Virtual Disk Storage Techniques

• US 20120272240A1
• Filed: 04/25/2011
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Starks, John A., Green, Dustin L., Harris, Todd William, John, Mathew, Rajaram, Senthil
• Granted Patent: US 8,725,782 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1805 Append-only file systems, e.g. using logs or journals to store data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

This document describes techniques for effecting a virtual disk. In an exemplary configuration, a virtual disk file can be associated with a log that acts as both a log and a check point record. When a log entry is generated, information that identifies the tail can be stored therein. This information can be used in the event that virtual disk file is improperly closed, i.e., a crash or power failure occurs, to discover a sequence of log entries to replay. In addition to the foregoing, other techniques are described in the claims, detailed description, and figures.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium including instructions that upon execution by a processor cause the processor to:

instantiate a log for a virtual disk file in random access memory, the log including ordered log entries;

identify a log entry in the log, the log entry being the oldest log entry in the log that was generated after a request to commit cached input/output jobs to a storage device was issued;

add an identifier for the identified log entry to a newly generated log entry; and

write the newly generated log entry to the log.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

write the newly generated log entry to the log, the newly generated log entry including a bit pattern having a size at least as large as a size of a sector of the storage device.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

write the newly generated log entry to the log, the newly generated log entry including an indicator, the indicator identifying that a bit pattern for the log entry is all zeros.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

write the newly generated log entry to the log, the newly generated log entry including a first sector-sized bit pattern and a second sector-sized bit pattern.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

add information that identifies an end of file offset for the virtual disk file to the newly generated log entry.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

apply changes to the virtual disk file identified by the log entry and the newly generated log entry in response to receipt of a request to force cached input/output jobs to be committed.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

write an additional log entry to the log, the additional log entry includes an identifier for the additional log entry, the additional log entry being the oldest log entry in the log that was generated after a request to commit cached input/output jobs was issued to the storage device.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

overwrite the log entry in response to a determination that the log entry has been both committed to the storage device and applied to the virtual disk file.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

scan the log in response to a determination that the virtual disk file was improperly closed;

identify a sequence of valid log entries, the sequence including a newest valid log entry written to the log and each log entry in the sequence written to the log after a discontinuity; and

apply changes to the virtual disk file identified by the sequence of log entries.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to:

generate a second log in response to a determination that the virtual disk file was moved to a second storage device, the second storage device having an expanded sector size; and

write an expanded log entry to the second log, the expanded log entry including a bit pattern obtained from the log entry and a bit pattern obtained the virtual disk file.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further comprising:

generate a second log in response to a determination that the virtual disk file was moved to a second storage device, the second storage device having an expanded sector size;

write an expanded log entry to the second log, the expanded log entry including a bit patterns for the second sector obtained from the second log entry and the bit pattern for the first sector obtained from the first log entry.

12. A computer system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor when the processor is supplied with power, the memory comprising instructions that upon execution cause the processor to;

access a log for a virtual disk file, the log including log entries written in a sequential order;

select a sequence of log entries in response to a determination that each log entry in the sequence is valid, the sequence includes a newest valid log entry, and that each log entry was written to the log after a discontinuity in the log file; and

apply changes to sectors of the virtual disk file identified by the sequence of log entries.

13. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising instructions in the memory that upon execution cause the processor to:

modify an end of file identifier for the virtual disk file based on an end of file identifier stored in a log entry in the sequence of log-entries.

14. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising instructions in the memory that upon execution cause the processor to:

generate a second log in response to a determination that the sector size of a storage device storing the virtual disk file has increased; and

write an expanded log entry to the second log, the expanded log entry including a bit pattern obtained from the virtual disk file and a bit pattern obtained from a log entry in the log.

15. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising instructions in the memory that upon execution cause the processor to:

generate a second log in response to a determination that the sector size of a storage device storing the virtual disk file has decreased; and

write a first contracted and a second contracted log entry to the second log, the first contracted log entry including a portion of a bit pattern obtained from a log entry in the log and a second contracted log entry including a remainder of the bit pattern from the log entry in the log.

16. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising instructions in the memory that upon execution cause the processor to:

write an identifier for an oldest unflushed log entry to each log entry prior to writing each log entry to the log.

17. The computer system of claim 12, further comprising instructions in the memory that upon execution cause the processor to:

overwrite a flushed log entry in response to a determination that a subsequently written log entry includes information indicating that the flushed log entry was committed to a storage device and applied to the virtual disk file.

18. A computer implemented method, comprising:

instantiating a virtual disk for a virtual machine, the virtual disk backed by a virtual disk file;

determining a bit pattern to write to the virtual disk file;

generating a log entry including the bit pattern to write to a log, the log including ordered log entries, the log stored in random access memory;

adding an identifier for an oldest unflushed log entry to the log; and

writing the log entry to the log.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

issuing a flush command to a storage device;

applying the bit pattern from the log entry to the virtual disk file in response to receipt of a signal indicating that the storage device completed a flush operation.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

scanning the copy of the log stored in the storage device in response to a determination that a power failure occurred;

selecting a sequence of log entries from the copy of the log in response to a determination that each log entry in the sequence is valid, the sequence includes a newest valid log entry, and that each log entry was written to the log after a discontinuity in the log file; and

applying changes to sectors of the virtual disk file identified by the sequence of log entries.