Fast system state cloning

• US 9,977,719 B1
• Filed: 10/09/2017
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Symbolic IO Corporation
• Original Assignee: Symbolic IO Corporation
• Inventors: Ignomirello, Brian M., Liang, Suihong
• Primary Examiner(s): Mackes, Kris E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bui, Tiffany Thuy T
• Application Number:
  US15/728,347
• Publication Number:
  US 20180129572A1
• Time in Patent Office: 225 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/805 Real-time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

A system and method to create a clone of a source computing system, the system including the steps of selecting a memory space coupled to the source computing system, retrieving uncoded data from the selected memory space, encoding the uncoded data by use of a bit-marker-based encoding process executing on a backup server, storing encoded data in a protected memory coupled to the backup server, wherein the protected memory is protected from a power interruption, retrieving the encoded data from the protected memory; and decoding the encoded data onto a target computing system, wherein the target computing system is separate from the source computing system.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

at least one random access memory;

a secondary energy source connected to the at least one random access memory, the secondary energy source configured to supply power to the at least one random access memory during a power interruption in order to protect data stored on the at least one random access memory during the power interruption; and

a processor in electronic communication with the at least one random access memory through a communication bus to enable the processor to read and write data to the at least one random access memory, the processor configured to;

access memory resources on a source computer system to be backed up, the memory resources comprising a block of uncoded data;

access the block of uncoded data from the memory resources of the source computer system;

encode the block of uncoded data by use of a bit-marker-based encoding process, wherein bit markers are used to replace respective unique data vectors in the block of uncoded data, wherein the bit-marker-based encoding process comprises decomposing the block of uncoded data into a plurality of data vectors and mapping each data vector to a corresponding bit marker;

store the encoded block of uncoded data in the at least one random access memory to produce a system clone of the memory resources of the source computer system, wherein the system clone is stored in the at least one random access memory of the computer system without the need for a conventional persistent storage device;

identify a target computer system on which to restore the system clone of the source computer system;

access the encoded block from the at least one random access memory;

decode the encoded block using a bit-marker-based decoding process to produce a block of decoded data from the encoded block; and

provide the block of decoded data to memory resources on the target computer system,

wherein the computer system is separate from the source computer system.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the bit-marker based encoding process further comprises storing a table of bit marker, data vector pairs.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the bit-marker-based decoding process comprises:

reading the encoded block from the at least one random access memory;

extracting a plurality of bit markers from the encoded block;

matching each of the plurality of bit markers to a data vector stored in a table comprising bit marker, data vector pairs; and

combining the matched data vectors to form the block of decoded data.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is communicatively coupled to the source computer system through a communication network.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the source computer system comprises a virtual machine implemented on a physical server.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory resources on the source computer system to be backed up comprise an entire address space of a physical memory.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory resources on the source computer system to be backed up comprise a portion of an address space of a physical memory.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the target computer system is the same as the source computer system.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the target computer system is separate from the source computer system.

10. A computer system comprising:

a dual in-line memory module socket in electronic communication with a communication bus;

a random access memory storage unit in electronic communication with a memory interface that is coupled to the dual in-line memory module socket, the memory interface including a secondary energy source connected to the random access memory storage unit, the secondary energy source configured to supply power to the random access memory storage unit during a power interruption in order to protect data stored on the random access memory storage unit during the power interruption;

a processor in electronic communication with the dual in-line memory module socket through communication bus, the processor configured to;

access memory resources on a source computer system to be backed up, the memory resources comprising a block of uncoded data;

access the block of uncoded data from the memory resources of the source computer system;

encode the block of uncoded data by use of a bit-marker-based encoding process, wherein bit markers are used to replace respective data vectors in the block of uncoded data, wherein the bit-marker based encoding process comprises decomposing the block of uncoded data into a plurality of data vectors and generating the encoded block by mapping each data vector to a corresponding bit marker;

store the encoded block of uncoded data in the random access memory storage unit to produce to produce a system clone of the identified memory resources of the source computer system, wherein the system clone is stored in the random access memory storage unit of the computer system without the need for a conventional persistent storage device;

identify a target computer system on which to restore the system clone of the source computer system;

access the encoded block from the random access memory storage unit;

decode the encoded block using a bit-marker-based decoding process to produce a block of decoded data from the encoded block; and

provide the block of decoded data to memory resources on the target computer system,

wherein the computer system is separate from the source computer system.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the secondary energy source comprises a large-capacitance capacitor.

12. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the memory interface includes a second processor configured to detect a power failure.

13. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the computer system is communicatively coupled to the source computer system through a communication network.

14. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the source computer system comprises a virtual machine implemented on a physical server.

15. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the bit-marker-based decoding process comprises:

reading the encoded block from the random access memory storage unit;

extracting a plurality of bit markers from the encoded block;

matching each of the plurality of bit markers to a data vector stored in a table comprising bit marker, data vector pairs; and

combining the matched data vectors to form the block of decoded data.

16. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the target computer computing system is the same as the source computing system.

17. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the target computer computing system is separate from the source computing system.

18. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the memory resources on the source computer system to be backed up comprise an entire address space of a physical memory.

19. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the memory resources on the source computer system to be backed up comprise a portion of an address space of a physical memory.