Change Tracking Indices in Virtual Machine Backups
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for protecting data in virtualized computing environments are inefficient and resource-intensive, particularly as the amount of data to be backed up or restored increases, due to the time and resources required for conventional data protection methods.
Innovation Solution
The use of a virtual environment manager and a deduplicated data repository, which allows for efficient incremental backups by taking snapshots of virtual machines, parsing VMDK files to create indexes, and replicating data to store only changed blocks, enabling fast and resource-efficient data protection and recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional data protection methods are used to back up virtual machines, then data protection is achieved, but the process takes considerable time and resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the backup process by tracking changes at the block level within virtual machine disk files. Instead of backing up entire virtual machine images, the system divides the data into blocks and identifies only those blocks that have changed since the last backup, thereby reducing the volume of data to be transmitted and stored while maintaining complete data protection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by maintaining change tracking information that records which blocks have been modified. This pre-computed change metadata allows the backup system to immediately identify and transmit only the necessary changed blocks without performing a full scan or copy of the entire virtual machine disk, significantly reducing backup time while ensuring data protection.
2Reliability
If conventional data protection methods are used to back up virtual machines, then data protection is achieved, but considerable resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the virtual machine disk into manageable blocks and tracks changes at this granular level. This segmentation allows the backup process to focus computational resources only on identifying and processing changed blocks rather than analyzing and transmitting entire virtual machine images, thereby reducing energy and computational resource consumption while maintaining data protection integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of data representation from full virtual machine images to change block tracking metadata. By storing and processing change information in a compact format that records only modified blocks with their locations and sizes, the system reduces the computational overhead and resource requirements for backup operations while ensuring complete data protection coverage.
3Productivity
If incremental backups are implemented, then backup efficiency is improved, but identifying changed blocks requires additional processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-computing and storing change tracking information that maps changed blocks to their locations within virtual machine disk files. This pre-established index structure allows incremental backups to proceed efficiently by simply querying the existing change metadata rather than performing complex real-time analysis during the backup process, thereby improving productivity without significantly increasing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for protecting data. In some embodiments, this includes tracking changed blocks in a virtual machine, determining a MFT range of the virtual machine, identifying a common region between the changed blocks and MFT range, parsing the common region to determine a list of changed files, and storing the list of changed files in a file index.