BACKING UP VIRTUAL MACHINES

• US 20150242283A1
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Simoncelli, Federico, Aravot, Liron
• Granted Patent: US 9,959,177 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual

Abstract

A processing device generates a live snapshot of a virtual disk image attached to a virtual machine, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises converting an existing read-write volume to a read-only volume. The processing device generates, from the read-only volume, a temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image, the temporary snapshot comprising a temporary read-write volume. The processing device attaches the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image to a backup component and causes at least one of the backup component or a backup service to backup the virtual disk image from the attached temporary snapshot.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, by a processing device, a live snapshot of a virtual disk image attached to a virtual machine, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises converting an existing read-write volume to a read-only volume;

generating, by the processing device and from the read-only volume, a temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image, the temporary snapshot comprising a temporary read-write volume;

attaching the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image to a backup component; and

causing at least one of the backup component or a backup service to backup the virtual disk image from the attached temporary snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the backup component comprises a virtual backup appliance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises:

flushing data from a cache of the running virtual machine to the virtual disk image; and

generating a new read-write volume that will record differences from the read-only volume.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detaching the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image from the backup component; and

subsequently deleting the temporary snapshot.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to recovering from a crash, performing the following comprising;

identifying the temporary snapshot;

determining whether the temporary snapshot is in use; and

responsive to determining that the temporary snapshot is not in use, deleting the temporary snapshot.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the backup component is a host backup application, the method further comprising:

generating a virtual block device that represents the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image; and

generating a map of the virtual disk image for the virtual block device, wherein the map identifies, for each offset in the virtual disk image, which of the temporary read-write volume or one or more previous read-only volumes contains most recent data for the offset;

wherein attaching the temporary snapshot to the backup component comprises attaching the virtual block device to the host backup application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporary snapshot is not exposed to a user.

8. A computer readable storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

generating, by the processing device, a live snapshot of a virtual disk image attached to a virtual machine, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises converting an existing read-write volume to a read-only volume;

generating, by the processing device and from the read-only volume, a temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image, the temporary snapshot comprising a temporary read-write volume;

attaching the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image to a backup component; and

causing at least one of the backup component or a backup service to backup the virtual disk image from the attached temporary snapshot.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the backup component comprises a virtual backup appliance.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises:

flushing data from a cache of the running virtual machine to the virtual disk image; and

generating a new read-write volume that will record differences from the read-only volume.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

detaching the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image from the backup component; and

subsequently deleting the temporary snapshot.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

responsive to recovering from a crash, performing the following comprising;

identifying the temporary snapshot;

determining whether the temporary snapshot is in use; and

responsive to determining that the temporary snapshot is not in use, deleting the temporary snapshot.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the backup appliance is a host backup application, the operations further comprising:

generating a virtual block device that represents the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image; and

generating a map of the virtual disk image for the virtual block device, wherein the map identifies, for each offset in the virtual disk image, which of the temporary read-write volume or one or more previous read-only volumes contains most recent data for the offset;

wherein attaching the temporary snapshot to the backup component comprises attaching the virtual block device to the host backup application.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the temporary snapshot is not exposed to a user.

15. A computing device comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device coupled to the memory, wherein the processing device is to;

generate a live snapshot of a virtual disk image attached to a virtual machine, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises converting an existing read-write volume to a read-only volume;

generate, from the read-only volume, a temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image, the temporary snapshot comprising a temporary read-write volume;

attach the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image to a backup component; and

cause at least one of the backup component or a backup service to backup the virtual disk image from the attached temporary snapshot.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the backup component comprises a virtual backup appliance.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein generating the live snapshot comprises:

flushing data from a cache of the running virtual machine to the virtual disk image; and

generating a new read-write volume that will record differences from the read-only volume.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to:

detach the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image from the backup component; and

subsequently delete the temporary snapshot.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processing device is further to:

responsive to recovering from a crash, perform the following comprising;

identify the temporary snapshot;

determine whether the temporary snapshot is in use; and

responsive to determining that the temporary snapshot is not in use, delete the temporary snapshot.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the backup appliance is a host backup application, and wherein the processing device is further to:

generate a virtual block device that represents the temporary snapshot of the virtual disk image; and

generate a map of the virtual disk image for the virtual block device, wherein the map identifies, for each offset in the virtual disk image, which of the temporary read-write volume or one or more previous read-only volumes contains most recent data for the offset;

wherein attaching the temporary snapshot to the backup component comprises attaching the virtual block device to the host backup application.