Method and apparatus for performing volume replication using unified architecture

摘要

Method and apparatus for performing volume replication using a unified architecture are provided. Each volume has an exclusive volume log table (VLT) and an exclusive volume block update table (VBUT). The VLT is mainly used for recording the relationship between two volumes of a mirroring pair, and the VBUT is used for tracking the state of each data block of the volume itself. By means of the cross operations and applications between the VLT and the VBUT, various volume replication processes such as volume copying and volume mirroring can be enabled under a unified architecture. For each volume, different replication relationships with other volumes can be handled merely by administering its two exclusive tables. The method and the apparatus provided by the present invention can simplify the architecture for synchronization replication and reduce the burdens of administrating tables, thereby making the operation of a storage system more efficient.

主权项

1. A method for performing volume replication operation, comprising:
forming a first mirroring pair composed of a first volume and a second volume; providing at least one first volume log table (VLT) and a first volume block update table (VBUT) for the first volume, and providing at least one second VLT and a second VBUT for the second volume; administering the at least one first VLT and the first VBUT and the at least one second VLT and the second VBUT, wherein the at least one first VLT and the at least one second VLT are used for recording synchronization state information after the first volume and the second volume forms the first mirroring pair for a first synchronization operation, and the first VBUT and second VBUT are used for recording updated state information of each data block of the first volume and the second volume, respectively; forming a second mirroring pair composed of the first volume and a third volume; providing at least one third VLT and a third VBUT for the third volume; and administering the at least one first VLT and the first VBUT and the at least one third VLT and the third VBUT, wherein the at least one first VLT and the at least one third VLT are used for recording synchronization state information after the first volume and the third volume forms the second mirroring pair for a second synchronization operation, and the first VBUT and the third VBUT are used for recording updated state information of each data block of the first volume and the third volume, respectively; wherein the first VBUT, the second VBUT, and the third VBUT have a plurality of entries each of them used for recording a sequence number to represent the updated state information of each data block of the first volume, the second volume, and the third volume, respectively.