CREATION OF VIRTUAL MACHINE PLACEHOLDERS IN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method of creating virtual machine placeholders in a data storage system comprising:
- receiving data about one or more virtual machines existing on one or more primary storage devices from a virtual machine hypervisor, the one or more primary storage devices comprising computer hardware;
migrating a first virtual machine from the one or more virtual machines to one or more secondary storage devices during one or more backups;
creating on the one or more primary storage devices a virtual machine placeholder for the first virtual machine that has been migrated to the one or more secondary storage devices,the virtual machine placeholder comprises fewer assigned resources than the first virtual machine,the virtual machine placeholder is created at least in part during the one or more backups that migrated the first virtual machine from the one or more primary storage devices to one or more secondary storage devices,the virtual machine placeholder is recognized as the first virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, andwherein the virtual machine placeholder comprises a reference to the location of first virtual machine in the one or more secondary storage devices; and
using the reference in the virtual machine placeholder to restore the first virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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 may archive virtual machines (VMs) that are determined to have a low level of utilization. The system may create a virtual machine placeholder for an archived VM, which may be a “light” or minimal version of the VM that acts like the actual VM. By using a VM placeholder, a VM may appear to be active and selectable by the user. When the user selects the VM, the VM placeholder can interact with the user in similar manner as the VM. Accessing the VM placeholder may trigger restore of the archived VM from secondary storage. The restore of the archived VM may be “seamless” to the user since the VM remains available while it is being restored.
4 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of creating virtual machine placeholders in a data storage system comprising:
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receiving data about one or more virtual machines existing on one or more primary storage devices from a virtual machine hypervisor, the one or more primary storage devices comprising computer hardware; migrating a first virtual machine from the one or more virtual machines to one or more secondary storage devices during one or more backups; creating on the one or more primary storage devices a virtual machine placeholder for the first virtual machine that has been migrated to the one or more secondary storage devices, the virtual machine placeholder comprises fewer assigned resources than the first virtual machine, the virtual machine placeholder is created at least in part during the one or more backups that migrated the first virtual machine from the one or more primary storage devices to one or more secondary storage devices, the virtual machine placeholder is recognized as the first virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, and wherein the virtual machine placeholder comprises a reference to the location of first virtual machine in the one or more secondary storage devices; and using the reference in the virtual machine placeholder to restore the first virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16)
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11. A data storage system that creates virtual machine placeholders comprising:
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a storage manager executing on computer hardware comprising one or more computing devices, the storage manager receives data about of one or more virtual machines existing on one or more primary storage devices from a virtual machine hypervisor, the storage manager comprising computer hardware; the storage manager directs migration of a first virtual machine from the one or more virtual machines to one or more secondary storage devices during one or more backups; the storage manager directs creation on the one or more primary storage devices of a virtual machine placeholder for the first virtual machine that has been migrated to the one or more secondary storage devices, the virtual machine placeholder comprises fewer assigned resources than the first virtual machine, the virtual machine placeholder is created at least in part during one or more backups that migrated the first virtual machine from the one or more primary storage devices to one or more secondary storage devices, the virtual machine placeholder is recognized as the first virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, and the virtual machine placeholder comprises a reference to the location of the first virtual machine stored in the one or more secondary storage devices; and the storage manager uses the reference in the virtual machine placeholder to restore the first virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification