Virtual backup and restore of virtual machines

• US 9,965,357 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Earl, Min-Chih L., Bishop, Brian J., Buchman, Matthew D., Akanda, Mohammed A., Gruszka, Jerzy
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas, Ashish
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ferrer, Jedidiah P
• Application Number:
  US13/800,732
• Time in Patent Office: 1,882 Days
• Field of Search: 707640, 707644, 707649
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1438 Restarting or rejuvenating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods for backing up and restoring virtual machines in a cluster environment. An instrumentation interface enables configuration data to be stored with save sets during backup and enables the configuration of the destination to be adjusted based on the stored configuration during a restore.

Claims

1. A method for backing up a virtual machine in a cluster environment, the method comprising:

receiving a command to back up a virtual machine at a computing device, the computing device configured with a hypervisor layer that abstracts hardware of the computing device;

accessing an instrumentation interface of an export mechanism to obtain configuration information of both the virtual machine and the cluster environment, wherein the export mechanism is configured to export the virtual machine, wherein the export mechanism is leveraged to obtain the configuration information without exporting the virtual machine, wherein the configuration information includes first data describing a configuration of the virtual machine and second data describing a configuration of the cluster environment of the virtual machine;

creating a save set that is a backup of the virtual machine;

incorporating the configuration information into the save set so that the save set includes both the backup of the virtual machine and the configuration information, wherein incorporation of the configuration information into the save set permits the save set to be restored to a destination in the cluster environment whose configuration information is different from the configuration information that is incorporated in the save set; and

storing the save set, wherein the configuration information allows a restore operation to identify differences between the configuration information included in the save set and configuration information of the destination of the virtual machine during the restore operation, copy the save set to a destination location, and import the virtual machine from the destination location to a restore destination directory using an import mechanism that accounts for the differences by changing the configuration information included in the save set based on the configuration information of the destination,

wherein accounting for the differences between the configuration information included in the save set and the configuration information of the destination further includes transferring a virtual hard disk of the virtual machine from a location identified in the configuration information included in the save set to an appropriate destination based on the configuration data of the destination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining configuration information comprises calling the instrumentation interface of an application programming interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining configuration information comprises one or more of:

identifying a location of a root directory of files associated with the virtual machine;

identifying a location of snapshots associated with the virtual machine;

identifying a location of virtual hard disks associated with the virtual machine;

or

identifying a location of an export file generated by the export mechanism that contains a configuration of the virtual machine and a configuration of the environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising including, in the configuration information, one or more of a location of a root directory of files, a location of one or more snapshots, a location of one or more virtual hard disks, or a location of an export file generated by the export mechanism.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising taking a snapshot of the virtual machine after receiving the command to back up the virtual machine and before determining the configuration information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the command for a backup at a local agent operating in the hypervisor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information associated with the virtual machine is included in the save set as metadata.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the creation of the save set and the generation of the configuration data associated with the virtual machine are both performed by the same entity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the export/import mechanism is associated with the virtual machine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein export data generated by the export mechanism and included in the configuration information comprises one or more of a virtual hard disk directory, a location of a virtual hard disk directory, a virtual machine, files of a virtual machine, a cluster, or a configuration of a cluster.

11. A non-transitory storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, perform a backup of a virtual machine in a cluster environment, wherein performance of a backup of a virtual machine comprises:

receiving a command to back up a virtual machine at a computing device, the computing device configured with a hypervisor layer that abstracts hardware of the computing device;

accessing an instrumentation interface of an export mechanism to obtain configuration information of both the virtual machine and the cluster environment leveraging the export mechanism to generate an export file for the virtual machine without exporting the virtual machine with the export mechanism, wherein the export file includes configuration information for the virtual machine and the cluster environment;

creating a save set that is a backup of the virtual machine;

incorporating the configuration information into the save set so that the save set includes both the backup of the virtual machine and the configuration information, wherein incorporation of the configuration information into the save set permits the save set to be restored to a destination in the cluster environment whose configuration information is different from the configuration information that is incorporated in the save set; and

storing the save set, wherein the export file allows the save set to be restored by a restore operation by invoking an import mechanism at the destination, wherein the restore operation copies the save set to a destination location and uses the import mechanism to import the save set to a restore destination directory, wherein the import mechanism accounts for differences between the configuration information included in the save set and configuration information of the destination by changing the configuration information included in the save set based on the configuration information of the destination,

wherein accounting for the differences between the configuration information included in the save set and the configuration information of the destination includes transferring a virtual hard disk of the virtual machine from a location identified in the configuration information included in the save set to an appropriate destination based on the configuration data of the destination.

12. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein the management instrumentation is associated with an application programming interface.

13. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein the import mechanism allows the virtual machine to be backed up and restored without restoring the access control lists of the virtual machine.