Synthesizing VM and App Backups for Rapid Point-in-Time Restoration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for restoring data in distributed systems are time-consuming and computationally expensive, relying on multiple steps to restore different portions of entities at various levels of granularity, which can lead to prolonged downtime and data unavailability.
Innovation Solution
A backup storage system that generates point-in-time backups by synthesizing virtual machine level and application level backups, allowing for accelerated access to data by instantiating a virtual machine using a single point-in-time backup, thereby reducing the complexity and time required for restoration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple backup levels (virtual machine and application) are restored separately, then data completeness is ensured, but restoration time and computational cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines virtual machine level backup and application level backup into a single synthesized point-in-time backup. The backup manager merges these two backup types to create a unified backup that contains both virtual machine data and application data at a specific point in time, eliminating the need for separate restoration processes and significantly reducing restoration time while maintaining data completeness
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary synthesis of backups by pre-combining virtual machine backups and application backups into point-in-time backups before restoration is needed. This preliminary action creates ready-to-use synthesized backups that can be immediately restored without requiring complex multi-step restoration processes, thus reducing restoration time and computational overhead
2Reliability
If multiple backup levels are restored separately, then data integrity is maintained, but computational complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The backup manager merges virtual machine level backups and application level backups into a single synthesized point-in-time backup. This consolidation reduces the complexity of the restoration process by eliminating the need to manage and restore multiple separate backup levels, while still maintaining data integrity through the comprehensive inclusion of both virtual machine and application data
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a synthesized copy that combines elements from both virtual machine backups and application backups. This copied synthesized backup serves as a complete representation of the system state at a point in time, simplifying the restoration process while preserving data integrity through the inclusion of all necessary data components
3Reliability
If traditional multi-step restoration is used, then all data portions are recovered, but system downtime is prolonged
Solution Approach 1:
By merging virtual machine backups and application backups into a single point-in-time backup, the system enables recovery of all data portions through a single restoration operation. This eliminates the sequential multi-step restoration process that causes prolonged downtime, thereby improving system availability while maintaining complete data recovery
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary synthesis of complete point-in-time backups that include both virtual machine and application data. This preliminary consolidation ensures that all necessary data portions are prepared in advance in a single backup package, enabling rapid restoration and minimizing system downtime while maintaining data recovery completeness
Data Source
AI summary
A backup storage includes a persistent storage and a backup manager. The persistent storage stores virtual machine level backups and application level backups. The backup manager obtains a request for a point in time restoration of an application; identifies, based on the application, a virtual machine level backup of the virtual machine level backups that is associated with: a virtual machine that hosted an instance of the application and a first point in time prior to a restoration point in time specified by the request for the point in time restoration; identifies, based on the application, an application level backup of the application level backups that is associated with the restoration point in time; generates a point in time backup using: the identified virtual machine level backup, and the identified application level backup; and services the request using the point in time backup.