Agentless virtual disk metadata indexing
First Claim
1. A method for obtaining virtual disk metadata (VDM), comprising:
- issuing a snapshot request comprising a virtual machine (VM) identifier;
receiving, in response to the snapshot request, a virtual disk image (VDI) for a virtual disk associated with the VM identifier;
parsing the VDI based on a filesystem layout for a format in which the VDI is received, wherein the filesystem layout is for a filesystem;
obtaining, from parsing the VDI, virtual disk data (VDD) and the VDM for the virtual disk;
generating an intermediate data object (IDO) using the VDM;
processing the IDO by building a full path for each directory and for content within each directory for the filesystem to obtain an IDO index, wherein the IDO index comprises a data structure in which the full path is stored; and
employing the IDO index to implement a VDM searching service.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for implementing agentless virtual disk metadata indexing. Specifically, the disclosed method and system entails the parsing of data within a virtual machine and/or virtual disk snapshot to extract filesystem metadata information during data backup operations. Extraction of the filesystem metadata information is performed based on an understanding of a filesystem layout for a format in which the snapshot is defined, rather than based on the mounting and traversing of the snapshot. Furthermore, the extracted filesystem metadata information is encoded in a schema that may facilitate indexing of the information for use in a metadata searching and/or retrieval service.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for obtaining virtual disk metadata (VDM), comprising:
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issuing a snapshot request comprising a virtual machine (VM) identifier; receiving, in response to the snapshot request, a virtual disk image (VDI) for a virtual disk associated with the VM identifier; parsing the VDI based on a filesystem layout for a format in which the VDI is received, wherein the filesystem layout is for a filesystem; obtaining, from parsing the VDI, virtual disk data (VDD) and the VDM for the virtual disk; generating an intermediate data object (IDO) using the VDM; processing the IDO by building a full path for each directory and for content within each directory for the filesystem to obtain an IDO index, wherein the IDO index comprises a data structure in which the full path is stored; and employing the IDO index to implement a VDM searching service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system, comprising:
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a virtual machine (VM) manager and backup storage; a backup proxy node (BPN) operatively connected to the VM manager and the backup storage, and programmed to; issue, to the VM manager, a snapshot request comprising a VM identifier; receive, from the VM manager and in response to the snapshot request, a virtual disk image (VDI) relating to a virtual disk associated with the VM identifier; parse the VDI based on a filesystem layout for a format in which the VDI is received, wherein the filesystem layout is for a filesystem; obtain, from parsing the VDI, virtual disk data (VDD) and virtual disk metadata (VDM) for the virtual disk; generate an intermediate data object (IDO) using the VDM; and store, in the backup storage, a virtual disk backup (VDB) comprising the VDD and the IDO, and an application programming interface (API) operatively connected to the backup storage, and programmed to; issue, to the backup storage, a restore request comprising the VM identifier; receive the IDO, extracted from the VDB, from the backup storage and in response to the restore request; process the IDO by building a full path for each directory and for content within each directory for the filesystem to obtain an IDO index, wherein the IDO index comprises a data structure in which the full path is stored; and employ the IDO index to implement a VDM searching service. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor, enables the computer processor to:
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issue a snapshot request comprising a virtual machine (VM) identifier; receive, in response to the snapshot request, a virtual disk image (VDI) for a virtual disk associated with the VM identifier; parse the VDI based on a filesystem layout for a format in which the VDI is received, wherein the filesystem layout is for a filesystem; and obtain, from parsing the VDI, virtual disk data (VDD) and the VDM for the virtual disk; generate an intermediate data object (IDO) using the VDM; process the IDO by building a full path for each directory and for content within each directory for the filesystem to obtain an IDO index, wherein the IDO index comprises a data structure in which the full path is stored; and employ the IDO index to implement a VDM searching service. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification