US 11,782,630 B1
Efficient use of optional fast replicas via asymmetric replication
Frank Schmuck, Campbell, CA (US); Owen T. Anderson, Bellevue, WA (US); Deepavali M. Bhagwat, Cupertino, CA (US); Enci Zhong, Poughkeepsie, NY (US); Felipe Knop, Lagrangeville, NY (US); John Lewars, New Paltz, NY (US); Hai Zhong Zhou, Beijing (CN); and D Scott Guthridge, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Apr. 22, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/660,220.
Int. Cl. G06F 12/00 (2006.01); G06F 3/06 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 3/065 (2013.01) [G06F 3/067 (2013.01); G06F 3/0619 (2013.01); G06F 3/0659 (2013.01); G06F 3/0683 (2013.01)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for asymmetric replication of data, the method comprising:
organizing storage of a set of data as a first copy in non-volatile storage and as a second copy in non-volatile storage, wherein the first copy is stored so as to be readable at a first speed and the second copy is reliable and stored so as to be readable at a second speed slower than the first speed;
receiving a read instruction regarding the set of data;
performing the read instruction preferentially via the first copy such that the asymmetric replication achieves enhanced performance speed;
receiving a request to execute a write operation;
in response to receiving the request to execute the write operation, setting a replication pending bit in a metadata database indicating that a write operation is in progress so that other instructions should be postponed;
executing the write operation to the first copy and to the second copy;
determining whether the write operation to the first copy was successful and whether the write operation to the second copy was successful;
in response to determining that the write operation to the first copy was unsuccessful, setting a label for the first copy as stale, the label being in the metadata database; and
in response to determining that the write operation to the second copy is successful, clearing the replication pending bit.