IDENTIFICATION OF VIRTUAL APPLICATIONS FOR BACKUP IN A CLOUD COMPUTING SYSTEM

• US 20140082166A1
• Filed: 04/13/2011
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Robinson, Matthew Douglas, Tenzer, Keith J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,892,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• 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 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments provide various techniques for identifying a virtual application for backup in a cloud computing system. A cloud service layer of the cloud computing system is queried for a listing of virtual applications. In response to the querying, an attribute associated with the virtual application is received from the cloud service layer. The attribute associated with the virtual application is then transformed into an attribute associated with a hypervisor-managed virtual machine, and this transformation of the attribute exposes the hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application such that the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is identifiable for backup. As a result, the virtual application can be backed up based on the attribute of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

Claims

1. A method of identifying a virtual application for backup in a cloud computing system comprising a cloud service layer and a virtual center layer, the cloud service layer comprising one or more virtual applications, the virtual center layer comprising one or more hypervisor-managed virtual machines, the method being performed at the virtual center layer and the method comprising:

receiving, at the virtual center layer, a backup request from a tenant of the cloud computing system to back UP a virtual application;

in response to receiving the backup request, querying the cloud service layer for a listing of virtual applications;

in response to querying the cloud service layer for the listing of virtual applications, receiving, at the virtual center layer, an attribute associated with the virtual application from the cloud service layer, the attribute associated with the virtual application being used, at the virtual center layer, to identify a hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application;

transforming the attribute associated with the virtual application into an attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the transformation of the attribute exposing the hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application such that the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is identifiable for backup by the virtual center layer; and

backing up the virtual application based on the attribute of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying the cloud service layer comprises:

transmitting a first request to the cloud service layer for a listing of tenants;

receiving an identification of the tenant from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the first request;

in response to receiving the identification of the tenant, transmitting a second request to the cloud service layer for a listing of virtual data centers associated with the tenant;

receiving an identification of a virtual data center from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the second request;

in response to receiving the identification of the virtual data center, transmitting a third request to the cloud service layer for the listing of virtual applications associated with the virtual data center; and

wherein receiving the attribute associated with the virtual application from the cloud service layer includes receiving an identification of the virtual application from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the third request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the tenant is a user having a set of data that remain logically isolated from data that belongs to other tenants in the listing of tenants.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the virtual application is a logical entity comprising a number of virtual machines that encapsulate a component of a multi-tier application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transforming the attribute associated with the virtual application into the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine comprises:

parsing the attribute associated with the virtual application to identify a name and a numerical identifier of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the name and the numerical identifier being used by the virtual application to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine; and

combining the name with the numerical identifier to define the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the numerical identifier is located before the name.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud service layer comprises a virtual cloud director, and wherein querying the cloud service layer comprises querying the virtual cloud director, and wherein receiving the attribute associated with the virtual application comprises receiving the attribute associated with the virtual application from the virtual cloud director.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud service layer is queried by way of a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is a name of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the name being used by a virtual center to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is a pointer to the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the pointer being used by a virtual center to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

11. A non-transitory, machine-readable medium that stores instructions that, when performed by a machine at a virtual center layer of a cloud computing system, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at the virtual center layer, a backup request from a tenant of the cloud computing system to back up a virtual application;

in response to receiving the backup request, querying the cloud service layer of the cloud computing system for a listing of virtual applications;

in response to querying the cloud service layer for the listing of virtual applications, receiving, at the virtual center layer, an identification of the virtual application from the cloud service layer, the identification being used, at the virtual center layer, to identify a hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application;

transforming the identification into an attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the transformation of the identification exposing the hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application such that the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is identifiable for backup by the virtual center layer; and

backing up the virtual application based on the attribute of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

12. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the machine to query the cloud service layer by:

transmitting a first request to the cloud service layer for a listing of tenants;

receiving an identification of the tenant from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the first request;

in response to receiving the identification of the tenant, transmitting a second request to the cloud service layer for a listing of virtual data centers associated with the tenant;

receiving an identification of a virtual data center from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the second request;

in response to receiving the identification of the virtual data center, transmitting a third request to the cloud service layer for the listing of virtual applications associated with the virtual data center; and

wherein the instructions cause the machine to receive the attribute associated with the virtual application from the cloud service layer by receiving the identification of the virtual application from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the third request.

13. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the machine to transform the identification of the virtual application into the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine by:

parsing the identification of the virtual application to identify a name and a numerical identifier of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the name and the numerical identifier being used by the virtual application to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine; and

combining the name with the numerical identifier to define the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

14. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the cloud service layer comprises a virtual cloud director, and wherein the instructions cause the machine to query the cloud service layer by querying the virtual cloud director, and wherein the instructions cause the machine to receive the identification of the virtual application by receiving the identification of the virtual application from the virtual cloud director.

15. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the cloud service layer is queried by way of a Representational State Transfer (REST) application programming interface.

16. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is a name of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the name being used by a virtual center to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

17. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is a pointer to the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the pointer being used by a virtual center to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

18. A system to identify a virtual application for backup in a cloud computing system comprising a cloud service layer and a virtual center layer, the cloud service layer comprising one or more virtual applications, the virtual center layer comprising one or more hypervisor-managed virtual machines, the system comprising:

a processor; and

one or more memory resources storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive, at the virtual center layer, a backup request from a tenant of the cloud computing system to back up a virtual application;

in response to receiving the backup request, query the cloud service layer for a listing of virtual applications;

in response to querying the cloud service layer for the listing of virtual applications, receive, at the virtual center layer, an attribute associated with the virtual application from the cloud service layer, the attribute associated with the virtual application being used, at the virtual center layer, to identify a hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application;

transform the attribute associated with the virtual application into an attribute associated with a hypervisor-managed virtual machine at the virtual center layer, the transformation of the attribute exposing the hypervisor-managed virtual machine associated with the virtual application such that the hypervisor-managed virtual machine is identifiable for backup; and

back up the virtual application based on the attribute of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the processor to query the cloud service by:

transmitting a first request to the cloud service layer for a listing of tenants;

receiving an identification of the tenant from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the first request;

in response to receiving the identification of the tenant, transmitting a second request to the cloud service layer for a listing of virtual data centers associated with the tenant;

receiving an identification of a virtual data center from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the second request;

in response to receiving the identification of the virtual data center, transmitting a third request to the cloud service layer for the listing of virtual applications associated with the virtual data center; and

wherein the instructions cause the processor to receive the attribute associated with the virtual application from the cloud service layer by receiving an identification of the virtual application from the cloud service layer in response to the transmittal of the third request.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the processor to transform the attribute associated with the virtual application into the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine by:

parse the attribute associated with the virtual application to identify a name and a numerical identifier of the hypervisor-managed virtual machine, the name and the numerical identifier being used by the virtual application to identify the hypervisor-managed virtual machine; and

combine the name with the numerical identifier to define the attribute associated with the hypervisor-managed virtual machine.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the cloud service layer comprises a virtual cloud director, and wherein the instructions cause the processor to query the cloud service layer by querying the virtual cloud director, and wherein the instructions cause the processor to receive the attribute associated with the virtual application by receiving the attribute associated with the virtual application from the virtual cloud director.