SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING BACKUP OPERATIONS OF VIRTUAL MACHINE FILES

• US 20100011178A1
• Filed: 07/30/2008
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Vizioncore, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Feathergill, David Allen
• Granted Patent: US 8,046,550 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Backup systems and methods are disclosed for a virtual computing environment. Certain examples include a system having a backup management server that communicates with a host server having at least one virtual machine. The management server coordinates with the host server to perform backup copies of entire virtual machine disks from outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine. In certain examples, such backup systems further utilize a volume shadow copy service executing on the host server to quiesce virtual machine applications to put data in a consistent state to be backed up. The backup system then utilizes hypervisor snapshot capabilities of the host server to record intended changes to the virtual machine disk files while such files are being copied (e.g., backed up) by the host server. Such recorded changes can be later committed to the virtual machine disk files once the backup operation has completed.

Claims

1. A method for performing one or more storage operations in a virtual computing environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request to back up a virtual machine having a guest operating system and being associated with a host server;

instructing a shadow copy process on the host server to quiesce write requests by one or more applications executing on the virtual machine;

creating a hypervisor snapshot of a virtual machine disk file associated with the virtual machine, the virtual machine disk file being maintained in a datastore;

following said creating the hypervisor snapshot, allowing write requests to resume by the one or more applications executing on the virtual machine;

recording, with the hypervisor snapshot, changes intended to be made to the virtual machine disk file based on said resumed write requests;

creating a backup copy of the virtual machine disk file without powering down the virtual machine, the backup copy of the virtual machine disk file being created from outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine; and

following said creating the backup copy, committing the changes recorded with the hypervisor snapshot to the virtual machine disk file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the hypervisor snapshot further comprises unlocking the virtual machine disk file with respect to the virtual machine, and further comprising, following said committing, locking the virtual machine disk file for normal access by the virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to said creating the hypervisor snapshot, flushing transactions in a memory of the virtual machine to the datastore.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, following said creating the hypervisor snapshot, allowing the shadow copy process to create a shadow copy of virtual machine data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the shadow copy is a non-persistent copy of the virtual machine data, and further comprising deleting the shadow copy prior to locking the virtual machine disk file for normal access by the virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating a backup copy comprises creating a backup copy of an entire virtual disk of the virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating the backup copy is performed by the host server hosting the virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said creating the backup copy further comprises compressing the backup copy prior to storing the backup copy to disk.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising injecting a binary file into the host server for creating a compression engine for performing said compressing.

10. A system for performing storage operations in a virtualized computing environment, the system comprising:

a host computer comprising a virtual machine having a guest operating system that accesses resources of the host computer through at least a hypervisor layer;

a shadow copy module executing on the host computer, the shadow copy module being configured to quiesce write requests of one or more applications executing on the guest operating system of the virtual machine; and

a management module in network communication with the host computer, the management module being configured to,

receive a request to perform a backup copy of one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine,

instruct the shadow copy module to quiesce the write requests of the one or more applications,

instruct the hypervisor layer of the host computer to create a snapshot file of the one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine, the snapshot file being configured to record changes intended to the one or more virtual disk files during copying of the one or more virtual disk files,

instruct the host computer to create a backup copy of the one or more virtual disk files, and

instruct the host computer to commit to the one or more virtual disk files the changes recorded by the snapshot file during the creation of the backup copy and, thereafter, to allow write access to the one or more virtual disk files by the one or more applications executing on the guest operating system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more virtual disk files comprises a .VMDK file.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more virtual disk files comprises a .VMX file.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the management module further comprises a user interface module for obtaining user input with respect to the creation of the backup copy.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the user input comprises restore information to be stored with the backup copy of the one or more virtual disk files.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the hypervisor layer comprises a bare-metal hypervisor.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the host computer comprises a cluster of host servers.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising a backup server in network communication with the management module and the host computer for storing the backup copy.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the snapshot file comprises a plurality of snapshot files.

19. A system for performing storage operations in a virtualized computing environment, the system comprising:

means for hosting a virtual machine having a guest operating system that accesses resources of the hosting means through at least a hypervisor layer;

means for quiescing write requests of one or more applications executing on the guest operating system of the virtual machine; and

means for managing a backup of one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine, said managing means being further configured to,

receive a request to perform a backup copy of one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine,

instruct said quiescing means to quiesce the write requests of the one or more applications,

instruct the hypervisor layer of said hosting means to create a snapshot file of the one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine, the snapshot file being configured to record changes intended to the one or more virtual disk files during copying of the one or more virtual disk files,

instruct said hosting means to create a backup copy of the one or more virtual disk files, and

instruct said hosting means to commit to the one or more virtual disk files the changes recorded by the snapshot file during the creation of the backup copy and, thereafter, to allow write access to the one or more virtual disk files by the one or more applications executing on the guest operating system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said managing means further comprises means for injecting binary files onto said hosting means to perform said creation of the backup copy.