METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO INDEX FILE DATA OF VIRTUAL MACHINE (VM) IMAGE

• US 20200133791A1
• Filed: 10/25/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Liu, Cherami, Zhang, Yubing, Zhang, Scott, Su, Lihui, Jourdain, Jerry, Brenner, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 11,467,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45587 Isolation or security of virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• 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 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

According to one embodiment, one or more consistent states of a virtual machine (VM) are backed up and stored. An index library is used to extract, from the consistent state(s) of the VM, metadata corresponding to content files captured in the consistent state(s). The extracted metadata is stored into a metadata catalog, where the metadata catalog is subsequently downloaded by an index server to index the content files captured in the consistent state(s).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to obtain file metadata, comprising:

backing up and storing one or more consistent states of a virtual machine (VM);

using an index library to extract, from the one or more consistent states of the VM, metadata corresponding to content files captured in the one or more consistent states; and

storing the extracted metadata into a metadata catalog, wherein the metadata catalog is subsequently downloaded by an index server to index the content files captured in the one or more consistent states.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein using an index library to extract the metadata corresponding to content files captured in the one or more consistent states comprises:

for each index in the index library, parsing the one or more consistent states based on the index to obtain the metadata.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the index server that a new VM has been backed up, wherein the new VM has been backed up if the metadata catalog is successfully created.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the metadata catalog is successfully created if metadata corresponding to each index in the index library is extracted and stored in the metadata catalog.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the index server downloads the metadata catalog when the index server receives the notification.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more consistent states of the VM are backed up when a backup request for the VM is received from a VM management server.

7. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

backing up and storing one or more consistent states of a virtual machine (VM);

using an index library to extract, from the one or more consistent states of the VM, metadata corresponding to content files captured in the one or more consistent states; and

storing the extracted metadata into a metadata catalog, wherein the metadata catalog is subsequently downloaded by an index server to index the content files captured in the one or more consistent states.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein using an index library to extract the metadata corresponding to content files captured in the one or more consistent states comprises:

for each index in the index library, parsing the one or more consistent states based on the index to obtain the metadata.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise:

notifying the index server that a new VM has been backed up, wherein the new VM has been backed up if the metadata catalog is successfully created.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the metadata catalog is successfully created if metadata corresponding to each index in the index library is extracted and stored in the metadata catalog.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the index server downloads the metadata catalog when the index server receives the notification.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the one or more consistent states of the VM are backed up when a backup request for the VM is received from a VM management server.

13. A data processing system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations including;

backing up and storing one or more consistent states of a virtual machine (VM);

using an index library to extract, from the one or more consistent states of the VM, metadata corresponding to content files captured in the one or more consistent states; and

storing the extracted metadata into a metadata catalog, wherein the metadata catalog is subsequently downloaded by an index server to index the content files captured in the one or more consistent states.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein using an index library to extract the metadata corresponding to content files captured in the one or more consistent states comprises:

for each index in the index library, parsing the one or more consistent states based on the index to obtain the metadata.

15. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the operations further include:

notifying the index server that a new VM has been backed up, wherein the new VM has been backed up if the metadata catalog is successfully created.

16. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the metadata catalog is successfully created if metadata corresponding to each index in the index library is extracted and stored in the metadata catalog.

17. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the index server downloads the metadata catalog when the index server receives the notification.

18. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the one or more consistent states of the VM are backed up when a backup request for the VM is received from a VM management server.