Seamless virtual machine recall in a data storage system
First Claim
1. A method of restoring virtual machines in a networked data storage system comprising:
- receiving at one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, an indication that a virtual machine placeholder associated with a virtual machine has been accessed, wherein;
the virtual machine placeholder is created on one or more primary storage devices, and the virtual machine is deleted from the one or more primary storage devices, during one or more backups that copied data associated with the virtual machine from the primary storage subsystem to the secondary storage subsystem,the virtual machine placeholder on the one or more primary storage devices is recognized as the virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, andthe virtual machine placeholder comprises information usable in restoring the virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices; and
in response to receiving the indication that the virtual machine placeholder has been accessed, instructing the one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware to restore at least a portion of the virtual machine and the associated data from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The data storage system according to certain aspects can manage the archiving of virtual machines to (and restoring of virtual machines from) secondary storage. The system may archive virtual machines (VMs) that are determined to have a low level of utilization. The system may create a virtual machine placeholder for an archived VM, which may be a “light” or minimal version of the VM that acts like the actual VM. By using a VM placeholder, a VM may appear to be active and selectable by the user. When the user selects the VM, the VM placeholder can interact with the user in similar manner as the VM. Accessing the VM placeholder may trigger restore of the archived VM from secondary storage. The restore of the archived VM may be “seamless” to the user since the VM remains available while it is being restored.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of restoring virtual machines in a networked data storage system comprising:
receiving at one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, an indication that a virtual machine placeholder associated with a virtual machine has been accessed, wherein; the virtual machine placeholder is created on one or more primary storage devices, and the virtual machine is deleted from the one or more primary storage devices, during one or more backups that copied data associated with the virtual machine from the primary storage subsystem to the secondary storage subsystem, the virtual machine placeholder on the one or more primary storage devices is recognized as the virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, and the virtual machine placeholder comprises information usable in restoring the virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices; and in response to receiving the indication that the virtual machine placeholder has been accessed, instructing the one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware to restore at least a portion of the virtual machine and the associated data from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A data storage system configured to restore virtual machines comprising:
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a virtual machine placeholder associated with a virtual machine stored on one or more primary storage devices, wherein; the virtual machine placeholder was created on one or more primary storage devices, and the virtual machine was deleted from the one or more primary storage devices, during one or more backups that copied data associated with a virtual machine from the primary storage subsystem to the secondary storage subsystem, the virtual machine placeholder on the one or more primary storage devices is recognized as the virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, and the virtual machine placeholder comprises information usable in restoring the virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices; one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware that receive an indication that a virtual machine placeholder has been accessed; and in response to receiving the indication that the virtual machine placeholder has been accessed, the one or more computing devices restore at least a portion of the virtual machine and the associated data from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification