17966484. SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EXCLUDE UNSUPPORTED DISKS DURING APPLICATION CONSISTENT BACKUPS simplified abstract (Dell Products L.P.)

SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EXCLUDE UNSUPPORTED DISKS DURING APPLICATION CONSISTENT BACKUPS

Organization Name

Dell Products L.P.

Inventor(s)

Krishnendu Bagchi of Pune (IN)

Vipin Kaushal of Bangalore (IN)

Sudha Hebsur of Bangalore (IN)

Amarendra Behera of Bangalore (IN)

Pallavi Prakash of Bangalore (IN)

SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EXCLUDE UNSUPPORTED DISKS DURING APPLICATION CONSISTENT BACKUPS - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17966484 titled 'SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EXCLUDE UNSUPPORTED DISKS DURING APPLICATION CONSISTENT BACKUPS

Simplified Explanation

The abstract describes a patent application for a data protection agent installed within a virtual machine (VM) to perform backups of application databases associated with the VM.

• The innovation involves exchanging communications with a disk manager of the guest operating system to map virtual machine disks (VMDKs) to volumes, identifying volumes containing application databases, instructing a copy service to prepare the application for backup, and issuing a snapshot request to a snapshot data mover for a subset of VMDKs mapped to volumes with application databases.
• The technology aims to streamline the backup process of application databases within virtual machines by efficiently identifying and excluding unnecessary data from the backup snapshot.
• This innovation could be applied in cloud computing environments, data centers, and virtualized server infrastructures to enhance data protection and backup processes.
• The problems solved by this technology include improving the efficiency and accuracy of backing up application databases within virtual machines, reducing storage space requirements, and minimizing backup times.
• The benefits of this technology include enhanced data protection, faster and more efficient backup processes, reduced storage costs, and improved overall system performance.
• Potential commercial applications of this technology could include offering data protection solutions for cloud service providers, data centers, and enterprises with virtualized server environments.

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art for this technology could be traditional backup solutions for virtual machines that may not efficiently identify and exclude unnecessary data from backup snapshots.

Unanswered Questions

How does this technology handle backup scheduling and automation?

The article does not provide information on how the data protection agent manages backup scheduling and automation processes within virtual machines.

What encryption and security measures are implemented for the backup data?

The article does not mention the encryption and security measures in place to protect the backup data generated by the data protection agent.

Original Abstract Submitted

A data protection agent is installed within a virtual machine (VM). A request to perform a backup is received. The request includes identifications of virtual machine disks (VMDKs) associated with the virtual machine. Communications are exchanged with a disk manager of a guest operating system of the VM to generate a map that maps the VMDKs to volumes attached to the VM. Communications are exchanged with an application in the VM to be protected to identify which of the volumes contain application databases associated with the application. A copy service is instructed to prepare the application for backup. A request is issued to a snapshot data mover for a snapshot of the application. The snapshot request includes identifications of a subset of the VMDKs mapped to corresponding volumes that contain the application databases. VMDKs mapped to corresponding volumes not containing the application databases are excluded from the snapshot request.