Patent Application
20140324780
The instant disclosure relates to computer systems. More specifically, this disclosure relates to storage systems in computer systems.
Backup and administrative operations often create copies of database files. A copy may be created on the same system, but have a different file name. Current solutions to create the database involve dumping and reloading the file. The dump operation to write the database to tape and subsequent reload operation to read/write a file from the tape add significant overhead. The conventional method is illustrated in
The dump operation currently reads a database file, blocks the file information onto a tape, and records information about the tape and the dump in a history file for use during restoration and recovery. However, the dump and reload operations can take a significant amount of time, because the medium for the files is a tape. During the time consumed in dumping and reloading a database to and from a tape drive, the database may have significantly changed. When the goal is to have the backup copy of the database file as similar possible to the source database, this dump and reload operation may be too slow.
Instead of performing a dump and reload operation, the dump and reload operation may be completed on a mass storage device, such as a flash drive, a hard disk drive, or a cloud storage system. In this case, data is copied from one mass storage device to another mass storage device. The method of creating a copy of the database may include reading the database, writing the database to an alternate database file, and/or recording the information in the dump history file for use during a later recovery.
The copy of the database may include alternate names from the original database. During creation of the database copy, the database file may be backed-up from an existing database file, and the database file may be populated from an existing database file with current data from another file.
According to one embodiment, a method may include creating a shadow database on a mass storage device. The method may also include populating the shadow database with data from a production database. The method may further include idling an application accessing the production database to create an idle point in the production database. The method may also include updating the shadow database to the production database.
According to another embodiment, a computer program product may include a non-transitory computer readable medium having code to create a shadow database on a mass storage device. The medium may also include code to populate the shadow database with data from a production database. The medium may further include code to idle an application accessing the production database to create an idle point in the production database. The medium may also include code to update the shadow database to the production database.
According to yet another embodiment, an apparatus includes a memory, a mass storage device and a processor coupled to the memory, and the mass storage device. The processor may be configured to create a shadow database on the mass storage device. The processor may also be configured to populate the shadow database with data from a production database. The processor may further be configured to idle an application accessing the production database to create an idle point in the production database. The processor may also be configured to update the shadow database to the production database.
According to one embodiment, a method may include receiving, at a database manager, a call from a backup utility to copy data from a source file to a destination file. The method may also include performing, at the database manager, a plurality of input/output requests, in response to the call, to copy data from the source file to the destination file. The method may further include returning, to the backup utility, status information regarding completion of the call.
According to another embodiment, a computer program product includes a non-transitory computer readable medium having code to receive, at a database manager, a call from a backup utility to copy data from a source file to a destination file. The medium also includes code to perform, at the database manager, a plurality of input/output requests, in response to the call, to copy data from the source file to the destination file. The medium further includes code to return, to the backup utility, status information regarding completion of the call.
According to yet another embodiment, an apparatus may include a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor may be configured to receive, at a database manager, a call from a backup utility to copy data from a source file to a destination file. The processor may also be configured to perform, at the database manager, a plurality of input/output requests, in response to the call, to copy data from the source file to the destination file. The processor may further be configured to return, to the backup utility, status information regarding completion of the call.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features that are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.
For a more complete understanding of the disclosed system and methods, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
A dump command may be modified to allow creating a copy of the database file in a shadow database on a mass storage device, When the dump command is executed to create the shadow database, the source file may be identified as in a normal dump command, the destination file may be identified using a source file name and alternate database assume parameters, the destination file may be a standard database file format rather than a tape format, history file entries may be created as if the source file was dumped to tape, start timestamps may be created as if the file is dumped using standard dump processing, and/or optional syntax may allow enabling a history file entry for immediate recover. A recover command process may similarly be modified to recognize entries in the dump history corresponding to the dump process described below and handle the history file entries as if the file is dumped using standard dump processing.
At block 204, the shadow database may be populated with data from the production database, Applications may access the production database during the step at block 204. Thus, the shadow database may be out-of-date with the production database at the end of step 204. However, because the production database may be large in size, the entire database may first be copied to the shadow database, and then updates applied while the application accessing the production database is idled. Thus, the amount of downtime for the application is reduced, when compared to idling the application before populating the shadow database at block 204.
At block 206, the application accessing the production database is idled and an idle point in the production database may be established. The idle point represents a moment in time for which the production database is at a stable state. That is, at the idle point the production database is no longer being updated by an application.
At block 208, the shadow database is updated to the state of the shadow database. The updates may be read from a history file associated with the production database. For example, a timestamp may be recorded at block 204 when the production step begins. Then the history file, such as an audit trail, may be replayed on the shadow database from the recorded timestamp to the idle point.
The shadow database, when stored on a mass storage device, may include similar information to that contained in the production database when the production database is stored on a tape. For example, when the production database is stored on a tape, files may be stored in blocks on the tape along with blocking information. The blocking information may include assembly information to allow reconstruction of files from blocks on the tape. This blocking information may be stored on the mass storage device, just as the blocking information was stored on the tape. Thus, the shadow database may be accessed on the mass storage device just as the production database may be accessed on the tape drive.
Because the shadow database and the production database contain similar information, a redirect may be established within an operating system. When an access to the production database is requested, the access may be redirected to the shadow database. The request may be fulfilled by the shadow database without the requestor aware of the redirect, The redirect may be implemented, for example, where the production database becomes unavailable. The storage of information, such as blocking information, on the mass storage device allows a seamless transition between accessing the shadow database and the production database.
After block 208, the application may be restarted and access to the production database resumed. Updates to the production database may continue to be tracked, such as by examining an audit log for the production database, and the updates may be applied to the shadow database.
The method 200 may be called by issuing a dump command, with or without specified parameters. For example, when the destination of the dump command is a mass storage device, a parameter may be set instructing a computer executing the dump command to execute the method 200 of
When a recovery operation is performed to recover data from the shadow database, three pieces of information may be used to recreate the production database: the data. files in the shadow database, a dump history corresponding to the shadow database, and a list of updates, such as an audit log, for the shadow database. According to one embodiment, the dump history may include links to the list of updates.
Performance may be improved during copying of data files, such as databases, by reducing input/output (I/O) requests consumed during the copy operation. For example, a copy between different mass storage devices may involve devices with different size buffers. That is, a first mass storage device may have a buffer of 32K words or smaller, which may be smaller than an I/O size for a second mass storage device.
By reducing the number of I/O requests performed by the backup utility, I/O costs may be reduced. That is, rather than both the backup utility and the database manager performing input/output requests to the source and destination files, the database manager may perform the majority of the I/O operations during a file copy from, e.g., a tape drive to a mass storage device or a mass storage device to another mass storage device. Further, reducing the number of I/O requests performed by the backup utility reduces problems with lock management. That is, with the database manager performing the majority of the I/O requests, there is a lower likelihood of a lock on a file by the backup utility delaying operations in the database manager. Thus, higher performance may be obtained by concentrating I/O operations within one module of an operating system.
In one embodiment, the user interface device 410 is referred to broadly and is intended to encompass a suitable processor-based device such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or tablet computer, a smartphone or other a mobile communication device having access to the network 408. When the device 410 is a mobile device, sensors (not shown), such as a camera or accelerometer, may be embedded in the device 410. When the device 410 is a desktop computer the sensors may be embedded in an attachment (not shown) to the device 410. In a further embodiment, the user interface device 410 may access the Internet or other wide area or local area network to access a web application or web service hosted by the server 402 and may provide a user interface for enabling a user to enter or receive information. For example, a user may execute a dump command through the user interface.
The network 408 may facilitate communications of data between the server 402 and the user interface device 410. The network 408 may include any type of communications network including, but not limited to, a direct PC-to-PC connection, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a modem-to-modem connection, the Internet, a combination of the above, or any other communications network now known or later developed within the networking arts which permits two or more computers to communicate.
The computer system 500 also may include random access memory (RAM) 508, which may be synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), or the like. The computer system 500 may utilize RAM 508 to store the various data structures used by a software application. The computer system 500 may also include read only memory (ROM) 706 which may be PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, optical storage, or the like. The ROM may store configuration information for booting the computer system 500. The RAM 508 and the ROM 506 hold user and system data, and both the RAM 508 and the ROM 506 may be randomly accessed.
The computer system 500 may also include an input/output (I/O) adapter 510, a communications adapter 514, a user interface adapter 516, and a display adapter 522. The I/O adapter 510 and/or the user interface adapter 516 may, in certain embodiments, enable a user to interact with the computer system 500. In a further embodiment, the display adapter 522 may display a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with a software or web-based application on a display device 524, such as a monitor or touch screen.
The I/O adapter 510 may couple one or more storage devices 512, such as one or more of a hard drive, a solid state storage device, a flash drive, a compact disc (CD) drive, a floppy disk drive, and a tape drive, to the computer system 500. According to one embodiment, the data storage 512 may be a separate server coupled to the computer system 500 through a network connection to the I/O adapter 510. The communications adapter 514 may be adapted to couple the computer system 500 to the network 408, which may be one or more of a LAN, WAN, and/or the Internet. The communications adapter 514 may also be adapted to couple the computer system 500 to other networks such as a global positioning system (GPS) or a Bluetooth network. The user interface adapter 516 couples user input devices, such as a keyboard 520, a pointing device 518, and/or a touch screen (not shown) to the computer system 500. The keyboard 520 may be an on-screen keyboard displayed on a touch panel. Additional devices (not shown) such as a camera, microphone, video camera, accelerometer, compass, and or gyroscope may be coupled to the user interface adapter 516. The display adapter 522 may be driven by the CPU 502 to control the display on the display device 524. Any of the devices 502-522 may be physical and/or logical.
The applications of the present disclosure are not limited to the architecture of computer system 500. Rather the computer system 500 is provided as an example of one type of computing device that may be adapted to perform the functions of the server 402 and/or the user interface device 410. For example, any suitable processor-based device may be utilized including, without limitation, personal data assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, smartphones, computer game consoles, and multi-processor servers. Moreover, the systems and methods of the present disclosure may be implemented on application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits, or other circuitry. In fact, persons of ordinary skill in the art may utilize any number of suitable structures capable of executing logical operations according to the described embodiments. For example, the computer system 500 may be virtualized for access by multiple users and/or applications.
In another example, hardware in a computer system may be virtualized through a hypervisor.
If implemented in firmware and/or software, the functions described above may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium, Examples include non-transitory computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program. Computer-readable media includes physical computer storage media. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Disk and disc includes compact discs (CD), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVD), floppy disks and blu-ray discs. Generally, disks reproduce data magnetically, and discs reproduce data optically. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
In addition to storage On computer readable medium, instructions and/or data may be provided as signals on transmission media included in a communication apparatus. For example, a communication apparatus may include a transceiver having signals indicative of instructions and data. The instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims.
Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the present invention, disclosure, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
