Virtual Machine Backup Using Disk Layout Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Backup systems face challenges in efficiently backing up cloned virtual machines, as they often duplicate data unnecessarily and fail to account for the hierarchical relationships between parent and child virtual machines, leading to increased storage requirements and longer backup times.
Innovation Solution
A backup system that determines the disk layout of child virtual machines, identifies snapshots of parent and child VMs, and backs up only the changed blocks, while optimizing by tagging and linking backups to prevent redundant storage of parent VMs, thus ensuring efficient data preservation and reduced storage needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If backup systems back up cloned virtual machines using traditional methods, then all data is backed up including duplicate parent VM data, but this increases storage requirements and backup time
Solution Approach 1:
The backup system segments the virtual machine backup process by identifying and separating parent VM disks from child VM disks in the disk layout hierarchy. This allows the system to process only the necessary changed blocks in child VMs rather than duplicating entire parent VM backups, thereby reducing storage requirements while maintaining backup completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and identifies the hierarchical relationship between parent and child virtual machines by analyzing disk layout information. By taking out the parent VM identification from the backup process, the system avoids redundant backup of parent data and stores only the incremental changed blocks for each child VM, resolving the contradiction between backup reliability and storage efficiency.
2Reliability
If backup systems back up cloned virtual machines using traditional methods, then all data is backed up including duplicate parent VM data, but this increases backup time
Solution Approach 1:
The backup process is segmented by disk layout hierarchy, allowing the system to identify parent-child VM relationships and process only the changed blocks specific to each child VM. This segmentation eliminates the time-consuming duplication of entire parent VM backups while ensuring complete backup coverage through hierarchical tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification of the disk layout hierarchy and parent-child VM relationships before executing the backup process. By pre-processing the disk layout information to map hierarchical relationships, the system avoids redundant processing during the actual backup, thereby reducing backup time while maintaining completeness.
3Device complexity
If backup systems do not account for hierarchical relationships between parent and child VMs, then backup process is simpler, but this leads to unnecessary data duplication
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the backup process by introducing hierarchical awareness through disk layout analysis. By dividing the backup process into hierarchy identification and selective backup stages, the system manages the complexity of parent-child relationships systematically, preventing data duplication without overwhelming complexity through structured processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of disk layout information to establish hierarchical relationships between parent and child VMs before the backup execution. This pre-processing step organizes the complexity into manageable hierarchical structures, enabling the backup system to efficiently identify and avoid duplicating parent VM data while maintaining process clarity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for backing up virtual machine (VM) data is described, and includes determining a disk layout of a VM disk associated with the first VM to be backed up, the disk layout having a plurality of nodes in a hierarchical structure, each node corresponding a VM, and traversing the VM disk layout to identify one or more parent nodes with respect to a first node representing the first VM. The method further includes, for each second VMs that is related to the first VM as a parent node, determining whether the second VM has been previously backed up by examining a predetermined tag. If the second VM has not been previously backed up, then back up a list of changed blocks representing a difference between the second and third VMs. Otherwise, back up the second VM and tag the second VM to indicate that it has been backed up.