Recovery system and method for recreating a state of a datacenter

• US 9,304,873 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2012
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Krieger, Orran, McElhoe, Glenn Bruce, Tam, Hoki, Reeves, Dwayne, McGachey, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): SCHELL, JOSEPH O
• Application Number:
  US13/593,060
• Publication Number:
  US 20140059375A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4.11, 714/15, 714/16, 714/21
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2033 switching over of hardware resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Embodiments include a recovery system, a computer-readable storage medium, and a method of recreating a state of a datacenter. The embodiments include a plurality of program modules that is executable by a processor to gather metadata from a first datacenter that includes at least one virtual machine (VM), wherein the metadata includes data representative of a virtual infrastructure of the first datacenter. The program modules are also executable by the processor to recreate a state of the first datacenter within a second datacenter using the metadata upon a determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter, and to recreate the VM within the second datacenter.

Claims

1. A recovery system comprising:

a first datacenter comprising a plurality of virtual machines (VMs);

a second datacenter;

at least one processor coupled to the first datacenter and to the second datacenter; and

a plurality of program modules that is executable by the at least one processor to;

gather metadata from the first datacenter, wherein the metadata includes data representative of a virtual infrastructure of the first datacenter, the virtual infrastructure including software components and configuration settings that facilitate constructing and operating the first datacenter;

store the gathered metadata together with files associated with the VMs in a first datastore coupled to the first datacenter;

replicate the first datastore to a second datastore coupled to the second datacenter, thereby replicating the gathered metadata along with the files associated with the VMs; and

recreate a state of the first datacenter within the second datacenter using the replicated metadata and the replicated files associated with the VMs, upon a determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter.

2. The recovery system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of program modules comprises an extractor that gathers the metadata and organizes the metadata into a metadata package.

3. The recovery system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of program modules comprises a protection daemon that receives the metadata package and stores the metadata package in the first datastore.

4. The recovery system of claim 3, wherein the recovery system further comprises a replication module that replicates the metadata package from the first datastore to the second datastore.

5. The recovery system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of program modules further comprises a recovery agent that extracts the metadata from the metadata package replicated within the second datastore.

6. The recovery system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of program modules further comprises a reconstructor that receives the metadata from the recovery agent and recreates a state of the first datacenter within the second datacenter.

7. The recovery system of claim 1, wherein the first datacenter comprises at least one network, the plurality of program modules is executable by the at least one processor to gather network configuration data for the at least one network and store the network configuration data in the first datastore.

8. The recovery system of claim 1, wherein the gathered and replicated metadata includes data indicating an order for initiating the plurality of VMs, and wherein, upon the determination that the failure occurred within the first datacenter, the plurality of VMs are initiated within the second datacenter according to the order for initiating the plurality of VMs indicated by the metadata.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein, when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to:

gather metadata from a first datacenter that includes a plurality of virtual machines (VMs), wherein the metadata includes data representative of a virtual infrastructure of the first datacenter, the virtual infrastructure including software components and configuration settings that facilitate constructing and operating the first datacenter;

store the gathered metadata together with files associated with the VMs in a first datastore coupled to the first datacenter;

replicate the first datastore to a second datastore coupled to a second datacenter, thereby replicating the gathered metadata along with the files associated with the VMs; and

recreate a state of the first datacenter within the second datacenter using the replicated files associated with the VMs and the replicated metadata upon a determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to recreate the plurality of VMs within the second datacenter upon the determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to gather metadata that further includes a list of components of the first datacenter.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to package the metadata into a metadata package and store the metadata package in the first datastore coupled to the first datacenter.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to transmit the metadata package to the second datastore coupled to the second datacenter.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first datacenter includes at least one network, and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to gather network configuration data for the at least one network and store the network configuration data in the first datastore.

15. A method of recreating a state of a datacenter, said method comprising:

gathering, by a processor, metadata from a first datacenter that includes a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) and at least one network, wherein the metadata includes network configuration data for the at least one network, the virtual infrastructure including software components and configuration settings that facilitate constructing and operating the first datacenter;

storing the gathered metadata together with files associated with the VMs within a first datastore coupled to the first datacenter;

replicating the first datastore to a second datastore coupled to a second datacenter, thereby replicating the gathered metadata along with the files associated with the VMs; and

recreating, by a processor, a state of the first datacenter within the second datacenter using the replicated metadata and the replicated files associated with the VMs upon a determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising recreating the plurality of VMs within the second datacenter upon the determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising packaging the metadata into a metadata package by a first program module and storing the metadata package in the first datastore, wherein the metadata package is replicated to the second datastore.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising extracting, by a second program module, the metadata from the metadata package within the second datastore when a failure of the first datacenter is determined to have occurred.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first datacenter includes a third datacenter, said method further comprising storing a state of the third datacenter within the first datastore.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising recreating the state of the first datacenter and the state of the third datacenter upon the determination that a failure occurred within the first datacenter.