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EP0784273A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Generating a backup copy in RAID subsystems

Assignee: LSI Corp
•
Filing: 1996-12-19
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2016-12-19
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Abstract

Abstract The invention provides for a method and apparatus for the rapid generation of a snapshot copy of the data stored in a RAID storage subsystem (100). In addition to the user's configured RAID logical units (110), the present invention provides for the definition within a RAID controller (102) of a logical RAID level-one device (104) having an operational half (106) comprising the user's defined logical unit(s) and having a non-operational mirror component (108). The user access data is stored on the RAID subsystem by direct access to the user's defined logical unit and when a user directs a snapshot copy request to the operational half (106) and user defined logical units (110), the RAID controller (102) responds by temporarily configuring available storage capacity (e.g. spare disk drives) in the RAID subsystem to perform the function of the non-operational mirror component (108) of the logical RAID level-one device (104). Restoring operation of the non-operational mirror component (108) further causes the RAID controller (102) to rebuild the content of the restored mirror component by copying the content of the user's configured device(s) to the temporary replacement mirror component (124). Following completion of the rebuild operation, the logical RAID level-one device (104) is restored to the status of having a non-operational mirror component (108). The data copied to the temporarily reconfigured available storage capacity is then returned to the user requesting the snapshot data for further processing as, for example, backup.

Inventors

  • 👤 Rodney A. Dekoning
  • 👤 Donald R. Humlicek

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-01 12:00
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F11/00; G06F11/07; G06F11/16; G06F11/20; G06F11/2053; G06F11/2056; G06F11/2082; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/10; G11B20/18; G11B20/1833

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim 84 words
A method of copying data in a RAID storage subsystem (100) comprising the steps of: configuring a mirrored logical RAID device (104) within said RAID storage subsystem (100) having an operational component (106) and a non-operational mirror component (108); reconfiguring disk drives (122) in said RAID storage subsystem (100) creating a replacement mirror component (124) to replace said non-operational mirror component (108); and rebuilding the data on the replacement mirror component (108) to create a copy of the data on said operational component (106).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 36 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1, further comprising the step of: restoring the status of said logical mirrored RAID device (104) to that of having a non-operational mirror component and responsive to the rebuilding step.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 34 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, further comprising the step of: returning the data rebuilt on said replacement mirror component (124) to an attached host computer system (114) for further processing.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 30 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein at least one of said operational component, said non-operational component on said replacement mirror component is a RAID device.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 31 words
A method as claimed in Claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 further comprising the step of: compressing the data stored on said replacement mirror component by operation of the rebuilding step.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 89 words
Apparatus for copying data stored in a RAID storage subsystem (100) comprising: means for configuring a mirrored logical RAID device (104) within said RAID storage subsystem (100), and having an operational component (106) and a non-operational mirror component (108); means for reconfiguring disk drives (122) in said RAID storage subsystem (100) creating a replacement mirror component (124) to replace said non-operational mirror component (108); and means for rebuilding the data on the replacement mirror component (124) to create a snapshot copy of the data on said operational component (106).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 34 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, further comprising: means for restoring the status of said logical mirrored RAID device (104) to that of having a non-operational mirror component and responsive to the rebuilding means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 32 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 or 7 further comprising: means for returning the data rebuilt on said replacement mirror component (124) to an attached host computer system (114) for further processing.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 32 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, 7 or 8, wherein at least one of said operational component (106), said non-operational mirror (108) or said replacement mirror component (124) comprises a RAID device.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 28 words
The RAID controller as claimed in Claim 19, further comprising: means for compressing the data stored on said replacement mirror component (124) by operation of the rebuilding means.

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