Pseudo-Virtual Disk for Incremental VM Backup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtualized infrastructure presents challenges for traditional data management methods due to higher workload consolidation and the need for instant, granular recovery, requiring innovative solutions for backing up and restoring virtual machine snapshots efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The use of pseudo-virtual disks aggregates snapshots from diverse data sources, employing adaptive fingerprinting algorithms and incremental file storage to manage and restore virtual machine snapshots across physical and virtual environments, enabling near-instantaneous recovery and efficient data management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional data management methods are used for virtualized infrastructure, then data storage and management become complex and time-consuming, but recovery speed and efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments backup data into incremental files representing changes between snapshots, allowing selective restoration of only modified portions rather than entire virtual machine images. This segmentation enables faster recovery by transferring and applying only the necessary delta files.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a pseudo-virtual disk as an intermediary layer between physical storage and virtual machine snapshots. This pseudo-virtual disk presents a unified interface for snapshot management while underlying complex storage operations, simplifying data management and accelerating recovery processes.
2Reliability
If full virtual machine snapshots are stored for backup, then recovery completeness is improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the changed portions (deltas) between snapshots rather than storing complete snapshot images. By identifying and storing only modified file blocks and their metadata, the system maintains recovery completeness while dramatically reducing storage requirements compared to full snapshot duplication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the storage parameter from storing complete snapshot images to storing incremental delta files with selective data blocks. This parameter change in storage strategy maintains the ability to reconstruct any snapshot while reducing storage consumption by storing only differences between states.
3Quantity of substance
If incremental file storage is used, then storage efficiency is improved, but access and modification capability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a pseudo-virtual disk that provides universal access to incremental backup data through a standardized virtual disk interface. This interface allows read/write operations, file access, and modification capabilities identical to physical disks, enabling tools and applications to interact with backup data without needing to understand the underlying incremental storage structure.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for backing up and restoring sets of electronic files using sets of pseudo-virtual disks are described. The sets of electronic files may be sourced from or be stored using one or more different data sources including one or more real machines and/or one or more virtual machines. A first snapshot of the sets of electronic files may be aggregated from the different data sources and stored using a first pseudo-virtual disk. A second snapshot of the sets of electronic files may be aggregated from the different data sources subsequent to the generation of the first pseudo-virtual disk and stored using the first pseudo-virtual disk or a second pseudo-virtual disk different from the first pseudo-virtual disk.