Distributed Virtual Machine Backup Agent
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing backup solutions for virtual machines face challenges in resource consumption and lack of granular restoration capabilities, with agents running inside the virtual machine consuming resources and those outside not being application-aware or allowing for granular restoration.
Innovation Solution
A distributed backup agent system with a lightweight agent inside the virtual machine and a management service outside, communicating to create consistent backups and enable granular restoration by collecting application-specific metadata and using public cloud or IaaS storage APIs for image-based backups and restores.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a backup agent runs inside the virtual machine, then granular restoration capability is improved, but system resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The backup agent is segmented into two parts: a lightweight component inside the virtual machine that collects metadata and application-specific data, and a heavier management service outside the virtual machine that handles backup creation and restoration operations. This segmentation allows granular restoration capability to be maintained through the internal metadata collection while reducing in-VM resource consumption by moving heavy processing external to the virtual machine.
2Use of energy by moving object
If a backup agent runs outside the virtual machine, then system resource consumption is reduced, but application-aware backup capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The lightweight internal agent acts as an intermediary between the external backup management service and the virtual machine's applications. It collects application-specific metadata and data structures that enable the external service to perform application-aware backups without requiring heavy processing inside the virtual machine, thus maintaining adaptability while reducing resource consumption.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a full backup agent is installed inside the virtual machine, then comprehensive backup capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The complex backup management functionality is extracted from the virtual machine environment and placed in an external service. Only essential metadata collection capabilities remain inside the virtual machine, significantly reducing device complexity while maintaining comprehensive backup capability through the external service's access to hypervisor APIs and storage systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A distributed agent for backup and restoration of virtual machines collects backup data and meta-data. The distributed agent includes an agent inside a virtual machine and an agent outside the virtual machine. The two kinds of agents communicate with each other to collect data of different types used to backup and restore virtual machines.