RUNNING A VIRTUAL MACHINE DIRECTLY FROM A PHYSICAL MACHINE USING SNAPSHOTS
First Claim
1. A computer program product for implementing a method for a computing system to run a virtual machine directly from a physical machine using snapshots of the physical machine, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:
- an act of a snapshot component taking a snapshot of the physical system volume while the physical system volume is in an operational state; and
an act of the virtual machine initializing using the physical system volume snapshot thereby allowing the physical system volume snapshot to be a virtual system volume snapshot representing an initial state of a virtual system volume.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to the running of a virtual machine directly from a physical machine using snapshots of the physical machine. In one example, a computer system performs a method for running a virtual machine directly from a physical machine using snapshots of the physical machine. A snapshot component takes a snapshot of the physical system volume while the physical system volume is in an operational state. The virtual machine initializes using the physical system volume snapshot thereby allowing the physical system volume snapshot to be a virtual system volume snapshot representing an initial state of a virtual system volume. The physical system volume snapshot includes instances of all the files within the physical system volume at the time the snapshot was taken.
72 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer program product for implementing a method for a computing system to run a virtual machine directly from a physical machine using snapshots of the physical machine, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:
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an act of a snapshot component taking a snapshot of the physical system volume while the physical system volume is in an operational state; and an act of the virtual machine initializing using the physical system volume snapshot thereby allowing the physical system volume snapshot to be a virtual system volume snapshot representing an initial state of a virtual system volume. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. On a computer system, a method for running a virtual machine directly from a physical machine using snapshots of the physical machine, the method comprising:
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an act of a snapshot component taking a snapshot of the physical system volume while the physical system volume is in an operational state; an act of the snapshot component taking a snapshot of the virtual system volume while the virtual system volume is in an operational state; an act of the physical machine initializing using the snapshot of the virtual system volume thereby allowing the virtual system volume to be a physical system volume snapshot representing an initial state of the physical system volume; an act of querying the snapshot of the physical system volume to determine which files or sectors were changed from the time after the snapshot of the physical system volume was taken; if it is determined that files or sectors were changed after the snapshot was taken, an act of evaluating whether the changes to the files or sectors should be copied to the virtual system volume; and if the evaluation indicates that changes to the files or sectors should be copied to the virtual system volume, an act of copying the changed files and sectors to the virtual system volume. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. On a computer system, a method for running a virtual machine directly from a physical machine using snapshots of the physical machine, the method comprising:
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an act of a snapshot component taking a snapshot of the physical data and system volumes while the physical data and system volumes are in an operational state; an act of the snapshot component taking a snapshot of the virtual system and data volumes while the virtual system and data volumes are in an operational state; an act of the physical machine initializing using the snapshot of the virtual system volume thereby allowing the virtual system volume to be a physical system volume snapshot representing an initial state of the physical system volume, but continuing to use the physical data volume; an act of querying the snapshot of the virtual data volume to determine which files or sectors were changed from the time after the snapshot of the physical data volume was taken; if it is determined that files or sectors were changed after the snapshot was taken, an act of evaluating whether the changes to the files or sectors should be copied to the physical data volume; and if the evaluation indicates that changes to the files or sectors should be copied to the physical data volume, an act of copying the changed files and sectors to the physical data volume. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification