Granted Patent B2

US 12,386,857 · App. 18/372,930 · Granted Aug 12, 2025

Inventor: Tomohiro Kawaguchi (Santa Clara, CA)

Assignee: HITACHI VANTARA, LTD.

G06F16/273G06F11/1464G06F2201/84

Abstract

Claims (34)

1. A method comprising:

for an execution of a remote copy operation from a primary storage system to a secondary storage system:

calculating lag time from a current time and latest copy time received during the execution of the remote copy operation;

for the calculated lag time exceeding a threshold limit set in a policy, suspending one or more remote copy pairs based on a tier of the one or more remote copy pairs; and

for a determination to resynchronize a highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs based on available bandwidth and the tier of the one or more remote copy pairs:

taking a snapshot of corresponding volumes in the secondary storage system associated with the highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs; and

resynchronizing the highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs after the snapshot is taken.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote copy operation is an asynchronous remote copy operation between the primary storage system and the secondary storage system, and wherein the method further comprises, for the execution of the remote copy operation from the primary storage system to the secondary storage system, periodically inserting, by the primary storage system, a marker into a journal of the asynchronous remote copy operation, the marker associated with time information.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for the execution of the remote copy operation from the primary storage system to the secondary storage system:

obtaining the latest copy time by finding a most recently transferred marker or an oldest untransferred marker, and

referencing time information associated with the most recently transferred marker or the oldest untransferred marker.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein for the latest copy time being obtained from the oldest untransferred marker, the calculating lag time from the current time and the latest copy time is executed by the primary storage system.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein for the latest copy time being obtained from the most recently transferred marker, the calculating lag time from the current time and the latest copy time is executed by the secondary storage system after transfer of the marker.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for the calculated lag time exceeding a threshold limit set in a policy, transmitting an alert to a management server.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for the calculated lag time exceeding a threshold limit set in a policy, limiting a copy transfer rate of a volume relating to the policy.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising taking a snapshot of corresponding volumes in the secondary storage system associated with the one or more remote copy pairs after suspension is executed.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary storage system and the secondary storage system manages remote copy operations according to one or more policies, each of the one or more policies associated with a recovery point objective (RPO),

wherein for the calculated lag time reaching a threshold limit set in the one or more policies, the primary storage system and the secondary storage system suspends one or more of the remote copy operations based on strictness of the associated RPO.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote copy operation is an intermittent differential copy operation, wherein the latest copy time is based on obtaining a time when consistent differential data is determined.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium, storing instructions for executing a process, the instructions comprising:

for an execution of a remote copy operation from a primary storage system to a secondary storage system:

calculating lag time from a current time and latest copy time received during the execution of the remote copy operation;

for the calculated lag time exceeding a threshold limit set in a policy, suspending one or more remote copy pairs based on a tier of the one or more remote copy pairs; and

for a determination to resynchronize a highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs based on available bandwidth and the tier of the one or more remote copy pairs:

taking a snapshot of corresponding volumes in the secondary storage system associated with the highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs; and

resynchronizing the highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs after the snapshot is taken.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor, configured to:

for an execution of a remote copy operation from a primary storage system to a secondary storage system:

calculate lag time from a current time and latest copy time received during the execution of the remote copy operation;

for the calculated lag time exceeding a threshold limit set in a policy, suspend one or more remote copy pairs based on a tier of the one or more remote copy pairs; and

for a determination to resynchronize a highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs based on available bandwidth and the tier of the one or more remote copy pairs:

take a snapshot of corresponding volumes in the secondary storage system associated with the highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs; and

resynchronize the highest priority one of the suspended one or more remote copy pairs after the snapshot is taken.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (10)