Data backup for virtual machines
First Claim
1. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup to a plurality of virtual machines configured on a hardware platform, each said virtual machine having an operating system, comprising:
- upon indication of undertaking a backup operation for one of the virtual machines, determining a type of said operating system for said one virtual machine;
selecting a virtual machine proxy having an operating system most closely approximating said type of said operating system for said one virtual machine; and
enabling said backup operation through use of the selected virtual machine proxy.
16 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus involve computing backup for virtual representations on a physical hardware platform. The platform has a processor, memory and available storage upon which a plurality of virtual machines are configured. Also, each virtual machine has a type of operating system that may be the same or different as another virtual machine. A plurality of virtual machine proxies exists as complements to the virtual machines in order to actually conduct the backup. Upon indication of a present need for conducting a backup operation, the proxy with an operating system most closely approximating or matching the operating system of the virtual machine needing backup is selected for undertaking the operation. In this manner, backup is no longer conducted with ill-fitting physical backup proxies with incompatible operating systems. In other embodiments, nuances of conducting backup are described as are templates and cloning. Computer program products are further described.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
1. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup to a plurality of virtual machines configured on a hardware platform, each said virtual machine having an operating system, comprising:
-
upon indication of undertaking a backup operation for one of the virtual machines, determining a type of said operating system for said one virtual machine; selecting a virtual machine proxy having an operating system most closely approximating said type of said operating system for said one virtual machine; and enabling said backup operation through use of the selected virtual machine proxy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup to a plurality of virtual machines configured on a hardware platform, each said virtual machine having a type of operating system, comprising:
-
selecting from a plurality of proxies a virtual machine proxy having an operating system most closely approximating said type of said operating system for one of the virtual machines requiring a backup operation; and conducting the backup operation through use of the selected virtual machine proxy. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
-
-
12. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup, comprising:
-
configuring a plurality of virtual machines on a common hardware platform, each said virtual machine having an operating system; by one of the virtual machines, indicating a backup operation; determining a type of said operating system for said one virtual machine; and enabling the backup operation with a virtual machine proxy having an operating system most closely approximating said determined type.
-
-
13. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup, comprising:
-
configuring a plurality of virtual machines on a common hardware platform, each said virtual machine having an operating system; by one of the virtual machines, indicating a backup operation; determining a type of said operating system for said one virtual machine; and from a plurality of virtual machine templates, cloning a virtual machine proxy having an operating system most closely approximating said determined type of said operating system for said one virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup to a plurality of virtual machines configured on a hardware platform, each said virtual machine having a type of operating system, comprising:
-
determining said type of operating system for one of the virtual machines requiring a backup operation; and conducting the backup operation with a virtual machine proxy having an operating system most closely approximating said determined type. - View Dependent Claims (16)
-
-
17. In a computing system environment, a method of providing computing backup, comprising:
-
providing a hardware platform having a processor, memory and available storage upon which a plurality of virtual machines can be configured and operated by way of scheduling control from a hypervisor layer also on the hardware platform; configuring a plurality of virtual machine proxies; configuring to the available storage the plurality of virtual machines and at least one of the plurality of virtual machine proxies; upon indicating a backup operation by one of the plurality of virtual machines, determining a type of said operating system for said one virtual machine; and enabling the backup operation to occur with the at least one virtual machine proxy which has an operating system most closely approximating said determined type.
-
-
18. A computing device, comprising:
-
a hardware platform having at least a processor, memory and available storage; a plurality of virtual machines each operating as an independent guest computing device on the processor, memory and storage by way of scheduling control from a hypervisor layer also configured on the hardware platform, each of the plurality of virtual machines having an operating system; and a plurality of virtual machine proxies for conducting backup operations for the plurality of virtual machines, each of the virtual machine proxies having an operating system such that upon one of the virtual machines having a present need for said conducting backup operations one selected virtual machine proxy of the plurality of virtual machine proxies will have its said operating system matching said operating system of the one virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
- 21. A computer program product for loading on a computing device to provide computing backup, the computer program product having executable instructions that enables determining a type of operating system for each of a plurality of virtual machines operating as an independent guest computing device on a processor, memory and storage of a hardware platform by way of scheduling control from a hypervisor layer also configured on the hardware platform and upon one of the virtual machines having a present need for conducting a backup operation determining which proxy of a plurality of virtual machine proxies have an operating system best matching said operating system of the one virtual machine.
Specification