Virtualized backup solution

• US 9,235,477 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2007
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Yueh, Jedidiah
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Sheng-Jen
• Application Number:
  US11/772,183
• Time in Patent Office: 3,118 Days
• Field of Search: 711/162
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual

Abstract

A virtualized backup storage application and a method for providing data protection are implemented by running a backup storage application on a virtualization layer of a computer platform. The virtualization layer presents to the backup storage application a normalized representation of a hardware subsystem of the computer platform, shielding the backup storage application from actual hardware devices of the computer platform. A storage device of the computer platform is used to store a raw data set and the backup storage application generates a backup data set of the raw data set. The backup storage application can replicate the backup data set to a virtualized archive of the computer platform and can also restore and recover the raw data set in the event it is lost, corrupted or otherwise destroyed.

Claims

1. A method for providing data protection, comprising:

providing a virtualization layer on a computer architecture, the computer architecture comprising a hardware subsystem and a storage system;

running a first application on a first virtual machine, the first application generating a raw data set, the virtualization layer decoupling the first application from all physical hardware and presenting a virtual storage device to the first application, the virtual storage device comprising a representation of a first portion of the storage system;

storing the raw data set in the virtual storage device;

running a backup storage application on a second virtual machine to create a backup data set from the raw data set stored in the virtual storage device, wherein the backup data set comprises a de-duplicated data set that includes space efficient versions of data objects in the raw data set such that only one instance of each data object of the raw data set is stored and wherein each data object of the backup data set is matched with a unique identifier that is based upon the content of that particular data object, the virtualization layer decoupling the backup storage application from all physical hardware and presenting a virtual set of components of the hardware subsystem to the backup storage application, the virtual set of components including a virtual storage system comprising a virtual representation of a second portion of the storage system and wherein the backup storage application is operable to run on other virtual machines operating in the computer architecture and is operable to access the backup data from the other virtual machines and restore the backup data to the hardware subsystem and to another hardware subsystem and to other virtual machines;

storing the backup data set to the virtual storage system; and

archiving the backup storage application as a virtual system to an archive storage and archiving the backup data set to the archive storage,

wherein the archived virtual system of the backup storage system can be ported to any data including the backup data set that is backed up or archived according to storage methods of the backup storage application included in the virtual system and wherein recovery functionality of the backup storage application in the virtual system is configured to recover the data to any hardware subsystem that supports the virtual system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer architecture further comprises a virtualized remote archive, the method further comprising replicating the backup data set to the virtualized remote archive.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the storage system to which the raw data set is stored comprises a first storage device;

the computer architecture further comprises a second storage device physically remote from the first storage device;

the virtualization layer additionally presents a representation of at least a portion of the second storage device to the backup storage application; and

the method further comprises the backup storage application storing the backup data set in the second storage device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the backup storage application to generate a recovered version of the raw data set on the hardware subsystem based on the backup data set.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, prior to using the backup storage application to generate a recovered version of the raw data set on the hardware subsystem, receiving a recovery request from a user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising encapsulating one of the virtual machines into a file such that a full system including fully configured applications, operating system, BIOS and virtual hardware can be moved from one physical server to another.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are the same virtual machine or wherein the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine are different virtual machines, or wherein the virtual system includes both the backup storage application and the backup data set.

7. A method for protecting data in a completely virtualized network environment, the method comprising:

providing a virtualization layer on a computer architecture, the computer architecture including a storage device;

operating an application on a first virtual machine to generate raw data;

storing the raw data on a virtual storage device included in the first virtual machine;

operating a backup storage application on a second virtual machine to generate backup data based on the raw data stored on the virtual storage device, wherein the backup data comprises de-duplicated data that includes space efficient versions of data objects in the raw data such that only one instance of each data object of the raw data is stored and wherein each data object of the backup data is matched with a unique identifier that is based upon the content of that particular data object, wherein the virtualization layer decouples the backup storage application from a physical storage device included in the computer architecture, and wherein the backup storage application is not tied to a physical device;

presenting a virtual computer architecture to the backup storage application, the virtual computer architecture comprising a representation of the computer architecture and including a virtualized storage device that represents at least a portion the storage device, wherein the backup storage application is operable to run on other virtual machines, and is further operable to recover the backup data from other virtual machines in the computer architecture in addition to the first virtual machine and to virtual machines in another hardware system;

backing up the backup data to the virtualized storage device in the virtual computer architecture; and

storing the backup storage application as a virtual system onto an archived storage and storing the backup data to the archive storage,

wherein the archived virtual system of the backup storage system can be ported to any data including the backup data set that is backed up or archived according to storage methods of the backup storage application and wherein recovery functionality of the backup storage application is configured to recover the data to any hardware subsystem that supports the virtual system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein matching a unique identifier that is based upon the content of the particular data object comprises generating a hash number for the particular data object, and wherein the method further comprises providing the data object with a content address.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein providing a virtualization layer on a computer architecture further comprises pooling the computer architecture.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the virtualization layer presents the virtual computer architecture to an operating system of the second virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the computer architecture comprises one or more networks, one or more network devices, or one or more networks and one or more network devices.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtualization layer comprises a virtual infrastructure that connects resources in the computer architecture to users and wherein the virtual infrastructure provides a dynamic mapping of the resources to a plurality of virtual machines.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each virtual machine runs a respective operating system and a number of instances of the backup storage application, wherein the instances of the backup storage application may be the same or differ.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each backup storage application is ported to raw data that has been archived according to its storage methods.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising recovering a particular version of a data set based on a request from a user.

16. A completely virtualized backup storage solution, comprising:

a virtualization layer on a computer architecture, the computer architecture including a hardware subsystem and one or more shared storage devices, and the virtualization layer presenting a virtual computer architecture to each of a plurality of virtual machines, wherein the virtual computer architecture is a representation of the computer architecture; and

a first virtual machine that comprises a backup storage application operable to create a backup data set from a raw data set stored in a virtual storage device of a second virtual machine and to store the backup data set in virtualized memory allocated to the first virtual machine from one of the one or more storage devices, wherein the backup data set comprises de-duplicated data that includes space efficient versions of data objects in the raw data set such that only one instance of each data object of the raw data set is stored and wherein each data object of the backup data is matched with a unique identifier that is based upon the content of that particular data object, and wherein;

the backup storage application is decoupled from the one or more shared storage devices,

virtualized memory can be allocated to other virtual machines from the one or more shared storage devices,

the backup storage application is independent of a physical backup device,

the backup storage application is operable to run on the other virtual machines to access the backup data from the other virtual machines and to recover the backup data to the second virtual machine and to other virtual machines; and

the backup data is backed up as a virtual system and the backup storage application is backed up,

wherein the backed up virtual system of the backup storage system can be ported to any data including the backup data set that is backed up or archived according to storage methods of the backup storage application and wherein recovery functionality of the backup storage application is configured to recover the data to any hardware subsystem that supports the virtual system.

17. The backup storage solution of claim 16, wherein the second virtual machine includes an application operable to generate the raw data set and store the raw data set in virtualized memory allocated to the second virtual machine.

18. The backup storage solution of claim 17, wherein the virtualized memory allocated to the first virtual machine and the virtualized memory allocated to the second virtual machine are in physical proximity, and wherein the backup storage application additionally replicates the backup data set to a virtualized archive.

19. The backup storage solution of claim 16, wherein the computer architecture comprises a x86 computer architecture.