SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGENTLESS BACKUP OF VIRTUAL MACHINES

• US 20170300386A1
• Filed: 04/18/2016
• Published: 10/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MidCap Financial Trust
• Original Assignee: Acronis International GmbH (Acronis AG)
• Inventors: Shulga, Victor, Semyonov, Vasily, Protasov, Stanislav, Smulevich, Mark, Beloussov, Serguei
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,425 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/805 Real-time
• 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 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for performing agentless backup of a virtual machine using a temporary attached virtual disk. An example method includes creating a virtual machine disk in a datastore, loading a software application in the virtual machine disk, the software application being configured to collect metadata relating to at least one application executing in an operating system of the virtual machine, communicatively coupling the datastore to the virtual machine, collecting the metadata relating to the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine, generating a snapshot of the virtual machine, and storing a backup of the virtual machine in a backup archive based on the snapshot.

Claims

1. A method for generating a backup of a virtual machine, the method comprising:

creating, by a processor, a virtual machine disk in a datastore;

loading, by the processor, a software application in the virtual machine disk, the software application being configured to collect metadata relating to at least one application executing in an operating system of the virtual machine;

communicatively coupling the datastore to the virtual machine;

collecting, by the software application, the metadata relating to the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine;

generating a snapshot of the virtual machine; and

storing, by the processor, a backup of the virtual machine in a backup archive based on the snapshot.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising recovering the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine in the event of an error of the at least one application executing based on the collected metadata.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising deleting, by the processor, the snapshot of the virtual machine after the backup of the virtual machine is stored in the backup archive.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

partitioning, by the processor, the virtual machine disk into two partitions with a first partition as a read-only partition and a second partition as a read-write partition; and

loading, by the processor, the software application in the read-only partition.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

creating, by a processor, another virtual machine disk in the datastore;

allocating the virtual machine disk for read-only operations and the another virtual machine disk for read-write operations;

loading, by the processor, the software application in the virtual machine disk allocated for read-only operations.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising communicatively coupling the datastore to the virtual machine in an independent mode.

7. A system for generating a backup of a virtual machine, the system comprising:

a datastore; and

a processor configured to;

create a virtual machine disk in a datastore;

load a software application in the virtual machine disk, the software application being configured to collect metadata relating to at least one application executing in an operating system of the virtual machine;

communicatively couple the datastore to the virtual machine;

send at least one instruction to the software application in the virtual machine disk to collect the metadata relating to the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine;

cause a snapshot of the virtual machine to be generated; and

store a backup of the virtual machine in a backup archive based on the snapshot.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to recover the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine in the event of an error of the at least one application executing based on the collected metadata.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to delete the snapshot of the virtual machine after the backup of the virtual machine is stored in the backup archive.

10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to:

partition the virtual machine disk into two partitions with a first partition as a read-only partition and a second partition as a read-write partition, and

load the software application in the read-only partition.

11. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to:

create another virtual machine disk in the datastore;

allocate the virtual machine disk for read-only operations and the another virtual machine disk for read-write operations;

load the software application in the virtual machine disk allocated for read-only operations.

12. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to communicatively couple the datastore to the virtual machine in an independent mode.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for generating a backup of a virtual machine, including instructions for:

creating a virtual machine disk in a datastore;

loading a software application in the virtual machine disk, the software application being configured to collect metadata relating to at least one application executing in an operating system of the virtual machine;

communicatively coupling the datastore to the virtual machine;

collecting the metadata relating to the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine;

generating a snapshot of the virtual machine; and

storing a backup of the virtual machine in a backup archive based on the snapshot.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13, further including instructions for recovering the at least one application executing in the operating system of the virtual machine in the event of an error of the at least one application executing based on the collected metadata.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13, further including instructions for deleting the snapshot of the virtual machine after the backup of the virtual machine is stored in the backup archive.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13, further including instructions for:

partitioning the virtual machine disk into two partitions with a first partition as a read-only partition and a second partition as a read-write partition; and

loading the software application in the read-only partition.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13, further including instructions for:

creating, by a processor, another virtual machine disk in the datastore;

allocating the virtual machine disk for read-only operations and the another virtual machine disk for read-write operations;

loading, by the processor, the software application in the virtual machine disk allocated for read-only operations.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13, further including instructions for communicatively coupling the datastore to the virtual machine in an independent mode.