Virtual disk storage techniques
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A storage device comprising computer executable instructions that upon execution by a processor cause the processor to:
- instantiate a virtual disk including a virtual disk extent, the virtual disk extent being dissociated from a virtual disk file;
allocate, based on state information associated with the virtual disk, a section of the virtual disk file to describe the virtual disk extent without overwriting a preexisting bit pattern within the section of the virtual disk file; and
modify the state information associated with the virtual disk extent to indicate that the virtual disk extent is described by the virtual disk file.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This document describes techniques for storing virtual disk payload data. In an exemplary configuration, each virtual disk extent can be associated with state information that indicates whether the virtual disk extent is described by a virtual disk file. Under certain conditions the space used to describe a virtual disk extent can be reclaimed and state information can be used to determine how read and/or write operations directed to the virtual disk extent are handled. In addition to the foregoing, other techniques are described in the claims, figures, and detailed description of this document.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A storage device comprising computer executable instructions that upon execution by a processor cause the processor to:
-
instantiate a virtual disk including a virtual disk extent, the virtual disk extent being dissociated from a virtual disk file; allocate, based on state information associated with the virtual disk, a section of the virtual disk file to describe the virtual disk extent without overwriting a preexisting bit pattern within the section of the virtual disk file; and modify the state information associated with the virtual disk extent to indicate that the virtual disk extent is described by the virtual disk file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A computer system, comprising:
-
a processor; a memory coupled to the processor when the processor and the memory are powered, the memory including instructions that upon execution by the processor cause the computer system to; receive a signal indicating that a portion of a virtual disk extent is no longer in use, the virtual disk extent being part of a virtual disk, the virtual disk being stored in a virtual disk file; identify a portion of the virtual disk file that describes the portion of the virtual disk extent; and send a request to trim the identified portion of the virtual disk file to a file system configured to store the virtual disk file on a storage device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A computer implemented method for storing data for a virtual machine, comprising:
-
executing a guest operating system including a file system within a virtual machine; exposing a virtual storage device to the guest operating system, the virtual storage device including a virtual disk extent, the virtual disk extent being dissociated from a virtual disk file; receiving a request to write data to the virtual disk extent; determining that state information associated with the virtual disk extent indicates that the virtual disk extent is free space; allocating a section of the virtual disk file to describe the virtual disk extent without overwriting a preexisting bit pattern within the section of the virtual disk file; modifying the state information associated with the virtual disk extent to indicate that the virtual disk extent is mapped to the allocated section of the virtual disk file; and storing the data to the allocated section of the virtual disk file. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
-
Specification