Method and apparatus of continuous data backup and access using virtual machines

• US 20070271428A1
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: InMage Systems, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Atluri, Rajeev
• Granted Patent: US 8,868,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques

Abstract

A continuous data backup and access method/system using virtual machines is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes creating a virtual machine associated with a backup module based on attributes of an application server when the application server is connected to a network having the backup module, continuously capturing any change of a data processed in the application server, and automatically backing up the any change of the data in a storage device coupled to the backup module using the virtual machine, and communicating at least the data in the storage device to the application server using the virtual machine when a command is communicated to the backup module. The method may also include automatically recovering a recent attribute and data of the application sever using the virtual machine associated with the backup module when the application sever fails.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

creating a virtual machine associated with a backup module based on attributes of an application server when the application server is coupled to a network having the backup module;

continuously capturing any change of a data processed in the application server and automatically backing up the any change of the data in a storage device coupled to the backup module; and

communicating at least the data in the storage device to the application server using the virtual machine when a command is communicated to the backup module.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the attributes of the application server is at least one of an application type, an operating system type, and a file system type.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the any change of the data comprises any one of a first instance of the data and subsequent changes to the data, and wherein the automatically backing up the any change of the data in the storage device is performed using at least one of the virtual machine and directly through the backup module.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the any change of the data to a format of the virtual machine before the automatically backing up the any change of the data in the storage device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing the capturing the any change of the data in at least one of the application server, a controller of a storage subsystem coupled to the application server, and a backup server coupled to the network.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically recovering a recent attribute and data of the application server using the virtual machine associated with the backup module when the application server fails.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically retrieving a past instance of the data described by a meta-data using the virtual machine associated with the backup module when a command based on the meta-data is communicated to the backup module.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically restoring to a past instance of the application server described by a meta-data using the virtual machine associated with the backup module when a command based on the meta-data is communicated to the backup module.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically purging the data described by a meta-data using the virtual machine associated with the backup module when a command based on the meta-data is communicated to the backup module.

10. The method of claim 2 further comprising storing the attributes of the application server to a virtual machine library of the backup module when the application server is coupled to the network.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a signal data in a policy module when a period since a recent modification of the data exceeds a threshold value.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual machine is created using at least one of a transparent virtualization which does not involve a substantial modification of the operating system and a para-virtualization which requires the substantial modification of the operating system.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the application server runs a plurality of applications and operating systems based on a plurality of virtual machines.

14. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

15. A network system of servers, comprising:

an application server to process any change of a data; and

a backup server coupled to the application server via a network to continuously back up the any change of the data in a storage device coupled to the backup server using a virtual machine of the backup server.

16. The network system of claim 15 further comprising a capture module continuously capturing the any change of the data is located in at least one of the application server, the backup server, and a controller device of a storage array network (SAN) system coupled to the application server.

17. A backup device, comprising:

a virtual machine (VM) creator module to generate a command to create a virtual machine mirroring an operating system and an application of an application server when the application server is coupled to the backup device;

a capture module to collect any change of a data processed in the application server and communicate the any change of the data to the backup device;

a VM access module to match the virtual machine which corresponds to the operating system and the application of the application server when an identification data associated with the application server is communicated to the backup device; and

a journal module to continuously copy the any change of the data to a storage device coupled to the backup device using the virtual machine.

18. The backup device of claim 17 further comprising a modification module to perform at least one of a retrieval operation, a restore operation, a disaster recovery operation, and a deletion operation associated with the data and the application server.

19. The backup device of claim 17 further comprising a VM module to provide the operating system and the application of the application server using a software algorithm.

20. The backup device of claim 19 further comprising a DR module to automatically recover the application and the operating system of the application server using the VM module when the application server is shut down.