Virtual Machine Disaster Recovery via Cross-Site Data Replication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional virtualization systems face challenges in disaster recovery as backup snapshots of virtual machines stored on network storage systems can be lost during disasters, leading to inaccessible data and disrupted functionality, preventing the restoration of virtual machines.
Innovation Solution
A disaster recovery system that replicates virtual machine data from a primary network storage system to a secondary system, allowing for automated restoration on an alternate host machine in case of failure, using replication software and data protection tools to ensure application-consistent recovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If backup snapshots of virtual machines are stored on a network storage system, then data can be recovered in case of host machine failure, but the backup data can be lost during disasters, preventing restoration of virtual machines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of the backup snapshot data from the primary network storage system to a secondary network storage system. This copying mechanism ensures that even if the primary storage system is affected by a disaster, a duplicate copy exists at a separate location, enabling restoration of virtual machines. The replication process maintains data redundancy without requiring additional physical hardware at the host level.
2Loss of time
If conventional backup systems are used, then virtual machine data can be stored, but recovery time during disasters is extended due to data accessibility issues
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary replication of backup snapshots to a secondary network storage system before disasters occur. This advance preparation ensures that restored data is immediately available from the secondary system when needed, eliminating the time delay associated with data retrieval during disaster recovery operations.
3Speed
If backup data is stored locally on the host machine, then quick access is possible, but the data is vulnerable to loss during host machine disasters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a secondary network storage system as an intermediary between the primary host machine and the backup data. This intermediary maintains a replicated copy of backup snapshots, allowing fast access when the primary system is operational while providing protection when the primary system fails. The secondary storage acts as a buffer that decouples the speed requirements from the protection requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A processing system stores a backup of virtual machine data on a storage device in a primary network storage system. A virtual machine running on a primary host machine, which is coupled to the primary network storage system, generates the virtual machine data. A replication software module replicates the backup of the virtual machine data from the primary network storage system to a secondary network storage system. In the event of a failure on the first network storage system, disaster recovery services module restores the virtual machine data from the secondary network storage system to cause the virtual machine to run on a secondary host machine coupled to the secondary network storage system, wherein the disaster recovery services module is coupled to the primary host machine and the secondary host machine over a network.