BACKUP OF VIRTUAL MACHINES USING CLONED VIRTUAL MACHINES
First Claim
1. A method for creating a backup of a first virtual machine running on a first host computer in a network of host computers, comprising:
- generating a second virtual machine running on a second host computer in the network of host computers, the second virtual machine being a copy of the first virtual machine;
obtaining a snapshot of a virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine; and
creating a first backup based on at least the snapshot of the virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for creating a backup of a virtual machine running on a host computer is described herein. The system and method operate by creating a copy or “clone” of a virtual machine running on a first host computer on a second host machine connected thereto. After generation of the clone, a backup of the virtual hard disk of the clone can be obtained in a manner that does not consume any resources of the first host machine. The backup of the virtual hard disk of the clone can then be used as the backup of the original virtual machine.
224 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for creating a backup of a first virtual machine running on a first host computer in a network of host computers, comprising:
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generating a second virtual machine running on a second host computer in the network of host computers, the second virtual machine being a copy of the first virtual machine; obtaining a snapshot of a virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine; and creating a first backup based on at least the snapshot of the virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system, comprising:
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a first host computer comprising a first virtualization layer, a first virtual machine executing on the first virtualization layer, first cloning logic within the first virtualization layer, and first backup logic; a second host computer connected to the first host computer, the second host computer comprising a second virtualization layer, second cloning logic within the second virtualization layer, and second backup logic; the first and second cloning logic being configured to generate a second virtual machine on the second host computer responsive to the initiation of a backup process by the first and/or second backup logic, the second virtual machine being a copy of the first virtual machine; the second backup logic being configured to obtain a snapshot of a virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine and to create a first backup based on at least the snapshot of the virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for creating a backup of a first virtual machine running on a first host computer in a network of host computers, comprising:
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generating a second virtual machine running on a second host computer in the network of host computers, the second virtual machine being a copy of the first virtual machine; obtaining a snapshot of a virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine; generating a third virtual machine running on the second host computer, the third virtual machine being a copy of the first virtual machine; obtaining a snapshot of a virtual disk associated with the third virtual machine; and creating an incremental backup based on at least the snapshot of the virtual disk associated with the second virtual machine and the snapshot of the virtual disk associated with the third virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification