Efficient management of archival images of virtual machines having incremental snapshots
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- requesting one or more snapshots of a virtual machine according to a recovery point objective of the virtual machine, wherein a virtual machine monitor that controls the virtual machine responds to a request for snapshot by creating an incremental virtual disk file and directing subsequent disk write operations in the virtual machine to the incremental virtual disk file and by freezing a state of a previous virtual disk file, wherein the previous virtual disk file is either a base virtual disk file or another incremental virtual disk file, and wherein subsequent disk read operations in the virtual machine obtain data from a combination of the base virtual disk file and one or more incremental virtual disk files, and wherein the base virtual disk file and incremental virtual disk files remain on a storage device used by the virtual machine during operation and are used by the virtual machine during subsequent operation;
to perform a backup of the virtual disk for the virtual machine, determining that the virtual disk is represented by the base virtual disk file and the one or more incremental virtual disk files;
during the backup, invoking a merge operation to merge the one or more incremental virtual disk files into the base virtual disk file responsive to the determining, wherein the merge operation is performed from the one or more incremental virtual disk files on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution and the base virtual disk file on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution; and
completing the backup by writing a backup image comprising the merged base virtual disk file to one or more archive media that are not used by the virtual machine during operation.
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a backup application is disclosed which is configured to detect that one or more incremental virtual disk files are provided in a virtual machine image. The backup application may invoke a merge function in the virtual machine monitor, and may merge the incremental virtual disk files into the base virtual disk file. Redundant data is thus eliminated, and may reduce the amount of archive media needed to store the backed-up virtual machine image.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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requesting one or more snapshots of a virtual machine according to a recovery point objective of the virtual machine, wherein a virtual machine monitor that controls the virtual machine responds to a request for snapshot by creating an incremental virtual disk file and directing subsequent disk write operations in the virtual machine to the incremental virtual disk file and by freezing a state of a previous virtual disk file, wherein the previous virtual disk file is either a base virtual disk file or another incremental virtual disk file, and wherein subsequent disk read operations in the virtual machine obtain data from a combination of the base virtual disk file and one or more incremental virtual disk files, and wherein the base virtual disk file and incremental virtual disk files remain on a storage device used by the virtual machine during operation and are used by the virtual machine during subsequent operation; to perform a backup of the virtual disk for the virtual machine, determining that the virtual disk is represented by the base virtual disk file and the one or more incremental virtual disk files; during the backup, invoking a merge operation to merge the one or more incremental virtual disk files into the base virtual disk file responsive to the determining, wherein the merge operation is performed from the one or more incremental virtual disk files on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution and the base virtual disk file on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution; and completing the backup by writing a backup image comprising the merged base virtual disk file to one or more archive media that are not used by the virtual machine during operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed:
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request one or more snapshots of a virtual machine according to a recovery point objective of the virtual machine, wherein a virtual machine monitor that controls the virtual machine responds to a request for snapshot by creating an incremental virtual disk file and directing subsequent disk write operations in the virtual machine to the incremental virtual disk file and by freezing a state of a previous virtual disk file, wherein the previous virtual disk file is either a base virtual disk file or another incremental virtual disk file, and wherein subsequent disk read operations in the virtual machine obtain data from a combination of the base virtual disk file and one or more incremental virtual disk files, and wherein the base virtual disk file and incremental virtual disk files remain on a storage device used by the virtual machine during operation and are used by the virtual machine during subsequent operation; to perform a backup of the virtual disk for the virtual machine, the plurality of instructions, when executed, determine that the virtual disk is represented by the base virtual disk file and the one or more incremental virtual disk files; during the backup, the plurality of instructions invoke a merge operation to merge the one or more incremental virtual disk files into the base virtual disk file responsive to the determining, wherein the merge operation is performed from the one or more incremental virtual disk files on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution and the base virtual disk file on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution; and the plurality of instructions complete the backup by writing a backup image comprising the merged base virtual disk file to one or more archive media that are not used by the virtual machine during operation. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer system comprising:
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hardware configured to execute instructions; and a storage device coupled to the hardware, the storage device storing a virtual machine monitor executable by the hardware and a virtual machine schedulable by the virtual machine monitor to execute on the hardware, wherein the virtual machine comprises at least one virtual disk accessed by software encapsulated in the virtual machine, wherein the storage device further stores a backup application which, when executed, requests one or more snapshots of a virtual machine according to a recovery point objective of the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine monitor responds to a request for snapshot by creating an incremental virtual disk file and directing subsequent disk write operations in the virtual machine to the incremental virtual disk file and by freezing a state of a previous virtual disk file, wherein the previous virtual disk file is either a base virtual disk file or another incremental virtual disk file, and wherein subsequent disk read operations in the virtual machine obtain data from a combination of the base virtual disk file and one or more incremental virtual disk files, and wherein the base virtual disk file and incremental virtual disk files remain on the storage device and are used by the virtual machine during subsequent operation, and to perform a backup of the virtual disk for the virtual machine, the backup application determines that the virtual disk is represented by the base virtual disk file and the one or more incremental virtual disk files, and wherein the backup application, when executed during the backup, invokes a merge operation to merge the one or more incremental virtual disk files into the base virtual disk file, wherein the merge operation is performed from the one or more incremental virtual disk files on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution and the base virtual disk file on the storage device used by the virtual machine during execution, and wherein the backup application completes the backup by writing a backup image comprising the merged base virtual disk file to one or more archive media. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification