VM Backup Metadata Integrity Check for Disaster Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data storage systems supporting hosted applications with large data sets and multiple concurrent users face challenges in restoring corrupted or deleted virtual machines while ensuring data integrity.
Innovation Solution
A backup system that stores and restores virtual machine data files and metadata, performing an integrity check by comparing backup and restored metadata to verify the integrity of the restored virtual machine, allowing the hosted application to be loaded only if data integrity is confirmed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If virtual machine restoration is performed without integrity verification, then restoration speed is improved, but data integrity cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent generates and stores backup metadata (including checksums and file information) during the backup process before restoration occurs. This preliminary action enables rapid integrity verification during restoration by comparing pre-stored metadata with restored files, without adding complex verification steps to the restoration workflow
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements automatic integrity verification by comparing backup metadata with restored virtual machine files. This feedback mechanism detects corruption or incomplete restoration and can trigger alerts or automatic re-restoration, ensuring data integrity while maintaining a streamlined restoration process
2Reliability
If metadata backup and comparison is performed, then integrity verification is improved, but backup storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential metadata elements needed for integrity verification (checksums, file names, sizes, permissions) from the complete backup data. This selective extraction stores minimal verification information separately from the main backup, enabling integrity checks without proportionally increasing total backup storage requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies different storage strategies to different data components: full backup data is stored for restoration, while compressed and minimized metadata is stored for verification. This local quality differentiation optimizes storage efficiency by allocating space according to the specific needs of each data type
3Reliability
If integrity check is performed on every restoration, then data reliability is improved, but restoration time increases
Solution Approach 1:
By pre-generating and storing metadata including checksums during the backup phase, the system enables rapid integrity verification during restoration. The comparison operation is computationally efficient and can be performed quickly without requiring time-consuming full file re-verification
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs partial verification by checking metadata characteristics (checksums, file counts, size totals) rather than verifying every single file in detail. This partial action provides sufficient reliability assurance while minimizing the time penalty associated with comprehensive verification
Data Source
AI summary
While performing a backup of a virtual machine running on a host computer, a backup application stores virtual machine data and metadata. The virtual machine can be restored from the backed up virtual machine data, and the backed up virtual machine metadata can be used to check data integrity of the restored virtual machine.