Binary Differencing Patches for Virtual Disk Provisioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual disk provisioning technologies consume significant computing power and network bandwidth due to frequent compressing and decompressing of virtual disks, and face incompatibility issues between different file formats supported by servers and client devices, leading to inefficient data transmission and resource depletion.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of binary differencing patches that allow for the efficient transmission and updating of virtual disks by identifying and transmitting only the modified sectors, eliminating the need for frequent compression and decompression, and supporting multiple disk formats to ensure compatibility between servers and client devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If virtual disks are transmitted as compressed files using frequent compressing and decompressing operations, then data transmission efficiency is improved, but computing power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual disk is segmented into multiple blocks, and only modified blocks are identified and transmitted as differencing patches. This segmentation allows the system to transmit only necessary data portions rather than compressing and transmitting entire virtual disks, reducing both transmission overhead and computational burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the modified portions (differences) from the virtual disk and transmits these extracted differencing patches instead of transmitting compressed versions of entire virtual disks. This extraction approach eliminates the need for frequent compression and decompression operations while maintaining data transmission efficiency.
2Ease of operation
If virtual disks are transmitted in a specific file format, then data transmission is simplified, but format incompatibility issues arise between servers and client devices
Solution Approach 1:
The differencing patch format designed in this patent is universally applicable across multiple virtual disk formats (VHD, VHDX, VMDK). The patch structure contains format-agnostic block-level differences that can be applied to various parent virtual disk formats, making the transmission mechanism versatile and compatible across different platforms and devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The differencing patch serves as an intermediary format that bridges compatibility between servers and client devices supporting different virtual disk formats. Instead of requiring direct compatibility between VHD and VMDK formats, the patch acts as a universal mediator that can be applied to any supported format, resolving incompatibility issues.
3Productivity
If backup rollup process decompresses and combines multiple compressed VHD files, then backup scalability is improved, but computer resources are depleted quickly
Solution Approach 1:
The backup system segments virtual disk changes into individual block-level differencing patches rather than creating multiple full compressed VHD files. This segmentation allows incremental backups to store only changed blocks, significantly reducing the quantity of data that needs to be decompressed and combined during backup rollup operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs partial action by transmitting and storing only the necessary differencing patches for modified blocks rather than processing complete virtual disk images. This partial approach to backup reduces computational resources required for decompression and combination operations while maintaining backup scalability.
Data Source
AI summary
A first computing device is provided for virtual disk provisioning. The first computing device includes one or more processors configured to provide a first virtual disk and a first publish differencing disk. The one or more processors are further configured to obtain meta data associated with the first virtual disk and the first publish differencing disk, and generate one or more first differencing patches and one or more second differencing patches. The first and second differencing patches having a binary format. The first computing device further includes a storage configured to store data associated with the first virtual disk and the first publish differencing disk, the meta data, and the one or more first and second differencing patches. The first computing device further includes a communication subsystem configured to provide one or more first and second differencing patches to provision the virtual machine associated with a second computing device.