Patent ID: 7032090

Claim:
A method for managing fast replication-capable storage, the method comprising: allocating regions of storage to provide allocated storage; establishing a fast replication relationship for specified regions of the allocated storage; communicating a message to a storage server to release a specified region of allocated storage for future use, the message sufficient for the storage server to select an operation on the specified region of allocated storage according to a state of the fast replication relationship of the specified region of allocated storage; starting a background copy when the specified regions comprise the source of a fast replication operation and the specified region is not available for copying; withdrawing the fast replication relationship when a copy completes when the specified regions comprise the source of a fast replication operation and the specified region is available for copying; withdrawing the fast replication relationship when the specified regions comprise the target of the fast replication relationship; and taking no action when the specified regions are not part of a fast replication relationship.