Methods and apparatus for providing hypervisor level data services for server virtualization

• US 10,430,224 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2016
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Zerto Incorporated
• Inventors: Kedem, Ziv, Burshan, Chen Yehezkel, Kuszpet, Yair, Levonai, Gil
• Primary Examiner(s): Abad, Farley
• Application Number:
  US15/289,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20170024241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,086 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A cross-host multi-hypervisor system, including a plurality of host sites, each site including at least one hypervisor, each of which includes at least one virtual server, at least one virtual disk read from and written to by the at least one virtual server, a tapping driver in communication with the at least one virtual server, which intercepts write requests made by any one of the at least one virtual server to any one of the at least one virtual disk, and a virtual data services appliance, in communication with the tapping driver, which receives the intercepted write requests from the tapping driver, and which provides data services based thereon, and a data services manager for coordinating the virtual data services appliances at the site, and a network for communicatively coupling the plurality of sites, wherein the data services managers coordinate data transfer across the plurality of sites via the network.

Claims

1. A hypervisor system, comprising:

a tapping driver at a first host site to intercept a write request from a virtual server to a first virtual disk, the tapping driver installed in a software layer between the virtual server and the first virtual disk in a hypervisor kernel of a hypervisor; and

a first virtual data services appliance at the first host site in communication the tapping driver to;

receive the write request from the tapping driver,

transmit a first copy of the write request to a journal manager at the first host site,

transmit a second copy of the write request to a second virtual data services appliance at a second host site, the second copy assigned a sequence number, the second virtual data services appliance applies the write request to a second virtual disk at the second host site, and

transmit a third copy of the write request to a data analyzer at the first host site.

2. The hypervisor system of claim 1, comprising:

the first virtual data services appliance at the first host site to compress the second copy of the write request.

3. The hypervisor system of claim 1, comprising:

the first virtual data services appliance at the first host site to cache the second copy of the write request and to transmit the second copy of the write request to the second virtual data services appliance, subsequent to a re-initialization of a network connection after a network outage between the first virtual data services appliance and the second virtual data services appliance.

4. The hypervisor system of claim 1, comprising:

the first virtual data services appliance at the first host site to sequence the second copy of the write request based on the sequence number assigned to the second copy.

5. The hypervisor system of claim 1, comprising:

the second virtual data service appliance at the second host site to order the write request on the second virtual disk based on the sequence number assigned to the second copy of the write request to maintain write order fidelity.

6. The hypervisor system of claim 1, comprising:

a hash generator to derive a one-way hash for the journal manager based on the write request from the tapping driver.

7. The hypervisor system of claim 1, wherein the first virtual data services appliance is designated as part of a source virtual protection group and the second virtual data services appliance is designated as part of a target virtual protection group.

8. A system for providing data services for server virtualization, comprising:

a hypervisor at a first host site, comprising;

a first virtual server, the first virtual server paired with a second virtual server at a second host site;

a first virtual disk read to and written by the first virtual server;

a filter driver in communication with the first virtual server to intercept a write request from the first virtual server to the first virtual disk, the filter driver installed in a software layer between the first virtual server and the first virtual disk in a hypervisor kernel of the hypervisor; and

a first virtual data services appliance in communication with the filter driver to;

receive the write request from the filter driver,

transmit a first copy of the write request to a journal manager,

transmit a second copy of the write request to a second virtual data services appliance at the second host site, the second copy assigned a time stamp, the second virtual data services appliance applies the write request to a second virtual disk at the second host site, and

transmit a third copy of the write request to a data analyzer.

9. The system of claim 8, comprising:

the first virtual data services appliance to receive the write request from the filter driver, prior to storage of the write request at a physical disk associated with the hypervisor at the first host site.

10. The system of claim 8, comprising:

the first virtual data services appliance to transmit the second copy of the write request in accordance to a priority for network communications between the first virtual data services appliance and the second virtual data services appliance.

11. The system of claim 8, comprising:

the second virtual data service appliance at the second host site to order the write request on the second virtual disk based on the time stamp assigned to the second copy of the write request to maintain write order fidelity.

12. The system of claim 8, comprising:

the filter driver to transmit the write request to an I/O backend of the hypervisor for storage at a physical disk associated with the hypervisor at the first host site.

13. The system of claim 8, comprising:

a data services manager to designate the first host site as a first virtual protection group and the second host site as a second virtual protection group.

14. The system of claim 8, comprising:

a data services manager to coordinate a write order at the first virtual data services appliance and the second virtual data services appliance.

15. A method of providing data services for server virtualization, comprising:

intercepting, by a tapping driver at a first host site, a write request from a virtual server to a first virtual disk, the tapping driver installed in a hypervisor kernel of a hypervisor;

receiving, by a receiver at the first host site, the write request from the tapping driver;

generating, by a first virtual data services appliance at the first host site, a first copy of the write request, a second copy of the write request, and a third copy of the write request;

transmitting, by the first virtual data services appliance, to a journal manager, the first copy of the write request;

transmitting, by the first virtual data services appliance, to a second virtual data services appliance at a second host site, the second copy of the write request assigned a time stamp and triggering the second virtual data services appliance to apply the write request to a second virtual disk at the second host site; and

transmitting, by the first virtual data services appliance, to a data analyzer at the first host site, the third copy of the write request.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

compressing, by the first virtual data services appliance, the second copy of write request, prior to transmitting the second copy of the write request to the second virtual data services appliance.

17. The method of claim 15, comprising:

transmitting, by the first virtual data services appliance, to the second virtual data services appliance at the second host site, the second copy of the write request according to a priority for network communications between the first virtual data services appliance and the second virtual data services appliance.

18. The method of claim 15, comprising:

transmitting, by the first virtual data services appliance, to the data analyzer, the third copy of the write request, receipt of the third copy of the write request causing the data analyzer to determine at least one of an operating system level and a status of the virtual server.

19. The method of claim 15, comprising:

analyzing, by the first virtual data services appliance, data content of the write request from the tapping driver to identify a state of the virtual server.

20. The method of claim 15, comprising:

storing, by the journal manager, the first copy of the write request as a historical image on the first virtual disk at the first host site.