Systems and methods for performing backup operations of virtual machine files

• US 8,166,265 B1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quest Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Vizioncore, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Feathergill, David Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Campos, Yaima
• Application Number:
  US13/244,167
• Time in Patent Office: 214 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/162
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1466 to make the backup process non-disruptive
• 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

Abstract

Backup systems and methods are disclosed for a virtual computing environment. Certain examples include a system having a backup management server that communicates with a host server having at least one virtual machine. The management server coordinates with the host server to perform backup copies of entire virtual machine disks from outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine. In certain examples, such backup systems further utilize a volume shadow copy service executing on the host server to quiesce virtual machine applications to put data in a consistent state to be backed up. The backup system then utilizes hypervisor snapshot capabilities of the host server to record intended changes to the virtual machine disk files while such files are being copied (e.g., backed up) by the host server. Such recorded changes can be later committed to the virtual machine disk files once the backup operation has completed.

Claims

1. A method for performing one or more storage operations in a virtual computing environment, the method comprising:

receiving a request to back up a virtual machine having a guest operating system and being associated with a host server, the virtual machine associated with a virtual machine disk file locked against access from outside the virtual machine, the virtual machine disk file stored in a datastore;

quiescing write requests and permitting read requests of the virtual machine disk file by one or more applications executing on the virtual machine;

unlocking the virtual machine disk file for read-only access by a backup process executing outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine;

unlocking the virtual machine disk file for read-write access by a hypervisor layer associated with the host server;

creating, via execution of the backup process, a backup copy of the virtual machine disk file without powering down the virtual machine, the backup copy of the virtual machine disk file being created from outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine;

determining whether the write requests of the one or more applications were successfully quiesced;

if the write requests were not successfully quiesced, aborting or restarting the backup process; and

if the write requests were successfully quiesced, locking the virtual machine disk file for normal access by the virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a hypervisor snapshot of the virtual machine disk file associated with the virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

following creating the hypervisor snapshot, allowing write requests to resume by the one or more applications executing on the virtual machine; and

recording, with the hypervisor snapshot, changes intended to be made to the virtual machine disk file based on the resumed write requests.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, following creating the backup copy of the virtual machine disk file, committing the changes recorded with the hypervisor snapshot to the virtual machine disk file.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising, prior to creating the hypervisor snapshot, flushing transactions in a memory of the virtual machine to the datastore.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising, following creating the hypervisor snapshot, creating a shadow copy of virtual machine data, wherein the shadow copy is a non-persistent copy of the virtual machine data.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising deleting the shadow copy prior to locking the virtual machine disk file for normal access by the virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the backup copy further comprises compressing the backup copy prior to storing the backup copy to disk.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising injecting a binary file into the host server for creating a compression engine for performing the compressing.

10. Nontransitory computer storage comprising machine-executable instructions that when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to:

receive a request to back up a virtual machine having a guest operating system and being associated with a host server, the virtual machine associated with a virtual machine disk file locked against access from outside the virtual machine, the virtual machine disk file stored in a datastore;

quiesce write requests and permit read requests of the virtual machine disk file by one or more applications executing on the virtual machine;

unlock the virtual machine disk file for read-only access by a backup process executing outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine;

unlock the virtual machine disk file for read-write access by a hypervisor layer associated with the host server;

create a backup copy of the virtual machine disk file without powering down the virtual machine, the backup copy of the virtual machine disk file being created from outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine;

determine whether the write requests of the one or more applications were successfully quiesced;

if the write requests were not successfully quiesced, abort or restart the backup process; and

if the write requests were successfully quiesced, lock the virtual machine disk file for normal access by the virtual machine.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the management module further comprises a user interface module for obtaining user input with respect to the creation of the backup copy.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the host computer comprises a cluster of host servers.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising a compression module executing on or in communication with the host computer, the compression module configured to compress the backup copy of the one or more virtual disk files.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the shadow copy module is configured to create a shadow copy of the one or more virtual disk files, wherein the shadow copy is a non-persistent copy of the one or more virtual disk files.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the shadow copy modules is further configure to delete the shadow copy prior to locking the one or more virtual disk files for normal access by the virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the shadow copy module is configured to permit the quiescing of the write requests of the one or more applications to last no longer than a specified time duration.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the management module is further configured to instruct the hypervisor layer of the host computer to create a snapshot file of the one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine, the snapshot file being configured to record changes intended to the one or more virtual disk files during copying of the one or more virtual disk files.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the management module is further configured to instruct the host computer to commit to the one or more virtual disk files the changes recorded by the snapshot file during the creation of the backup copy.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the management module is further configured to allow write access to the one or more virtual disk files by the one or more applications executing on the guest operating system after the changes are committed.

17. A system for performing storage operations in a virtualized computing environment, the system comprising:

a host computer comprising a virtual machine having a guest operating system that accesses resources of the host computer through at least a hypervisor layer;

a shadow copy module executing on the host computer, the shadow copy module being configured to quiesce write requests of one or more applications executing on the guest operating system of the virtual machine; and

a management module in executing on or in communication with the host computer, the management module configured to,

receive a request to perform a backup copy of one or more virtual disk files of the virtual machine, the one or more virtual disk files locked against access from outside the virtual machine;

instruct the shadow copy module to quiesce the write requests of the one or more applications;

instruct the shadow copy module to permit read requests of the one or more applications;

instruct the host computer to unlock the one or more virtual disk files for read-only access by a backup process executing outside the guest operating system of the virtual machine;

instruct the host computer to unlock the one or more virtual disk files for read-write access by the hypervisor layer of the host computer;

instruct the host computer to execute the backup process to create a backup copy of the one or more virtual disk files;

instruct the shadow copy module to determine whether the write requests of the one or more applications were successfully quiesced;

if the write requests were not successfully quiesced, instruct the backup process to abort or restart; and

if the write requests were successfully quiesced, instruct the host computer to lock the one or more virtual disk files for normal access by the virtual machine.