A method and corresponding set-up system arrangement are provided for actuating execution units. A communication node is further provided which is suitable for use in the method or in the system arrangement. Also provided is a computer program comprising control commands which implement the proposed method or operate the proposed system arrangement.

An apparatus comprises a processing device configured to receive a request to restore one or more applications, the request specifying one of a set of remote copies of storage volumes that store data of the applications. The processing device is also configured to analyze the applications to identify (i) the storage volumes storing data for the applications and (ii) groups comprising the identified storage volumes. The processing device is also configured, responsive to determining that the identified groups are part of a group replication session, to select one of a set of different types of restore processes for performing the restore of the applications to the specified remote copy based at least in part on whether the identified groups comprise additional storage volumes other than the identified storage volumes and to perform the restore of the applications to the specified remote copy utilizing the selected restore process.

In one embodiment, a system for managing communication connections in a virtualization environment includes a plurality of host machines implementing a virtualization environment, wherein each of the host machines includes a hypervisor, at least one user virtual machine (user VM), and a distributed file server that includes file server virtual machines (FSVMs) and associated local storage devices. Each FSVM and associated local storage device are local to a corresponding one of the host machines, and the FSVMs conduct I/O transactions with their associated local storage devices based on I/O requests received from the user VMs. Each of the user VMs on each host machine sends each of its respective I/O requests to an FSVM that is selected by one or more of the FSVMs for each I/O request based on a lookup table that maps a storage item referenced by the I/O request to the selected one of the FSVMs.

Systems and methods take into account the criticality of workloads, the warranty needs of workloads, the warranty available time, and the lifetime of a workload to provide an optimal solution that ensures servers are used to highest extent. The warranty health of servers is computed and categorized as critical, warning, or healthy based on the number of days remaining in warranty. Workloads are tagged as short-term or long-term workloads. Workloads are also classified based on criticality. The quarantine mode for proactive high availability of servers is divided into multiple modes, including a long-time, critical-workload quarantine mode, a critical-workload quarantine mode, and a standard quarantine mode. Servers that are in quarantine mode are assigned new workloads based upon the warranty health, workload term, and workload criticality.

Techniques are provided for serializing replication operations. A plurality of operations are implemented upon a first storage object and are replicated as a plurality of replication operations. An order with which the plurality of replication operation are to be executed upon a second storage object is determined. Execution of the plurality of replication operations upon the second storage object is serialized according to the order.

Techniques for managing a file system involve in response to receiving, at a first backup device of the file system, a request for replicating data of the file system from the first backup device to a second backup device of the file system, determining a synchronization state between the first backup device and the file system, the second backup device being a backup device located downstream of the first backup device; creating, based on the synchronization state, a target snapshot associated with the file system; and causing the data to be replicated from the first backup device to the second backup device based on the target snapshot. Therefore, the data backup flexibility and accuracy of a file system can be significantly improved and therefore the reliability of the whole system may be enhanced.

Example implementations relate to application-specific policies for failing over from an edge site to a cloud. When an application becomes operational within an edge site, a discovery phase is performed by a local disaster recovery (DR) agent. I/O associated with a workload of the application is monitored. An I/O rate for data replication that satisfies latency characteristics of the application is predicted based on the incoming I/O. Based on results of tests against multiple clouds indicative of their respective RTO/RPO values, information regarding a selected cloud to serve as a secondary system is stored in an application-specific policy. The application-specific policy is transferred to a remote DR agent running in the selected cloud. Responsive to a failover event, infrastructure within a virtualized environment of the selected cloud is enabled to support a failover workload for the application based on the application-specific policy.

A method of restarting a virtual machine (VM) running in a cluster in a first data center, in a second data center, includes: transmitting images of VMs, including a first VM, running in the cluster of hosts at a first point in time to the second data center for replication in the second data center; generating difference data representing a difference in an image of the first VM at a second point in time and the image of the first VM at the first point in time; transmitting the difference data to the second data center; setting the first VM to be inactive in the first data center; and communicating with a control plane in the second data center to set as active, and power on, a VM in the second data center using the replicated image of the first VM updated with the difference data.

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage system is provided that includes storage drives each comprising a PCIe interface, and configured to store data and retrieve the data stored on associated storage media responsive to data transactions received over a switched PCIe fabric. The data storage system includes processors configured to each manage only an associated subset of the storage drives over the switched PCIe fabric. A first processor is configured to identify first data packets received over a network interface associated with the first processor within a network buffer of the first processor as comprising a storage operation associated with at least one of the plurality of storage drives managed by a second processor, and responsively transfer the first data packets into a network buffer of the second processor.

Web-enabled routers are remotely and securely administered in a centralized fashion. A router receives a configuration profile from a dedicated web domain that maintains a repository of configuration profiles for multiple routers. The web domain also provides a web portal for customized generation of new configuration profiles based on stored profiles. When a new profile is deployed to and instantiated on a router, the router transmits a “heartbeat” to ensure that it can maintain connectivity with the web domain; if not, the router reverts to a previous “failover” configuration profile that ensures connectivity to the web domain. A router also may be equipped with both a wired and a wireless (e.g., a 3G, 4G, or 4G LTE) WAN communication interface. In the event of a wired connectivity issue, the router controls the wireless WAN interface to prioritize traffic for the router heartbeat and data backup/restore operations between a computer network for which the router serves as a gateway and the web domain.