System and method for creating high frequency snapshots of an entity in a virtualized environment

• US 10,642,518 B1
• Filed: 10/25/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: Bezbaruah, Angshuman, Beedu, Bharath Kumar, Tatiparthi, Kiran, Sadavarte, Mayur, Patnaik, Pranab, Padia, Praveen
• Primary Examiner(s): Chery, Mardochee
• Application Number:
  US16/171,287
• Publication Number:
  US 20200133539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 711113, 711114, 711115, 711162, 711170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/301 where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3051 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0804 with main memory updating G06F12/0806 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0868 Data transfer between cache memory and other subsystems, e.g. storage devices or host systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1008 Correctness of operation, e.g. memory ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1032 Reliability improvement, data loss prevention, degraded operation etc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/152 Virtualized environment, e.g. logically partitioned system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/154 Networked environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A system and method for capturing high frequency snapshots of an entity includes creating, by a storage sub-system associated with a distributed storage system of a virtualized environment, a cached configuration of an entity within the storage sub-system, capturing, by the storage sub-system, a snapshot of the entity from the cached configuration based on a schedule of a snapshot policy, including sending, by the storage sub-system, the snapshot to a repository indicated in the snapshot policy, and determining, by the storage sub-system, that a configuration file associated with the entity has been updated. The system and method also includes updating, by the storage sub-system, the cached configuration based upon the configuration file that has been updated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

caching, by a storage sub-system associated with a distributed storage system of a virtualized environment, a configuration of an entity within the storage sub-system, wherein the configuration comprises a configuration file or configuration database of the entity;

capturing, by the storage sub-system, a snapshot of the entity from the cached configuration based on a snapshot policy;

determining, by the storage sub-system, that the configuration associated with the entity has been updated;

updating, by the storage sub-system, the cached configuration based upon the updated configuration;

comparing, by the storage sub-system, a modification time of when the configuration is updated with a timestamp of when the cached configuration is created; and

determining, by the storage sub-system, that the modification time is more recent than the timestamp.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the storage sub-system, the configuration of the entity from a hypervisor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage sub-system monitors a location of the configuration file or the configuration database for determining that the configuration has been updated.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting, by the storage sub-system, an updated configuration of the entity from a virtualization aware control layer upon determining that the configuration has been updated.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating, by the storage sub-system, the snapshot policy based upon information provided by a user within a snapshot template.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the storage sub-system, the snapshot for a unit of time based upon the snapshot policy; and

deleting, by the storage sub-system, the snapshot upon expiration of the unit of time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is a virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a virtualization aware control layer determines the configuration of the virtual machine from a hypervisor associated with the virtual machine for sending to the storage sub-system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is a container.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a virtualization aware control layer determines the configuration of the container from a container engine associated with the container for sending to the storage sub-system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the snapshot policy defines a frequency with which the snapshot of the entity is to be captured.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the frequency is at least one snapshot within a sixty second period.

13. A system comprising:

a distributed storage system associated with a host machine, the distributed storage system comprising a storage sub-system, the storage sub-system comprising programmed instructions to capture high-frequency snapshots of a plurality of entities on the host machine, the storage sub-system comprising;

a memory that caches a configuration of the plurality of entities wherein the configuration comprises a configuration file or configuration database of the plurality of entities; and

a processing unit having programmed instructions to;

create the cached configuration of each of the plurality of entities within the memory;

capture a snapshot of each of the plurality of entities from the cached configuration based on a snapshot policy;

determine that the configuration associated with at least one of the plurality of entities has been updated;

update the cached configuration of the at least one of the plurality of entities based upon the updated configuration;

compare a modification time of when the configuration is updated with a timestamp of when the cached configuration is created; and

determine that the modification time is more recent than the timestamp.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a management system in operable communication with the storage sub-system, wherein the storage sub-system includes programmed instructions to receive data via the management system, and wherein the storage sub-system further includes programmed instructions to create the snapshot policy in accordance with the data.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of entities comprise a virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of entities comprise a container.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing unit further comprises programmed instructions to send the snapshot to a repository indicated in the snapshot policy, and wherein the repository is on a remote site.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising a virtualization aware control layer having programmed instructions to determine the configuration of each of the plurality of entities;

and wherein the processing unit includes programmed instructions to create the cached configuration from the configuration received from the virtualization aware control layer.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the snapshot policy includes capturing more than one snapshot every sixty seconds of each of the plurality of entities in the storage sub-system.

20. A non-transitory computer readable media with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by a processor of a storage sub-system associated with a distributed storage system of a virtualized environment, cause the storage sub-system to perform a process comprising:

caching a configuration of an entity within the storage sub-system, wherein the configuration comprises a configuration file or configuration database of the entity;

capturing a snapshot of the entity from the cached configuration based on a snapshot policy;

determining that the configuration has been updated;

updating the cached configuration based upon the updated configuration;

comparing a modification time of when the configuration is updated with a timestamp of when the cached configuration is created; and

determining that the modification time is more recent than the timestamp.

21. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the processor further includes programmed instructions to create the cached configuration from the configuration received from a virtualization aware control layer.

22. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the processor further includes programmed instructions_ to receive the updated configuration from a virtualization aware control layer upon determining by the storage sub-system that the configuration has been updated.

23. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the snapshot policy comprises capturing more than one snapshot every sixty seconds of the entity in the storage sub-system.