Incremental snapshot recovery from remote storage system

1. A method, comprising:

in response to a request to restore a first snapshot of a logical unit from a remote storage system to a local storage system, wherein the local storage system is remote from the remote storage system:

obtaining, from the local storage system, a first bitmap for the first snapshot to be restored, wherein the first bitmap indicates differences with respect to a previous snapshot of the logical unit, wherein an earliest maintained snapshot for the logical unit comprises a full snapshot having an allocation bitmap, wherein the allocation bitmap was created prior to receiving the request to restore the first snapshot;

comparing, by at least one processing device associated with the local storage system, the first bitmap to the allocation bitmap associated with the full snapshot to obtain a baseline bitmap representing a baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored;

recovering, by the at least one processing device associated with the local storage system, the baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored, using the baseline bitmap, from the remote storage system to the local storage system, wherein a plurality of snapshots stored in the remote storage system are stored in a time order and wherein the plurality of snapshots stored in the time order are configured to be traversed in a forward direction and a backward direction in time;

storing the baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored as a last recovered snapshot with the baseline bitmap to a recovery logical unit in the local storage system; and

following the storing the baseline version of the first snapshot in the recovery logical unit in the local storage system, (i) traversing at least one of forward and backward in time along a lineage of snapshots to recover a second snapshot from the remote storage system to the local storage system, wherein the second snapshot is non-consecutive with the first snapshot, by determining one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot, relative to the first non-consecutive snapshot, wherein the one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot are determined by applying an aggregation function to a plurality of bitmaps between the first snapshot and the second snapshot, and wherein the plurality of bitmaps between the first snapshot and the second snapshot comprise a plurality of bits identifying differences with respect to a corresponding snapshot, (ii) performing a differential recovery of the second snapshot from the remote storage system to the local storage system by: (a) copying the determined one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot, relative to the first non-consecutive snapshot, from the remote storage system and (b) using the first snapshot in the local storage system, and (iii) storing the recovered second snapshot in the recovery logical unit in the local storage system;

wherein the method is performed by at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the comparing comprises performing a bitwise OR operation between the first bitmap and the allocation bitmap.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to a request to restore a second snapshot of the logical unit from the remote storage system, wherein a second bitmap for the second snapshot indicates differences with respect to a previous snapshot of the logical unit:

obtaining the last recovered snapshot and the baseline bitmap from the local storage system;

comparing the second bitmap for the second snapshot to the baseline bitmap for the last recovered snapshot to identify changes to the second snapshot relative to the last recovered snapshot;

performing a differential recovery of the second snapshot, using the identified changes and the last recovered snapshot, from the remote storage system; and

storing the second snapshot as the last recovered snapshot as a new baseline version to the recovery logical unit in the local storage system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a snapshotting module in the local storage system generates the first snapshot according to a predefined data retention policy and wherein an incremental storage module transfers an incremental representation of the first snapshot, relative to the previous snapshot, to the remote storage system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the remote storage system comprises a cloud-based storage system.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the comparing comprises performing a bitwise OR operation between the second bitmap and the baseline bitmap.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein, when the second snapshot is after the last recovered snapshot, the differential recovery of the second snapshot comprises reversing one or more write operations associated with the last recovered snapshot.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the reversing the one or more write operations associated with the last recovered snapshot comprises performing bitwise OR operations between each subsequent pair of bitmaps between the last recovered snapshot and the second snapshot to obtain a representation of the second snapshot and then performing one or more read operations from the second snapshot from the remote storage system to the recovery logical unit.

9. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory;

the at least one processing device being configured to implement the following steps:

in response to a request to restore a first snapshot of a logical unit from a remote storage system to a local storage system, wherein the local storage system is remote from the remote storage system:

obtaining, from the local storage system, a first bitmap for the first snapshot to be restored, wherein the first bitmap indicates differences with respect to a previous snapshot of the logical unit, wherein an earliest maintained snapshot for the logical unit comprises a full snapshot having an allocation bitmap, wherein the allocation bitmap was created prior to receiving the request to restore the first snapshot;

comparing, by at least one processing device associated with the local storage system, the first bitmap to the allocation bitmap associated with the full snapshot to obtain a baseline bitmap representing a baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored;

recovering, by the at least one processing device associated with the local storage system, the baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored, using the baseline bitmap, from the remote storage system to the local storage system, wherein a plurality of snapshots stored in the remote storage system are stored in a time order and wherein the plurality of snapshots stored in the time order are configured to be traversed in a forward direction and a backward direction in time;

storing the baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored as a last recovered snapshot with the baseline bitmap to a recovery logical unit in the local storage system; and

following the storing the baseline version of the first snapshot in the recovery logical unit in the local storage system, (i) traversing at least one of forward and backward in time along a lineage of snapshots to recover a second snapshot from the remote storage system to the local storage system, wherein the second snapshot is non-consecutive with the first snapshot, by determining one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot, relative to the first non-consecutive snapshot, wherein the one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot are determined by applying an aggregation function to a plurality of bitmaps between the first snapshot and the second snapshot, and wherein the plurality of bitmaps between the first snapshot and the second snapshot comprise a plurality of bits identifying differences with respect to a corresponding snapshot, (ii) performing a differential recovery of the second snapshot from the remote storage system to the local storage system by: (a) copying the determined one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot, relative to the first non-consecutive snapshot, from the remote storage system and (b) using the first snapshot in the local storage system, and (iii) storing the recovered second snapshot in the recovery logical unit in the local storage system.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein, when the second snapshot is after the last recovered snapshot, the differential recovery of the second snapshot comprises reversing one or more write operations associated with the last recovered snapshot.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein a snapshotting module in the local storage system generates the first snapshot according to a predefined data retention policy and wherein an incremental storage module transfers an incremental representation of the first snapshot, relative to the previous snapshot, to the remote storage system.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the comparing comprises performing a bitwise OR operation between the first bitmap and the allocation bitmap.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising, in response to a request to restore a second snapshot of the logical unit from the remote storage system, wherein a second bitmap for the second snapshot indicates differences with respect to a previous snapshot of the logical unit:

obtaining the last recovered snapshot and the baseline bitmap from the local storage system;

comparing the second bitmap for the second snapshot to the baseline bitmap for the last recovered snapshot to identify changes to the second snapshot relative to the last recovered snapshot;

performing a differential recovery of the second snapshot, using the identified changes and the last recovered snapshot, from the remote storage system; and

storing the second snapshot as the last recovered snapshot as a new baseline version to the recovery logical unit in the local storage system.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the reversing the one or more write operations associated with the last recovered snapshot comprises performing bitwise OR operations between each subsequent pair of bitmaps between the last recovered snapshot and the second snapshot to obtain a representation of the second snapshot and then performing one or more read operations from the second snapshot from the remote storage system to the recovery logical unit.

15. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code when executed by at least one processing device causes the at least one processing device to perform the following steps:

in response to a request to restore a first snapshot of a logical unit from a remote storage system to a local storage system, wherein the local storage system is remote from the remote storage system:

obtaining, from the local storage system, a first bitmap for the first snapshot to be restored, wherein the first bitmap indicates differences with respect to a previous snapshot of the logical unit, wherein an earliest maintained snapshot for the logical unit comprises a full snapshot having an allocation bitmap, wherein the allocation bitmap was created prior to receiving the request to restore the first snapshot;

comparing, by at least one processing device associated with the local storage system, the first bitmap to the allocation bitmap associated with the full snapshot to obtain a baseline bitmap representing a baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored;

recovering, by the at least one processing device associated with the local storage system, the baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored, using the baseline bitmap, from the remote storage system to the local storage system, wherein a plurality of snapshots stored in the remote storage system are stored in a time order and wherein the plurality of snapshots stored in the time order are configured to be traversed in a forward direction and a backward direction in time;

storing the baseline version of the first snapshot to be restored as a last recovered snapshot with the baseline bitmap to a recovery logical unit in the local storage system; and

following the storing the baseline version of the first snapshot in the recovery logical unit in the local storage system, (i) traversing at least one of forward and backward in time along a lineage of snapshots to recover a second snapshot from the remote storage system to the local storage system, wherein the second snapshot is non-consecutive with the first snapshot, by determining one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot, relative to the first non-consecutive snapshot, wherein the one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot are determined by applying an aggregation function to a plurality of bitmaps between the first snapshot and the second snapshot, and wherein the plurality of bitmaps between the first snapshot and the second snapshot comprise a plurality of bits identifying differences with respect to a corresponding snapshot, (ii) performing a differential recovery of the second snapshot from the remote storage system to the local storage system by: (a) copying the determined one or more changed blocks of the second snapshot, relative to the first non-consecutive snapshot, from the remote storage system and (b) using the first snapshot in the local storage system, and (iii) storing the recovered second snapshot in the recovery logical unit in the local storage system.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the comparing comprises performing a bitwise OR operation between the first bitmap and the allocation bitmap.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 15 , further comprising, in response to a request to restore a second snapshot of the logical unit from the remote storage system, wherein a second bitmap for the second snapshot indicates differences with respect to a previous snapshot of the logical unit:

obtaining the last recovered snapshot and the baseline bitmap from the local storage system;

comparing the second bitmap for the second snapshot to the baseline bitmap for the last recovered snapshot to identify changes to the second snapshot relative to the last recovered snapshot;

performing a differential recovery of the second snapshot, using the identified changes and the last recovered snapshot, from the remote storage system; and

storing the second snapshot as the last recovered snapshot as a new baseline version to the recovery logical unit in the local storage system.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein a snapshotting module in the local storage system generates the first snapshot according to a predefined data retention policy and wherein an incremental storage module transfers an incremental representation of the first snapshot, relative to the previous snapshot, to the remote storage system.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein, when the second snapshot is after the last recovered snapshot, the differential recovery of the second snapshot comprises reversing one or more write operations associated with the last recovered snapshot.

20. The non-transitory processor-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the reversing the one or more write operations associated with the last recovered snapshot comprises performing bitwise OR operations between each subsequent pair of bitmaps between the last recovered snapshot and the second snapshot to obtain a representation of the second snapshot and then performing one or more read operations from the second snapshot from the remote storage system to the recovery logical unit.