System and method for full virtual machine backup using storage system functionality

• US 9,477,415 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2016
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Hsu, Windsor W., Xing, Jian
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardwell, Eric S
• Application Number:
  US15/050,383
• Publication Number:
  US 20160170666A1
• Time in Patent Office: 246 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1453 using de-duplication of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0617 in relation to availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0655 Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A VM management server receives a request from a backup application server to back up a first VM. The VM management server determines a first of the host systems based on the request, wherein the first host system hosts the first VM. A first request is transmitted from the VM management server to a VMM of the first host system hosting the first VM via a VM application programming interface (VM API) over a network. The first request requests the VMM to capture a VM snapshot representing a consistent state of the first VM. In response to determining that the consistent state of the VM has been captured, a second request is transmitted to a first storage system associated with the first host system to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM to a second storage system over the network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for performing backup operations, the method comprising:

receiving, at a virtual machine (VM) management server, a request from a backup application server to back up a first VM, wherein the VM management server manages a plurality of VMs hosted by a plurality of host systems, and wherein the backup application server manages backup operations of a plurality of storage systems;

determining at the VM management server a first of the host systems based on the request, wherein the first host system hosts the first VM; and

transmitting a first request from the VM management server to a VM monitor (VMM) of the first host system hosting the first VM via a VM application programming interface (VM API) over a network, the first request requesting the VMM to capture a VM snapshot representing a consistent state of the first VM, wherein in response to determining that the consistent state of the VM has been captured, a second request is transmitted to a first storage system associated with the first host system to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM to a second storage system over the network, wherein the first host system is a separate system communicatively coupled to the first storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the VM management server maintains VM configuration information of the plurality of VMs hosted in the plurality of host systems.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the consistent state of the first VM is generated based on the VM snapshot captured by the VMM.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second storage system is a separate system with respect to the backup application server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM are disk snapshots stored at the first storage system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the backup application server requests the VMM via the VM API to delete the VM snapshot taken after the disk snapshots have been backed up from the first storage system to the second storage system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first storage system sends only segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the second storage system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second storage system invokes a deduplicated segment storage engine to store segments of the requested VM disk images that have not been stored in the second storage system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the backup application server parses the received VM disk images associated with the first VM to determine information about files contained in the received VM disk images and saving the determined file information in a backup catalog.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, at a virtual machine (VM) management server, a request from a backup application server to back up a first VM, wherein the VM management server manages a plurality of VMs hosted by a plurality of host systems, and wherein the backup application server manages backup operations of a plurality of storage systems;

determining at the VM management server a first of the host systems based on the request, wherein the first host system hosts the first VM; and

transmitting a first request from the VM management server to a VM monitor (VMM) of the first host system hosting the first VM via a VM application programming interface (VM API) over a network, the first request requesting the VMM to capture a VM snapshot representing a consistent state of the first VM, wherein in response to determining that the consistent state of the VM has been captured, a second request is transmitted to a first storage system associated with the first host system to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM to a second storage system over the network, wherein the first host system is a separate system communicatively coupled to the first storage system.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the VM management server maintains VM configuration information of the plurality of VMs hosted in the plurality of host systems.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the consistent state of the first VM is generated based on the VM snapshot captured by the VMM.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second storage system is a separate system with respect to the backup application server.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM are disk snapshots stored at the first storage system.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the backup application server requests the VMM via the VM API to delete the VM snapshot taken after the disk snapshots have been backed up from the first storage system to the second storage system.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first storage system sends only segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the second storage system.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the second storage system invokes a deduplicated segment storage engine to store segments of the requested VM disk images that have not been stored in the second storage system.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the backup application server parses the received VM disk images associated with the first VM to determine information about files contained in the received VM disk images and saving the determined file information in a backup catalog.

19. A data processing system operating as a virtual machine (VM) management server, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations including

receiving a request from a backup application server to back up a first VM, wherein the VM management server manages a plurality of VMs hosted by a plurality of host systems, and wherein the backup application server manages backup operations of a plurality of storage systems;

determining a first of the host systems based on the request, wherein the first host system hosts the first VM; and

transmitting a first request to a VM monitor (VMM) of the first host system hosting the first VM via a VM application programming interface (VM API) over a network, the first request requesting the VMM to capture a VM snapshot representing a consistent state of the first VM, wherein in response to determining that the consistent state of the VM has been captured, a second request is transmitted to a first storage system associated with the first host system to send one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM to a second storage system over the network, wherein the first host system is a separate system communicatively coupled to the first storage system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the VM management server maintains VM configuration information of the plurality of VMs hosted in the plurality of host systems.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the consistent state of the first VM is generated based on the VM snapshot captured by the VMM.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the second storage system is a separate system with respect to the backup application server.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more VM disk images associated with the consistent state of the first VM are disk snapshots stored at the first storage system.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the backup application server requests the VMM via the VM API to delete the VM snapshot taken after the disk snapshots have been backed up from the first storage system to the second storage system.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the first storage system sends only segments of the requested VM images that have not been stored in the second storage system.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the second storage system invokes a deduplicated segment storage engine to store segments of the requested VM disk images that have not been stored in the second storage system.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the backup application server parses the received VM disk images associated with the first VM to determine information about files contained in the received VM disk images and saving the determined file information in a backup catalog.