High availability and disaster recovery using virtualization

1. A process for virtualization of a protected system P comprising:

a cyclical replication process comprising, in sequence:

creating a consistent point-in-time snapshot of a protected system at a time t,

creating a content manifest of the snapshot M t (P), the content manifest comprising metadata including modification times and security mechanisms for the snapshot,

generating a delta manifest D t t-1 (P) comprising a set of information needed to transition between M t (P) and M t-1 (P), wherein the set of information is sufficient to enable deriving M t-1 (P) from M t (P),

transmitting the delta manifest D t t-1 (P) to a repository; and

enabling access to the point-in-time snapshot and the delta manifest D t t-1 (P) in order to create an operable image of the protected system P in a virtual machine distinct from the protected system P.

2. The process of claim 1 further comprising creating backup virtual disks V at a platform remote from the protected system P, the platform comprising the repository:

creating an initial virtual disk V t-n in the repository,

periodically receiving the delta manifests D t t-1 (P) and in response creating a new virtual disk V t by applying the delta manifest D t t-1 (P) to the prior virtual disk V t-1 .

3. The process of claim 1 further comprising recreating a desired snapshot M t-n (P) created at a time t−n, the process comprising:

applying multiple delta manifest transformations to the most recent content manifest M t (P) according to M t-n (P)=D t-n t-n+1 (P) . . . D t-2 t-1 (P)D t-1 t (P)M t (P).

4. The process of claim 2 further comprising recreating backup virtual disks V t-n created at a time t−n, the process comprising:

applying multiple delta manifest transformations to the most recent virtual disk V t to create V t-n as V t-n (P)=D t-n t-n+1 (P) . . . D t-2 t-1 (P)D t-1 t (P)V t (P).

5. The process of claim 1 further comprising recreating a desired snapshot M t-n (P) created at a time t-in, the process comprising:

applying multiple delta manifest transformations to the most recent content manifest M t (P) according to M t-n (P)=D t-n t-n+1 (P) . . . D t-2 t-1 (P)D t-1 t (P)M t (P).

6. The process of claim 1 wherein the operable image is bootable on the virtual machine, the virtual machine suitable for use as a replacement for the protected machine P.

7. The process of claim 6 wherein the virtual machine is capable of operating on a high availability platform.

8. The process of claim 6 wherein the operable image is capable of operating in place of the protected machine P until such time as the protected machine P may be restored from the point-in-time snapshot and one of the delta manifests.

9. The process of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

transmitting the point-in-time snapshot and each of the delta manifests to a repository; and

recreating the protected machine P from the point-in-time snapshot and at least one of the delta manifests after failure of the protected machine P.

10. Apparatus for virtualization of a protected system P, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory,

wherein the processor and the memory comprise circuits and software for performing a cyclical replication process comprising, in sequence:

creating a consistent point-in-time snapshot of a protected system at a time t,

creating a content manifest of the snapshot M t (P)), the content manifest comprising metadata including modification times and security mechanisms for the snapshot,

generating a delta manifest D t t-1 (P) comprising a set of information needed to transition between M t (P) and M t-1 (P), wherein the set of information is sufficient to enable deriving M t-1 (P) from M t (P), and

transmitting the delta manifest D t t-1 (P) to a repository,

wherein the processor and the memory comprise circuits and software for enabling access to the point-in-time snapshot and the delta manifest D t t-1 (P) in order to create an operable image of the protected system P in a virtual machine distinct from the protected system P.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a platform remote from the protected system P, the platform for creating backup virtual disks V and comprising:

the repository;

a processor; and

a memory,

wherein the processor and the memory comprise circuits and software for, in sequence:

creating an initial virtual disk V t-n in the repository, and

periodically receiving the delta manifests D t t-1 (P) and in response creating a new virtual disk V t by applying the delta manifest D t t-1 (P) to the prior virtual disk V t-1 .

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the operable image is bootable on the virtual machine, the virtual machine suitable for use as a replacement for the protected machine P.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor and the memory comprise circuits and software further for:

transmitting the point-in-time snapshot and each of the delta manifests to a repository; and

recreating the protected machine P from the point-in-time snapshot and at least one of the delta manifests after failure of the protected machine P.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the virtual machine is capable of operating on a high availability platform.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the operable image is capable of operating in place of the protected machine P until such time as the protected machine P may be restored from the point-in-time snapshot and one of the delta manifests.

16. A process for virtualization of a plurality of protected systems, each protected system P, comprising:

A cyclical replication process for each protected system P comprising, in sequence:

creating a plurality of consistent point-in-time snapshots, one for each of the protected systems P at a time t,

creating a content manifest for each of the snapshots M t (P), each of the content manifests comprising metadata including modification times and security mechanisms for each of the snapshots,

generating a delta manifest D t t-1 (P) for each of the snapshots comprising a set of information needed to transition between M t (P) and M t-1 (P), wherein the set of information is sufficient to enable deriving M t-1 (P) from M t (P), and

transmitting each delta manifest D t t-1 (P) to a single repository; and enabling access to the point-in-time snapshots and the delta manifests D t t-1 (P) in order to create operable images of each of the protected systems in a plurality of virtual machines.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the operable images are bootable the virtual machines, the virtual machines suitable for use as replacements for the protected machines P.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein a plurality of the virtual machines are capable of operating on a high availability platform.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the operable images are capable of operating in place of the protected machines P until such time as the protected machines P may be restored from the point-in-time snapshots and the delta manifests.