ARCHIVING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20140181294A1
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Published: 06/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Deshpande, Sumer Dilip, Dornemann, Henry Wallace, Venkatesha, Ananda, Sancheti, Ashwin Gautamchand
• Granted Patent: US 9,311,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• 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 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

The data storage system according to certain aspects can manage the archiving of virtual machines to (and restoring of virtual machines from) secondary storage. The system can determine whether to archive virtual machines based on usage data or information. The usage information may include storage usage, CPU usage, memory usage, network usage, events defined by a virtual machine software or application, etc. The system may archive virtual machines that are determined to have a low level of utilization. For example, a virtual machine can be archived when its usage level falls below a threshold level. The system may create a virtual machine placeholder for an archived virtual machine, which may be a “light” or minimal version of the virtual machine that acts as if it is the actual virtual machine. By using a virtual machine placeholder, a virtual machine may appear to be active and selectable by the user.

Claims

1. A method of archiving virtual machines in a networked data storage system, comprising:

monitoring usage of a virtual machine (VM) executing on one or more client computers in primary storage with computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors;

determining whether to archive the VM based on usage data;

in response to determining that the VM should be archived, copying the VM and its associated data from the primary storage to secondary storage; and

deleting the VM and the associated data from the primary storage, wherein the VM appears to be accessible to a user after being deleted from the primary storage.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether to archive the VM based on usage data comprises determining whether the usage of the VM is below a threshold level of activity based on the usage data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining that the VM should be archived when the usage of the VM is below the threshold level of activity.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the usage data includes one or more of:

storage usage, CPU usage, memory usage, network usage, and an event defined by a virtual machine application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage data is obtained from one or more hypervisors associated with the one or more client computers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage data is obtained from a virtual center that manages and collects information from one or more hypervisors associated with the one or more client computers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage data is obtained during a backup of data from the primary storage to the secondary storage.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising activating the VM when the user selects the VM, wherein said activating the VM comprises restoring at least a portion of the VM and the associated data from the secondary storage to the primary storage.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a VM placeholder for the VM in the primary storage that appears to be the VM.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining whether to archive the VM, said copying the VM and its associated data, and said deleting the VM and the associated data occur during a backup of data from the primary storage to the secondary storage.

11. A data storage system configured for archiving virtual machines, comprising:

a storage manager module executing on computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors and configured to initiate copying of data from primary storage to secondary storage; and

a virtual machine archiving module executing on computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors and configured to;

monitor usage of a virtual machine (VM) executing on one or more client computers in the primary storage;

determine whether to archive the VM based on usage data;

in response to determining that the VM should be archived, copy the VM and its associated data, by the storage manager module, from the primary storage to the secondary storage; and

delete the VM and the associated data from the primary storage, wherein the VM appears to be accessible to a user after being deleted from the primary storage.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said determining whether to archive the VM based on usage data comprises determining whether the usage of the VM is below a threshold level of activity based on the usage data.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the virtual machine archiving module is further configured to determine that the VM should be archived when the usage of the VM is below the threshold level of activity.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the usage data includes one or more of:

storage usage, CPU usage, memory usage, network usage, and an event defined by a virtual machine application.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the usage data is obtained from one or more hypervisors associated with the one or more client computers.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the usage data is obtained from a virtual center that manages and collects information from one or more hypervisors associated with the one or more client computers.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the usage data is obtained during a backup of data from the primary storage to the secondary storage.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual machine archiving module is further configured to activate the VM when the user selects the VM, wherein said activating the VM comprises restoring at least a portion of the VM and the associated data from the secondary storage to the primary storage.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual machine archiving module is further configured to create a VM placeholder for the VM in the primary storage that appears to be the VM.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein said determining whether to archive the VM, said copying the VM and its associated data, and said deleting the VM and the associated data occur during a backup of data from the primary storage to the secondary storage.