Automated protection of a VBA

• US 9,477,693 B1
• Filed: 06/28/2013
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Lonsdale, Mark, Bachu, Kiran K., Vijayakumar, Bala
• Primary Examiner(s): GEBRESENBET, DINKU W
• Application Number:
  US13/931,458
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/16 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Protecting a first backup application is disclosed. A backup of a state of the first backup application is received. The first backup application coordinates backup of a virtual environment. A second backup application external to the virtual environment is used to store the backup. The backup may be stored in a data storage external to the virtual environment.

Claims

1. A system for protecting a first backup application, comprising;

a communication interface configured to receive a backup of a state of the first backup application, wherein the backup of the state of the first backup application includes a checkpoint backup of the first backup application, wherein the first backup application coordinates backup of a virtual environment that includes one or more virtual machines and a data storage associated with the one or more virtual machines, the backup of the state of the first backup application includes an application configuration backup of a configuration of the first backup application, and the backup of the state of the first backup application is separate from a user data content backup generated by the first backup application and stored in the data storage associated with the one or more virtual machines, wherein the backup of the state of the first backup application is stored in a backup storage of the first backup application; and

using a second backup application external to the virtual environment to synchronize the received backup of the state of the first backup application with a state of the second backup application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first backup application is managed using a virtual environment management platform.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first backup application includes a virtual backup appliance.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup was created at a backup interval indicated by a data protection policy.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the checkpoint backup includes a snapshot of metadata and configuration data of the first backup application that can be used to restore the first backup application to a valid state of a creation time of the checkpoint backup.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the checkpoint backup is associated with a unique identifier identifying a version of the checkpoint backup.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the checkpoint backup includes a file directory that includes one or more backup files of the first backup application metadata, configuration data, and other associated data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup includes an interval backup.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the interval backup includes changes to data of the first backup application since a previous checkpoint backup.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup includes metadata and configuration data of the first backup application.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup is received from a backup storage of the first backup application.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the second backup application includes a central backup application.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the second backup application manages the first backup application and the second backup application manages backups across a local site of the first backup application and a remote site.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup is stored in a de-duplication storage.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein storing the backup using the second backup application includes replicating the backup stored in a storage local to the first backup application to another storage remote from a site of the first backup application.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein storing the backup using the second backup application includes replicating the backup according to a data protection policy at least in part provided by the second backup application.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the backup was created by the first backup application.

18. A method for protecting a first backup application, comprising;

receiving a backup of a state of the first backup application, wherein the backup of the state of the first backup application includes a checkpoint backup of the first backup application, wherein the first backup application coordinates backup of a virtual environment that includes one or more virtual machines and a data storage associated with the one or more virtual machines, the backup of the state of the first backup application includes an application configuration backup of a configuration of the first backup application, and the backup of the state of the first backup application is separate from a user data content backup generated by the first backup application and stored in the data storage associated with the one or more virtual machines, wherein the backup of the state of the first backup application is stored in a backup storage of the first backup application; and

using a second backup application external to the virtual environment to synchronize the received backup of the state of the first backup application with a state of the second backup application.

19. A computer program product for protecting a first backup application, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a backup of a state of the first backup application, wherein the backup of the state of the first backup application includes a checkpoint backup of the first backup application, wherein the first backup application coordinates backup of a virtual environment that includes one or more virtual machines and a data storage associated with the one or more virtual machines, the backup of the state of the first backup application includes an application configuration backup of a configuration of the first backup application, and the backup of the state of the first backup application is separate from a user data content backup generated by the first backup application and stored in the data storage associated with the one or more virtual machines, wherein the backup of the state of the first backup application is stored in a backup storage of the first backup application; and

using a second backup application external to the virtual environment to synchronize the received backup of the state of the first backup application with a state of the second backup application.