SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FULL VIRTUAL MACHINE BACKUP USING STORAGE SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY

• US 20140095816A1
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Jian Xing, Windsor W. Hsu
• Inventors: HSU, WINDSOR W., XING, JIAN
• Granted Patent: US 9,110,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in 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 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Techniques for virtual machine full backup are described herein. According to one embodiment, in response to a request to back up a virtual machine (VM) of a client, a request of VM backup is sent out. A consistent state of the VM is then identified via a VM application program interface (VM API). Subsequently a request is sent to a storage system associated with the client to ask for VM disk image associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method implemented on a backup application server, the backup application server communicatively coupled with a client managing a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that hosts one or more VM, comprising:

sending a request of virtual machine (VM) backup in response to a request at the backup application server to back up a VM;

identifying a consistent state of the VM remotely via a VM application program interface (VM API) associated with the VM; and

requesting a storage system associated with the client to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request of VM backup is sent to one of the VMM hosting the VM and a virtual center (VC) that manages the VM.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the consistent state of the VM is generated based on a VM snapshot captured by the VMM.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage system is to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system in response to receiving request from the backup application server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM are disk snapshots stored at the storage system.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising requesting the VMM via the VM API to delete a VM snapshot taken, which causes corresponding disk snapshots to be removed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the storage system sends only the segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the target backup storage system.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising invoking a deduplicated segment storage engine to store segments of the requested VM disk images that have not been stored in the target backup storage system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising parsing the received VM disk images associated with the VM to determine information about files contained in the received VM disk images and saving the determined file information in a backup catalog.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, the processor being implemented on a backup application server, the backup application server communicatively coupled with a client managing a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that hosts one or more VM, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

sending a request of virtual machine (VM) backup in response to a request at the backup application server to back up a VM;

identifying a consistent state of the VM remotely via a VM application program interface (VM API) associated with the VM; and

requesting a storage system associated with the client to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the request of VM backup is sent to one of the VMM hosting the VM and a virtual center (VC) that manages the VM.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the consistent state of the VM is generated based on a VM snapshot captured by the VMM.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the storage system is to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system in response to receiving request from the backup application server.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM are disk snapshots stored at the storage system.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising requesting the VMM via the VM API to delete a VM snapshot taken, which causes corresponding disk snapshots to be removed.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the storage system sends only the segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the target backup storage system.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising invoking a deduplicated segment storage engine to store segments of the requested VM disk images that have not been stored in the target backup storage system.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising parsing the received VM disk images associated with the VM to determine information about files contained in the received VM disk images and saving the determined file information in a backup catalog.

19. A backup application server, the backup application server communicatively coupled with a client managing a virtual machine monitor (VMM) that hosts one or more VM comprising:

a backup engine sends a request of virtual machine (VM) backup in response to a request at the backup application server to back up a VM,

identify a consistent state of the VM remotely via a VM application program interface (VM API) associated with the VM, and

request a storage system associated with the client to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system.

20. The backup application server of claim 19, wherein the request of VM backup is sent to one of the VMM hosting the VM and a virtual center (VC) that manages the VM.

21. The backup application server of claim 19, wherein the consistent state of the VM is generated based on a VM snapshot captured by the VMM.

22. The backup application server of claim 19, wherein the storage system is to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM to a target backup storage system in response to receive request from the backup application server.

23. The backup application server of claim 22, wherein the one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the VM are disk snapshots stored at the storage system.

24. The backup application server of claim 23, wherein the backup application server further requests the VMM via VM API to delete a VM snapshot taken, which causes corresponding disk snapshots to be removed.

25. The backup application server of claim 19, wherein the storage application server invokes a deduplicated segment storage engine to back up segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the target backup storage system.

26. The backup application server of claim 19, wherein the storage system sends only the segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the target backup storage system.

27. The backup application server of claim 19, further comprising a backup catalog, wherein the received VM disk images associated with the VM are parsed determine information about files contained in the received VM disk images and the determined fie information is saved to the backup catalog.