Synthetic Full Backup via Backup Components Document
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current backup and recovery techniques for virtual machines face inefficiencies due to lack of access to encrypted configuration and state files, leading to challenges in restoring virtual machines from synthetic full backups and managing incremental backups, which increases recovery time objectives and decreases restore performance.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a Backup Components Document (BCD) that stores configuration and state information for virtual machines, allowing the backup agent to access and restore virtual machines from synthetic full backups, along with the use of export-based backups and incremental backups that track changes, and falling back to lower levels of backup consistency when higher levels are not achievable.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If incremental backups are used to reduce backup time and storage, then backup efficiency is improved, but restore performance deteriorates due to the need to reconstruct full backup from multiple incremental sets
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary synthesis of full backup by combining the full backup set with all incremental backup sets during the backup phase. This pre-computed synthetic full backup is stored separately, so that during restore operations, the system can directly apply incremental backups to the pre-synthesized full backup without needing to reconstruct it in real-time, thus reducing recovery time objective.
2Ease of repair
If the backup application accesses encrypted configuration files directly, then restore capability is improved, but security is worsened due to exposure of sensitive virtual machine configuration data
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary component (the backup management system or synthesis module) that handles the decryption and processing of encrypted configuration files. The backup application does not directly access encrypted files; instead, the intermediary performs the synthesis of full backup by coordinating with the backup storage system, managing decryption operations, and preparing the synthetic full backup. This intermediary layer maintains security by controlling access to sensitive data while enabling restore capabilities.
3Loss of time
If synthetic full backup synthesis is implemented to improve restore performance, then device complexity increases due to additional processing requirements, but this enables faster recovery operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the backup and restore processes into distinct phases: (1) full backup creation, (2) incremental backup capture, (3) synthetic full backup synthesis by combining full and incremental sets, and (4) restore operation by applying incrementals to the pre-synthesized full backup. This segmentation allows the complex synthesis operation to be performed during the backup window when resources are available, rather than during critical restore operations, thus managing processing complexity while achieving fast recovery.
Data Source
AI summary
A backup agent issues to a virtual machine management service (VMMS) a request to export a virtual machine (VM). The VMMS generates a configuration file associated with the export that cannot be accessed by the backup agent because the file is encrypted. A full backup of the exported VM is performed. A first backup check point corresponding to the full backup is created. After the full backup, a second backup check point is created. The agent issues to the VMMS a request to export changes to the VM between the first and second backup check points. An incremental backup of the exported changes is performed and a backup components document is created. A synthetic full backup based on the incremental and full backups is created and restoration of the VM from the synthetic full backup is based on the information in the backup components document.