Dell products l.p. (20240126658). INTELLIGENT SNAPSHOT PROCESS FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH HETEROGENEOUS DISKS simplified abstract

INTELLIGENT SNAPSHOT PROCESS FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH HETEROGENEOUS DISKS

Organization Name

dell products l.p.

Inventor(s)

Krishnendu Bagchi of Pune (IN)

Vipin Kaushal of Bangalore (IN)

Sudha Hebsur of Bangalore (IN)

Shelesh Chopra of Bangalore (IN)

Amarendra Behera of Bangalore (IN)

Pallavi Prakash of Bangalore (IN)

INTELLIGENT SNAPSHOT PROCESS FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH HETEROGENEOUS DISKS - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 20240126658 titled 'INTELLIGENT SNAPSHOT PROCESS FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH HETEROGENEOUS DISKS

Simplified Explanation

The abstract describes a patent application for a method involving conducting a backup of a virtual machine with a copy service, identifying different types of disks attached to the virtual machine, issuing requests for snapshots of these disks, and managing responses to conduct the backup effectively.

• Identification of disk types attached to a virtual machine
• Issuing requests for snapshots of different disk types
• Managing responses to conduct the backup efficiently

Potential Applications

This technology could be applied in data centers, cloud computing environments, and virtualization platforms to streamline backup processes and ensure data protection for virtual machines.

Problems Solved

This technology solves the problem of efficiently conducting backups of virtual machines with different types of disks attached, such as virtual machine disks and raw device mapping disks.

Benefits

The benefits of this technology include improved backup efficiency, better data protection for virtual machines, and streamlined management of backup processes in complex virtualized environments.

Potential Commercial Applications

A potential commercial application of this technology could be in backup and disaster recovery solutions for businesses utilizing virtualization technologies, offering enhanced data protection and backup management capabilities.

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art for this technology could be existing backup solutions for virtual machines that may not efficiently handle different types of disks attached to the virtual machines.

How does this technology handle backup operations for virtual machines with multiple disks attached?

This technology manages backup operations for virtual machines with multiple disks by identifying the disk types, issuing snapshot requests, and managing responses effectively.

What communication channels are used to issue snapshot requests for different disk types?

Snapshot requests for different disk types are issued over socket communication channels and TCP networks to controllers of storage arrays responsible for presenting the disks to the virtual machine.

Original Abstract Submitted

an in-guest agent receives a command to conduct a backup of a virtual machine (vm) having a copy service. a discovery is initiated of disk types attached to the vm. based on the discovery, at least first and second disks are identified. the first disk is identified as a virtual machine disk (vmdk) and the second disk is identified as a raw device mapping (rdm) disk. after the identification, a request is issued to the copy service to prepare the applications for a snapshot operation. a first request for a snapshot of the vmdk disk is issued over a socket communication channel. a second request for a snapshot of the rdm disk is issued over a tcp network to a controller of a storage array responsible for presenting the second disk to the vm. responses to the first and second requests are managed to conduct the backup.