Agentless file backup of a virtual machine

• US 9,858,154 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2014
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MidCap Financial Trust
• Original Assignee: Acronis International GmbH (Acronis AG)
• Inventors: Lyadvinsky, Maxim V., Beloussov, Serguei M., Miroshkin, Vladimir, Shulga, Victor
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Anh
• Application Number:
  US14/320,526
• Time in Patent Office: 1,282 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• 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 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• 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 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A method, computer program product, computing system, and system for virtual machine backup are described. In part, the disclosure relates to methods and systems for performing backup of virtual machine files on a block level that include features that allow a user to select and backup specific files or folders of file systems of a VM. The specificity and selectivity features by which certain files or folders are backup from a file system of a VM can be implemented by processing one or more partition structures of a virtual disk of a virtual machine. Once the partition structures have been processed and analyzed using a backup up software application, it is then possible to detect and process guest file systems of the VM.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating a snapshot of a virtual machine hosted at a virtual machine server;

opening, from the created snapshot, one or more disks of the virtual machine, the one or more disks including files selected for backup, wherein the files selected for backup exclude non-critical data from the one or more disks of the virtual machine, the non-critical data including at least one of operating system files, application files, and temporary files;

identifying, based upon, at least in part, file system metadata associated with the one or more disks, one or more blocks of the one or more disks, the one or more blocks corresponding to the files selected for backup;

storing the one or more blocks and metadata corresponding to the one or more blocks in a backup repository; and

closing the one or more disks of the virtual machine and removing the snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more file systems associated with the files selected for backup based upon, at least in part, one or more file system partition structures of the one or more disks of the virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of the files selected for backup.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing communication between the virtual machine server hosting the virtual machine and a separate computing device running a backup agent configured to perform the creating, opening, identifying, storing, and closing operations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recovering the files selected for backup to the virtual machine by, at least in part, copying the one or more blocks from the backup repository to the virtual machine using an application programming interface.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recovering the files selected for backup by, at least in part, recovering the one or more blocks from the backup repository to a user specified location accessible to the virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recovering the files selected for backup to the virtual machine using, at least in part, a file driver configured to save data to the one or more disks of the virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the files selected for backup include user critical data comprising a portion of the one or more disks of the virtual machine.

9. A system comprising:

a virtual machine hosted at a virtual machine server;

a backup system configured to;

create a snapshot of a virtual machine hosted at a virtual machine server;

open, from the created snapshot, one or more disks of the virtual machine, the one or more disks including files selected for backup, wherein the files selected for backup exclude non-critical data from the one or more disks of the virtual machine, the non-critical data including at least one of operating system files, application files, and temporary files;

identify, based upon, at least in part, file system metadata associated with the one or more disks, one or more blocks of the one or more disks, the one or more blocks corresponding to the files selected for backup;

store the one or more blocks and metadata corresponding to the one or more blocks in a backup repository; and

close the one or more disks of the virtual machine and removing the snapshot.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the backup system is further configured to:

identify one or more file systems associated with the files selected for backup based upon, at least in part, one or more file system partition structures of the one or more disks of the virtual machine.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the backup system is further configured to:

receive an indication of the files selected for backup.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the backup system is a backup agent configured to:

establish communication between the virtual machine server hosting the virtual machine and a separate computing device running the backup agent.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the backup system is further configured to:

recover the files selected for backup to the virtual machine by, at least in part, copying the one or more blocks from the backup repository to the virtual machine using an application programming interface.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the backup system is further configured to:

recover the files selected for backup by, at least in part, recovering the one or more blocks from the backup repository to a user specified location accessible to the virtual machine.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the backup system is further configured to:

recover the files selected for backup to the virtual machine using, at least in part, a file driver configured to save data to the one or more disks of the virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the files selected for backup include user critical data comprising a portion of the one or more disks of the virtual machine.

17. A system comprising:

a virtual machine hosted at a virtual machine server;

a snapshot system that creates a snapshot of the virtual machine; and

a backup agent running at a computing device separate from the virtual machine server that;

opens, from the created snapshot, one or more disks of the virtual machine, the one or more disks including files selected for backup;

identifies, based upon, at least in part, file system metadata associated with the one or more disks, one or more blocks of the one or more disks, the one or more blocks corresponding to the files selected for backup; and

closes the one or more disks of the virtual machine and removes the snapshot; and

a backup repository that stores the one or more blocks and metadata corresponding to the one or more blocks, wherein the snapshot system comprises one or more components selected from the group consisting of a snapshot creating software-based routine;

a hypervisor or a software routine or executable in communication therewith;

a disk drive level filter;

a vSCSI filter and a data storage device that comprises one or more virtual machines; and

a hypervisor or a software routine or executable in communication therewith, a data storage device (where virtual machines reside) comprising one or more snapshot creating software-based routines or executables, one or more software executables or routines that operate on or exchange data with a host (such as for example, a disk drive level filter such as a vSCSI filter with one or more data processing or routing components).

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the files selected for backup exclude non-critical data from the one or more disks of the virtual machine, the non-critical data including at least one of operating system files, application files, and temporary files.