Patent ID: 7783798
Filing Date: 2010-08-24
Classification: G06F,Y02D

Abstract:
1. In a data storage environment having a first data storage system and a second data storage system, and production data being stored on the first data storage system, and a copy of the data, denominated as the data copy, being stored on the second data storage system, a method for managing available bandwidth of a link used for movement of data being copied in a data storage environment, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining, as a user input, available bandwidth and latency information for a link used for transferring data from the first data storage system to the second storage system; wherein the link has a bandwidth and latency and the available bandwidth and latency obtained are less then bandwidth and latency of the link to reduce the performance impact on the link of accessing production data for copying and replication; and determining an amount of data buffer space in a data buffer based on the obtained bandwidth and latency information, on the first data storage system, to accommodate a rate of data transfer used for transferring data from the first data storage system to the second storage system; filling the data buffer space with data from the first data storage system; issuing, from a copy engine, a select number of writes from the data buffer space to the second data storage system over the link, the number of writes selected according to the bandwidth and latency of the link, and including writes for less than all of the data buffer space; setting a timer, on the first data storage system, based on the amount of time to transmit the data in the data buffer based on the available bandwidth from the first data storage system to the second data storage system of the copy engine after issuing the select number of writes; and responsive to the timer issuing a trigger associated with the period of inactivity, and prior to receipt of an acknowledgement from the second data storage system, issuing additional writes from the data buffer space to the second data storage system to use more of the available bandwidth.