Selective snapshot and backup copy operations for individual virtual machines in a shared storage

• US 10,210,048 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2016
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Sancheti, Ashwin Gautamchand
• Primary Examiner(s): Bansal, Gurtej
• Application Number:
  US15/334,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20180113623A1
• Time in Patent Office: 847 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• 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

System and techniques for performing selective snapshot and backup copy operations for individual virtual machines in a shared storage. The system can include a hypervisor configured to create and operate a plurality of virtual machines. The system can also include one or more shared physical computer storage devices communicatively coupled to the hypervisor to store the plurality of virtual machines. A plurality of storage volumes can be provided in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices, each storage volume uniquely corresponding to one of the virtual machines. The system can also include a virtual server agent configured to issue a command to the hypervisor to perform a snapshot or backup copy operation for a selected one of the plurality of virtual machines without performing the operation for any other unselected virtual machine in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices.

Claims

1. A virtual server agent comprising:

a memory for storing instructions to carry out a method comprising;

issuing a command to a hypervisor to perform a snapshot copy operation for a selected one of a plurality of virtual machines operated by the hypervisor, the hypervisor being communicatively coupled to one or more shared physical computer storage devices which store the plurality of virtual machines,

wherein a plurality of storage volumes are provided in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices, and

wherein each storage volume uniquely corresponds to one of the virtual machines in the plurality of virtual machines,

receiving metadata corresponding to the completed snapshot copy operation from the hypervisor,

wherein the snapshot copy operation is performed by one of the one or more shared physical computer storage devices,

resulting in a snapshot of a given storage volume that uniquely corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines,

wherein the metadata identifies the snapshot, and

storing the metadata in a database,

wherein the metadata that identifies the snapshot is associated with the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines;

a processor to execute the instructions; and

wherein, based on the command issued by the processor of the virtual server agent, the snapshot copy operation is performed for the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines without performing the snapshot copy operation for any unselected virtual machine having a storage volume in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices.

2. The virtual server agent of claim 1, wherein the virtual server agent is external to the hypervisor and is implemented on separate hardware.

3. The virtual server agent of claim 1, wherein the snapshot copy comprises virtual machine data stored in its native format.

4. The virtual server agent of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises a snapshot identifier.

5. The virtual server agent of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to issue a command to the hypervisor to perform a backup copy operation using the metadata corresponding to the completed snapshot copy operation.

6. The virtual server agent of claim 5, wherein the backup copy operation causes a backup copy of the virtual machine to be stored on one or more external computer storage devices.

7. The virtual server agent of claim 5, wherein the backup copy comprises virtual machine data stored in a backup format which is different from a native format of the virtual machine data.

8. A virtual server agent method comprising:

by the virtual server agent, issuing a command to a hypervisor to perform a snapshot copy operation for a selected one of a plurality of virtual machines operated by the hypervisor, the hypervisor being communicatively coupled to one or more shared physical computer storage devices which store the plurality of virtual machines,

wherein a plurality of storage volumes are provided in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices, and

wherein each storage volume uniquely corresponds to one of the virtual machines in the plurality of virtual machines;

by the virtual server agent, receiving metadata corresponding to the completed snapshot copy operation from the hypervisor,

wherein the snapshot copy operation is performed by one of the one or more shared physical computer storage devices,

resulting in a snapshot of a given storage volume that uniquely corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines,

wherein the metadata identifies the snapshot;

by the virtual server agent, storing the metadata in a database,

wherein the metadata that identifies the snapshot is associated with the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines; and

wherein based on the command issued by the virtual server agent to the hypervisor, the snapshot copy operation is performed for the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines without performing the snapshot copy operation for any unselected virtual machine having a storage volume in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the snapshot copy comprises virtual machine data stored in its native format.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the metadata comprises a snapshot identifier.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising issuing a command to the hypervisor to perform a backup copy operation using the metadata corresponding to the completed snapshot copy operation.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the backup copy operation causes a backup copy of the virtual machine to be stored on one or more external computer storage devices.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the backup copy comprises virtual machine data stored in a backup format which is different from a native format of the virtual machine data.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one computing device, perform a virtual server agent method comprising:

by the virtual server agent, issuing a command to a hypervisor to perform a snapshot copy operation for a selected one of a plurality of virtual machines operated by the hypervisor, the hypervisor being communicatively coupled to one or more shared physical computer storage devices which store the plurality of virtual machines,

wherein a plurality of storage volumes are provided in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices, and

wherein each storage volume uniquely corresponds to one of the virtual machines in the plurality of virtual machines;

by the virtual server agent, receiving metadata corresponding to the completed snapshot copy operation from the hypervisor,

wherein the snapshot copy operation is performed by one of the one or more physical computer storage devices,

resulting in a snapshot of a given storage volume that uniquely corresponds to the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines, and

wherein the metadata identifies the snapshot;

by the virtual server agent, storing the metadata in a database,

wherein the metadata that identifies the snapshot is associated with the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines; and

wherein based on the command issued by the virtual server agent to the hypervisor, the snapshot copy operation is performed for the selected one of the plurality of virtual machines without performing the snapshot copy operation for any unselected virtual machine having a storage volume in the one or more shared physical computer storage devices.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the snapshot copy comprises virtual machine data stored in its native format.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the metadata comprises a snapshot identifier.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions cause the method to be performed by a virtual machine operated by the hypervisor.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to issue a command to the hypervisor to perform a backup copy operation using the metadata corresponding to the completed snapshot copy operation.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the backup copy operation causes a backup copy of the virtual machine to be stored on one or more external computer storage devices.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the backup copy comprises virtual machine data stored in a backup format which is different from a native format of the virtual machine data.