Archiving virtual machines in a data storage system

• US 9,965,316 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2017
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Deshpande, Sumer Dilip, Dornemann, Henry Wallace, Venkatesha, Ananda, Sancheti, Ashwin Gautamchand
• Primary Examiner(s): Mundur, Padma
• Application Number:
  US15/443,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20170199756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• 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 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

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 can determine whether to archive virtual machines based on usage data or information. The usage information may include storage usage, CPU usage, memory usage, network usage, events defined by a virtual machine software or application, etc. The system may archive virtual machines that are determined to have a low level of utilization. For example, a virtual machine can be archived when its usage level falls below a threshold level. The system may create a virtual machine placeholder for an archived virtual machine, which may be a “light” or minimal version of the virtual machine that acts as if it is the actual virtual machine. By using a virtual machine placeholder, a virtual machine may appear to be active and selectable by the user.

Claims

1. A method of restoring archived virtual machines (VMs) in a networked data storage system, comprising:

using one or more computing devices comprising one or more hardware processors coupled to memory;

archiving a VM executing on a client computing device residing in a primary storage subsystem onto one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem such that the VM is no longer active;

creating a VM placeholder including information for restoring the VM from the one or more secondary storage devices, wherein an amount of central processing unit (CPU) or network resources allocated to the VM placeholder is less than an amount of CPU or network resources allocated to the VM prior to the archiving of the VM;

subsequent to archiving the VM, causing a list of available VMs to be presented on the client computing device, wherein the list of available VMs includes a representation corresponding to the VM along with one or more representations that each correspond to an active VM executing on the client computing device such that the VM continues to appear to be active after being archived;

detecting user selection of the representation corresponding to the VM from the list of available VMs; and

in response to detecting the user selection of the representation corresponding to the VM from the list of available VMs, reactivating the VM by restoring at least a portion of the VM from the secondary storage subsystem to the primary storage subsystem.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, based on the information included in the VM placeholder, the one or more secondary storage devices in which the VM is archived.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising restoring all data associated with the VM from the secondary storage subsystem and removing the VM placeholder.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising restoring only a portion, but not all, of data associated with the VM from the secondary storage subsystem and maintaining the VM placeholder.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a media agent based on the information included in the VM placeholder, and sending instructions to restore the VM to the identified media agent.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the restored VM and providing access to the VM via the client computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein computing resources allocated to the reactivated VM include one or more of:

storage, CPU, memory, or network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the VM placeholder is selectable via a user interface provided on the client computing device, the user selection comprising a user selection of the VM placeholder via the user interface provided on the client computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the VM placeholder is visually indistinguishable to a user of the client computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the archival of the VM and the creation of the VM placeholder are performed as part of a first backup operation that includes creating a backup copy of other primary data associated with the client computing device onto the secondary storage subsystem.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining, during a second backup operation subsequent to the first backup operation, deleting the reactivated VM without copying the VM onto the one or more secondary storage devices based on determining that a copy of the VM was created on the one or more secondary storage devices during the first backup operation.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the VM placeholder is configured to perform one or more interactions with an operating system on the client computing device that were performed by the VM.

11. A data storage system configured for restoring archived virtual machines (VMs), comprising:

one or more computing devices comprising memory and one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory, the one or more computing devices configured to;

archive a VM executing on a client computing device residing in a primary storage subsystem onto one or more secondary storage devices residing in a secondary storage subsystem such that the VM is no longer active;

create a VM placeholder including information for restoring the VM from the one or more secondary storage devices, wherein an amount of central processing unit (CPU) or network resources allocated to the VM placeholder is less than an amount of CPU or network resources allocated to the VM prior to the archiving of the VM;

subsequent to archiving the VM, causing a list of available VMs to be presented on the client computing device, wherein the list of available VMs includes a representation corresponding to the VM along with one or more representations that each correspond to an active VM executing on the client computing device such that the VM continues to appear to be active after being archived;

detect user selection of the representation corresponding to the VM from the list of available VMs;

in response to detecting the user selection of the representation corresponding to the VM from the list of available VMs, reactivating the VM by restoring at least a portion of the VM from the secondary storage subsystem to the primary storage subsystem; and

wherein the one or more computing devices are in networked communication with the client computing device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to identify, based on the information included in the VM placeholder, the one or more secondary storage devices in which the VM is archived.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to cause all data associated with the VM to be restored from the secondary storage subsystem and to cause the VM placeholder to be removed.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to cause only a portion, but not all, of data associated with the VM to be restored from the secondary storage subsystem and to cause the VM placeholder to be maintained.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to identify a media agent based on the information included in the VM placeholder, and to send instructions to restore the VM to the identified media agent.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to cause the restored VM to be executed and provided via the client computing device.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein computing resources allocated to the reactivated VM include one or more of:

storage, CPU, memory, or network.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the VM placeholder is selectable via a user interface provided on the client computing device, the user selection comprising a user selection of the VM placeholder via the user interface provided on the client computing device.