Method and system for implementing consistency groups with virtual machines

• US 10,198,323 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2015
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: Gill, Binny Sher, Byrne, Brian, Aron, Mohit
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Dieu Minh T
• Application Number:
  US14/788,019
• Publication Number:
  US 20160026541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• Field of Search: 714 19, 714 18, 714 20, 714 2, 714 1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/202 where processing functionality is redundant redundant communication control functionality G06F11/2005, redundant storage control functionality G06F11/2089
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/825 the problem or solution involving locking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Disclosed is an approach for implementing disaster recovery for virtual machines. Consistency groups are implemented for virtual machines, where the consistency group link together two or more VMs. The consistency group includes any set of VMs which need to be managed on a consistent basis in the event of a disaster recovery scenario.

Claims

1. A method for restoring a consistency group, comprising:

recognizing a failure of a first computing system that has brought down a virtual machine within a consistency group such that the virtual machine is no longer accessible to a user, the virtual machine previously being run on the first computing system before the failure; and

implementing disaster recovery by;

identifying the consistency group associated with the virtual machine that is no longer accessible to the user, the consistency group linking a group of related virtual machines that are managed together after the failure at the first computing system;

identifying a snapshot of resources associated with the consistency group in which an application associated with the resources does not have a native functionality to generate the snapshot, the snapshot previously generated in a process comprising locking the resources associated with the group of related virtual machines; and

restoring, at a second computing system, the group of related virtual machines in the consistency group from the snapshot to a state of the group of related virtual machines at a time the snapshot was generated, the second computing system not sharing a common point of failure with the first computing system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing system and the second computing system do not share a common power source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the resources associated with the group of related virtual machines are at the first computing system.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the application associated with the resources is not modified to include functionality to implement the consistency group.

5. The method of claim 1, in which the snapshot comprises a copy of one or more virtual disks associated with the resources, the one or more virtual disks corresponding to a logical representation of storage space compiled from one or more physical underlying storage devices.

6. The method of claim 5, in which the snapshot comprises identification of one or more identifier numbers associated with the copy of the one or more virtual disks associated with the resources.

7. The method of claim 6, in which copy-on-write functionality is used to create the copy of the one or more virtual disks associated with the resources, wherein the one or more identifier numbers is incremented upon making the copy.

8. The method of claim 1, in which metadata is maintained to track membership in the consistency group.

9. The method of claim 1, in which the snapshot is generated at a time period using at least one of:

a regular basis or an ad hoc basis.

10. The method of claim 1, in which disaster recovery is performed.

11. The method of claim 1, in which the process that generates the snapshot further comprises releasing locks on the resources after the snapshot has been generated.

12. A system for restoring a consistency group, comprising:

a computer processor to execute a set of program code instructions;

a memory to hold the set of program code instructions, in which the set of program code instructions comprises program code to perform;

recognizing a failure of a first computing system that has brought down a virtual machine within a consistency group such that the virtual machine is no longer accessible to a user, the virtual machine previously being run on the first computing system before the failure; and

implementing disaster recovery by;

identifying the consistency group associated with the virtual machine that is no longer accessible to the user, the consistency group linking a group of related virtual machines that are managed together after the failure at the first computing system;

identifying a snapshot of resources associated with the consistency group in which an application associated with the resources does not have a native functionality to generate the snapshot, the snapshot previously generated in a process comprising locking the resources associated with the group of related virtual machines; and

restoring, at a second computing system, the group of related virtual machines in the consistency group from the snapshot to a state of the group of related virtual machines at a time the snapshot was generated, the second computing system not sharing a common point of failure with the first computing system.

13. The system of claim 12, in which the application associated with the resources is not modified to include functionality to implement the consistency group.

14. The system of claim 12, in which the snapshot comprises a copy of one or more virtual disks associated with the resources, the one or more virtual disks corresponding to a logical representation of storage space compiled from one or more physical underlying storage devices.

15. The system of claim 14, in which the snapshot comprises identification of one or more identifier numbers associated with the copy of the one or more virtual disks associated with the resources.

16. The system of claim 15, in which copy-on-write functionality is used to create the copy of the one or more virtual disks associated with the resources, wherein the one or more identifier numbers is incremented upon making the copy.

17. The system of claim 12, in which metadata is maintained to track membership in the consistency group.

18. The system of claim 12, in which the snapshot is generated at a time period using at least one of:

a regular basis or an ad hoc basis.

19. The system of claim 12, in which disaster recovery is performed.

20. The system of claim 12, in which the process that generates the snapshot further comprises releasing locks on the resources after the snapshot has been generated.

21. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer usable medium, the non-transitory computer usable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for restoring a consistency group, the method comprising:

recognizing a failure of a first computing system that has brought down a virtual machine within a consistency group such that the virtual machine is no longer accessible to a user, the virtual machine previously being run on the first computing system before the failure; and

implementing disaster recovery by;

identifying the consistency group associated with the virtual machine that is no longer accessible to the user, the consistency group linking a group of related virtual machines that are managed together after the failure at the first computing system;

identifying a snapshot of resources associated with the consistency group in which an application associated with the resources does not have a native functionality to generate the snapshot, the snapshot previously generated in a process comprising locking the resources associated with the group of related virtual machines; and

restoring, at a second computing system, the group of related virtual machines in the consistency group from the snapshot to a state of the group of related virtual machines at a time the snapshot was generated, the second computing system not sharing a common point of failure with the first computing system.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, in which the application associated with the resources is not modified to include functionality to implement the consistency group.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, in which the snapshot comprises a copy of one or more virtual disks associated with the resources, the one or more virtual disks corresponding to a logical representation of storage space compiled from one or more physical underlying storage devices.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, in which the snapshot comprises identification of one or more identifier numbers associated with the copy of the one or more virtual disks associated with the resources.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, in which copy-on-write functionality is used to create the copy of the one or more virtual disks associated with the resources, wherein the one or more identifier numbers is incremented upon making the copy.

26. The computer program product of claim 21, in which metadata is maintained to track membership in the consistency group.

27. The computer program product of claim 21, in which the snapshot is generated at a time period using at least one of:

a regular basis or an ad hoc basis.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, in which disaster recovery is performed.

29. The computer program product of claim 21, in which the process that generates the snapshot further comprises releasing locks on the resources after the snapshot has been generated.