APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE BACKUP

• US 20090216970A1
• Filed: 02/26/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Basler, Jason Ferris, Smith, James Patrick, Piletski, Vadzim Ivanovich, Derk, David George
• Granted Patent: US 8,631,217 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 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for a virtual machine backup. A name module establishes an administrative machine name for a virtual machine. A space module associates at least one administrative name space with the administrative machine name. A backup module backs up files belonging to the virtual machine using a backup proxy, wherein the files are segregated under the administrative machine name and are accessible using only a secure key belonging to the virtual machine and without using a backup proxy secure key. A mask module masks out pathname components for each backup file pathname so that the backup file pathname is equivalent to a virtual machine file pathname.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program stored on a tangible storage device, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

establish an administrative machine name for a virtual machine;

associate at least one administrative name space with the administrative machine name;

back up files belonging to the virtual machine using a backup proxy, wherein the files are segregated under the administrative machine name and are accessible using only a secure key belonging to the virtual machine and without using a backup proxy secure key; and

mask out pathname components for each backup file pathname so that the backup file pathname is equivalent to a virtual machine file pathname.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to discover each virtual machine eligible for backup.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to prepare the virtual machine for backup.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to:

create a snapshot for each eligible virtual machine; and

thaw the snapshot for each eligible virtual machine.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein a single command initiates the backup of a plurality of virtual machines.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to establish at least one virtual disk in at least one administrative name space.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is configured as a VMWARE®

virtual machine.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, where the backup proxy employs a VMWARE®

Consolidated Backup.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to establish the administrative machine name using a Tivoli Storage Manager™

asnodename option.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to mask out the pathname components using a Tivoli Storage Manager™

snapshotroot option.

11. An apparatus to back up a virtual machine, the apparatus comprising:

a name module configured to establish an administrative machine name for a virtual machine;

a space module configured to associate at least one administrative name space with the administrative machine name;

a backup module configured to back up files belonging to the virtual machine using a backup proxy, wherein the files are segregated under the administrative machine name and are accessible using only a secure key belonging to the virtual machine and without using a backup proxy secure key; and

a mask module configured to mask out pathname components for each backup file pathname so that the backup file pathname is equivalent to a virtual machine file pathname.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a control module to discover each virtual machine eligible for backup.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the control module is further configured to prepare the virtual machine for backup.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the control module is further configured to:

create a snapshot for each eligible virtual machine; and

thaw the snapshot for each eligible virtual machine.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein a single command initiates the backup of a plurality of virtual machines.

16. A method for deploying computer infrastructure, comprising integrating a computer readable program stored on a tangible storage device into a computing system, wherein the program in combination with the computing system is capable of performing the following:

discovering each virtual machine eligible for backup;

preparing each virtual machine for backup;

establishing an administrative machine name for each virtual machine;

associating at least one administrative name space with each administrative machine name;

backing up files belonging to each virtual machine using a backup proxy, wherein the files are segregated under each administrative machine name and are accessible using only a secure key belonging to the virtual machine and without using a backup proxy secure key; and

masking out pathname components for each backup file pathname so that the backup file pathname is equivalent to a virtual machine file pathname.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

creating a snapshot for each eligible virtual machine; and

thawing the snapshot for each eligible virtual machine.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein a single command initiates the backup of a plurality of virtual machines.

19. A system to back up a virtual machine, the system comprising:

a computer executing a plurality of virtual machines;

a backup proxy configured to back up the plurality of virtual machines;

a name module configured to establish an administrative machine name for each virtual machine;

a space module configured to associate at least one administrative name space with each administrative machine name;

a backup module configured to back up files belonging to each virtual machine using a backup proxy, wherein the files are segregated under the administrative machine name and are accessible using only a secure key belonging to each virtual machine and without using a backup proxy secure key; and

a mask module configured to mask out pathname components for each backup file pathname so that the backup file pathname is equivalent to a virtual machine file pathname.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each virtual machine is configured as a VMWARE®

virtual machine and the backup proxy employs a VMWARE®

Consolidated Backup.