Systems and methods for management of virtualization data
First Claim
1. A method of managing data of one or more virtual machines hosted by a virtual machine host, wherein the method is performed by one or more computing systems, each computing system having a processor and memory, the method comprising:
- receiving a request to copy data of at least one virtual machine to a storage device, wherein the at least one virtual machine stores data in at least one virtual machine disk file residing on a filesystem of the virtual machine host;
determining the at least one virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data;
copying the at least one virtual machine disk file from the filesystem of the virtual machine host to the storage device;
extracting, by the one or more computing systems, information from the at least one virtual machine disk file, wherein extracting information includes extracting at least one of the following;
information that describes a virtual volume utilized by the at least one virtual machine;
information that describes a location of a virtual file allocation table utilized by the at least one virtual machine, wherein the virtual file allocation table provides for locations of virtual files within the virtual volume; and
information that describes a relationship between the at least one virtual machine disk file and another virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data;
associating the extracted information with the at least one virtual machine; and
storing the extracted information in association with the at least one virtual machine.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described in detail herein is a method of copying data of one or more virtual machines being hosted by one or more non-virtual machines. The method includes receiving an indication that specifies how to perform a copy of data of one or more virtual machines hosted by one or more virtual machine hosts. The method may include determining whether the one or more virtual machines are managed by a virtual machine manager that manages or facilitates management of the virtual machines. If so, the virtual machine manager is dynamically queried to automatically determine the virtual machines that it manages or that it facilitates management of. If not, a virtual machine host is dynamically queried to automatically determine the virtual machines that it hosts. The data of each virtual machine is then copied according to the specifications of the received indication.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of managing data of one or more virtual machines hosted by a virtual machine host, wherein the method is performed by one or more computing systems, each computing system having a processor and memory, the method comprising:
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receiving a request to copy data of at least one virtual machine to a storage device, wherein the at least one virtual machine stores data in at least one virtual machine disk file residing on a filesystem of the virtual machine host; determining the at least one virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data; copying the at least one virtual machine disk file from the filesystem of the virtual machine host to the storage device; extracting, by the one or more computing systems, information from the at least one virtual machine disk file, wherein extracting information includes extracting at least one of the following; information that describes a virtual volume utilized by the at least one virtual machine; information that describes a location of a virtual file allocation table utilized by the at least one virtual machine, wherein the virtual file allocation table provides for locations of virtual files within the virtual volume; and information that describes a relationship between the at least one virtual machine disk file and another virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data; associating the extracted information with the at least one virtual machine; and storing the extracted information in association with the at least one virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents cause one or more computing systems to perform a method of managing data of one or more virtual machines hosted by a virtual machine host, wherein each of the one or more computing systems has a processor and memory, the method comprising:
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receiving a request to copy data of a virtual machine to a storage device, wherein the virtual machine stores data in a virtual machine disk file residing on a filesystem of the virtual machine host; determining the virtual machine disk file in which the virtual machine stores data; copying the virtual machine disk file from the filesystem of the virtual machine host to the storage device; extracting, by the one or more computing systems, information from the virtual machine disk file, wherein extracting information includes extracting information that either describes locations of data objects within the virtual machine disk file or describes a location of a data object locator data structure within the virtual machine disk file; associating the extracted information with the virtual machine; and storing the extracted information in association with the virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A computing system for managing data of one or more virtual machines hosted by a virtual machine host, the computing system comprising:
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means for receiving a request to copy data of a virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine stores data in a virtual machine disk file residing on a filesystem of the virtual machine host; means for determining the virtual machine disk file in which the virtual machine stores data; means for copying the virtual machine disk file from the filesystem of the virtual machine host to the storage device; means for extracting information from the virtual machine disk file, wherein extracting information includes extracting information that either describes locations of data objects within the virtual machine disk file or describes a location of a data object location data structure within the virtual machine disk file; and means for associating the extracted information with the virtual machine; and means for storing the extracted information in association with the virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method of managing data of one or more virtual machines hosted by a virtual machine host, wherein the method is performed by one or more computing systems, each computing system having a processor and memory, the method comprising:
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receiving a first request to copy data of at least one virtual machine to a first storage device, wherein the at least one virtual machine stores data in at least one virtual machine disk file residing on a filesystem of the virtual machine host; determining, by the one or more computing systems, the at least one virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data, wherein the at least one virtual machine disk file includes multiple blocks of data; determining blocks within the at least one virtual machine disk file that are used by the at least one virtual machine; for at least some of the determined blocks, generating substantially unique identifiers; storing the generated substantially unique identifiers in a data structure; copying at least some of the blocks of the at least one virtual machine disk file from the filesystem of the virtual machine host to the first storage device; receiving a second request to copy data of the at least one virtual machine to a second storage device; determining blocks within the at least one virtual machine disk file that are used by the at least one virtual machine; for at least one of the determined blocks; generating a substantially unique identifier; determining from the data structure if the generated substantially unique identifier is equivalent to a substantially unique identifier in the data structure; and when the generated substantially unique identifier is not equivalent to a substantially unique identifier in the data structure, copying the block to the second storage device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents cause one or more computing systems to perform a method of managing data of one or more virtual machines hosted by a virtual machine host, wherein each computing system having a processor and memory, the method comprising:
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receiving a request to copy data of at least one virtual machine to a storage device, wherein the at least one virtual machine stores data in at least one virtual machine disk file residing on a filesystem of the virtual machine host; determining the at least one virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data; copying the at least one virtual machine disk file from the filesystem of the virtual machine host to the storage device; extracting, by the one or more computing systems, information from the at least one virtual machine disk file, wherein extracting information includes extracting at least one of the following; information that describes a virtual volume utilized by the at least one virtual machine; information that describes a location of a virtual file allocation table utilized by the at least one virtual machine, wherein the virtual file allocation table provides for locations of virtual files within the virtual volume; and information that describes a relationship between the at least one virtual machine disk file and another virtual machine disk file in which the at least one virtual machine stores data; associating the extracted information with the at least one virtual machine; and storing the extracted information in association with the at least one virtual machine. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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Specification