CROSS-PLATFORM VIRTUAL MACHINE BACKUP AND REPLICATION

• US 20160132400A1
• Filed: 11/10/2014
• Published: 05/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: PAWAR, Rahul S., DORNEMANN, Henry Wallace
• Granted Patent: US 10,776,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• 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

Abstract

According to certain aspects, a method can include, at a first time, performing an incremental backup of first data associated with a virtual machine (VM) residing on a source client computing device from the source client computing device to one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup copy of the VM, where the VM is associated with a hypervisor of a first type; receiving an instruction to restore the first data associated with the VM from the one or more secondary storage devices; retrieving the first data from the one or more secondary storage devices; and applying the first data to second data associated with a replicated VM running on the destination client computing device, where the replicated VM is a replicated version of the VM, and where the second data corresponds to data of the VM at a time before the first time.

Claims

1. A method of replicating a virtual machine using incremental backups, the method comprising:

with one or more secondary storage computing device comprising one or more hardware processors,

at a first time and using a secondary storage computing device comprising one or more hardware processors, performing an incremental backup of first data associated with a virtual machine (VM) residing on a source client computing device from the source client computing device to one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup copy of the VM, wherein the VM is associated with a hypervisor of a first type and the first data comprises data associated with the VM that changed since a previous backup that occurred before the first time;

receiving an instruction to restore the first data associated with the VM from the one or more secondary storage devices to a destination client computing device;

retrieving the first data from the one or more secondary storage devices;

determining a second type of hypervisor different than the first type and associated with the destination client computing device;

converting the first data into second data based on the second type; and

applying the second data to third data associated with a replicated VM running on the destination client computing device, wherein the replicated VM is a replicated version of the VM, and wherein the third data corresponds to data of the VM at a time before the first time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an instruction to restore first data comprises receiving the instruction to restore the first data at a time defined by a user policy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the replicated VM is run on a hypervisor of the second type executed by the destination client computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the source client computing device is located off-site from the destination client computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the first data into second data comprises converting the first data into the second data based on schema or metadata associated with the determined type.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising retrieving the schema or metadata associated with the determined type from a media agent database.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data comprises fourth data associated with the VM that changed between a second time and the first time and fifth data associated with the VM that changed between a third time and the second time, wherein the second time is before the first time, and wherein the third time is before the second time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second data comprises converted fourth data and converted fifth data, wherein the fourth data is converted into the converted fourth data based on the second type, and wherein the fifth data is converted into the converted fifth data based on the second type.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein applying the second data to third data further comprises:

applying the converted fifth data to the third data to form updated third data; and

applying the converted fourth data to the updated third data.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein applying the second data to third data further comprises:

determining that the converted fourth data and the converted fifth data correspond to a same data block; and

applying the converted fourth data to the third data.

11. An information management system configured to replicate a virtual machine using incremental backups, the system comprising:

a media agent comprising computer hardware, wherein the media agent is configured to;

perform an incremental backup of first data associated with a virtual machine (VM) residing on a source client computing device from the source client computing device to one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup copy of the VM, wherein the VM is associated with a hypervisor of a first type and the first data comprises data associated with the VM that changed since a previous backup that occurred before the first time;

receive an instruction to restore the first data associated with the VM from the one or more secondary storage devices to a destination client computing device;

retrieve the first data from the one or more secondary storage devices;

determine a second type of hypervisor different than the first type and associated with the destination client computing device;

convert the first data into second data based on the second type; and

a virtual machine replication engine comprising computer hardware, wherein the virtual machine replication engine is configured to;

apply the second data to third data associated with a replicated VM running on the destination client computing device, wherein the replicated VM is a replicated version of the VM, and wherein the third data corresponds to data of the VM at a time before the first time.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the media agent is further configured to receive the instruction to restore the first data at a time defined by a user policy.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the replicated VM is run on a hypervisor of the second type executed by the destination client computing device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the source client computing device is located off-site from the destination client computing device.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the media agent is further configured to convert the first data into the second data based on schema or metadata associated with the determined type.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the media agent is further configured to retrieve the schema or metadata associated with the determined type from a media agent database.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the first data comprises fourth data associated with the VM that changed between a second time and the first time and fifth data associated with the VM that changed between a third time and the second time, wherein the second time is before the first time, and wherein the third time is before the second time.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second data comprises converted fourth data and converted fifth data, wherein the fourth data is converted into the converted fourth data based on the second type, and wherein the fifth data is converted into the converted fifth data based on the second type.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the virtual machine replication engine is further configured to:

apply the converted fifth data to the third data to form updated third data; and

apply the converted fourth data to the updated third data.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the virtual machine replication engine is further configured to:

determine that the converted fourth data and the converted fifth data correspond to a same data block; and

apply the converted fourth data to the third data.