said first disk device, said disk array apparatus being connected through a network to said server and said backup device;

providing a plurality of snapshot management tables each having LBAs (logical block addresses) of said pre-update data disk devices and LBAs requested to update from said server and an index table having LBAs of said pre-update data disk devices and LBAs accessed from said server within a disk access controller of said disk array apparatus:

capturing a snapshot of the contents of said first disk into said backup device under control of a controller of said disk array apparatus in response to said snapshot capture instruction to said disk array apparatus:

sequentially recording updated data after the capture of said snapshot separately in said pre-update data disk devices of said disk array apparatus from the beginning thereof with recording an LBA for said undated data recorded in a snapshot management table for sequential recording;

instructing said disk access controller of said disk array apparatus to acquire a whole backup of said undated data at an arbitrary timing; and

sequentially reading all areas of said updated data recorded in said pre-update data disk devices by referring to said LBA recorded for said sequential recording to acquire the whole backup into said backup device.

2. A backup acquisition method according to claim 1 ,comprising

determining to instruct, if an update after a capture of said snapshot for said whole backup is for an update backup, said controller of said disk array apparatus to acquire a differential backup among said updated data at an arbitrary timing; and

sequentially reading, by referring to said LBA recorded after said whole backup, a used area of disks in said disk array apparatus to acquire the differential backup into said backup device.

3. A backup acquisition method according to claim 1 , wherein said update data disk devices are different from said first disk device or are defined on a disk different from said first disk device.

4. A backup acquisition method according to claim 2 , wherein said update data disk devices are different from said first disk device or are defined on a disk different from said first disk device.

5. A backup acquisition method according to claim 1 , wherein said arbitrary timing is a timing in accordance with a time, a number of times, or a storage capacity of acquiring of said whole backup.

6. A backup acquisition method according to claim 2 , wherein said arbitrary timing is a timing in accordance with a time, a number of times, or a storage capacity of acquiring of said differential backup.

7. A backup acquisition method according to claim 2 , comprising repeatedly capturing said snapshot to sequentially read, by referring to said LBA recorded after said whole backup, a used area of the disks in said disk array apparatus, thereby repeatedly acquiring a differential backup into said backup device.

8. A backup acquisition method according to claim 1 , comprising:

restoring data in said disk array apparatus based on backup data including the whole backup from said backup device.

9. A backup acquisition method according to claim 2 , comprising:

restoring data in said disk array apparatus based on backup data including the whole backup from said backup device.

10. A backup acquisition method according to claim 1 , comprising:

acquiring an additional backup from said backup device into an external tape recording device using information of said LBAs in said plurality of snapshot management tables and said index table held in said disk array apparatus.

11. A backup acquisition method according to claim 2 , comprising:

acquiring an additional backup from said backup device into an external tape recording device using information of said LBAs in said plurality of snapshot management tables and said index table held in said disk array apparatus.

12. A disk array apparatus for acquiring a whole backup or a differential backup to a backup device, comprising:

first disk device storing data in a plurality of blocks;

plurality of pre-update data disk devices connected to said first disk; and

a disk access controller having a memory storing a plurality of snapshot management tables each having LBAs (logical block addresses) of said pre-update data disk devices and LBAs requested to update from a server and an index table having LBAs of said pre-update data disk devices and LBAs accessed from said server;

wherein said disk access controller comprises:

snapshot receiving means for receiving a snapshot capture instruction for capturing a snapshot of the contents of disks in said first disk device into said plurality of pre-update data disk devices from said server;

snapshot capturing means for capturing a snapshot of the contents of said first disk device into said backup device in response to said snapshot capture instruction;

updated data recording means for sequentially recording updated data after the acquisition of the snapshot separately in said pre-update data disk devices from the beginning thereof with recording an LBA for said updated data recorded in a snapshot management table for sequential recording:

updated data reading means for sequentially reading all areas of said updated data recorded in said pre-update data disk devices by referring to said LBA recorded for said sequential recording to acquire the whole backup into said backup device; and

transferring means for transferring the read updated data to said backup device.