Efficient provisioning of cloned virtual machine images using deduplication metadata

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to copy a first virtual machine to form a second virtual machine, the first virtual machine comprising: a first unique identification data associated with the first virtual machine, deduplication metadata describing deduplicated data for an operating system and at least one application;

identifying a first portion of memory comprising the deduplication metadata for the first virtual machine;

forming the second virtual machine based on a portion of the deduplication metadata from the first portion of memory, wherein forming the second virtual machine further comprises:

linking the second virtual machine to the portion of the deduplication metadata corresponding to the operating system and the at least one application by copying one or more files from the first portion of memory comprising the deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine, and

implementing a second portion of memory to store a second unique identification data for the second virtual machine independent of the first unique identification data associated with the first virtual machine; and

modifying a reference link counter each time the one or more files comprising deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine is copied.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first portion of memory comprising data for the first virtual machine further comprises:

identifying one or more files for deduplication metadata associated with deduplicated data for the first virtual machine; and

locating the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine in the first portion of memory based on the deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine comprises a block number, the reference link counter associated with the block number, and a hash value.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the block number is associated with a location of a physical data block including a portion of the data for the first virtual machine.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the reference link counter indicates a number of times the block number is linked.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second unique identification data for the second virtual machine comprises at least a system identifier.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second unique identification data for the second virtual machine is accessible via a different authorization process than the first virtual machine.

8. A system, comprising:

a first portion of a first memory configured to store data for a first virtual machine comprising a first unique identification data associated with the first virtual machine and deduplication metadata describing deduplicated data for an operating system and at least one application;

a processor configured to receive a request to copy the first virtual machine to form a second virtual machine and to form the second virtual machine based on a portion of the deduplication metadata associated with the data for the first virtual machine, the processor being further configured to link the second virtual machine to the portion of the deduplication metadata corresponding to the operating system and the at least one application from the data for the first virtual machine stored in the first portion of the memory by copying one or more files comprising the deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine; and

a second portion of a second memory configured to store a second unique identification data for the second virtual machine independent of the first unique identification data associated with the first virtual machine, and

wherein the processor modifies a reference link counter each time the one or more files comprising deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine is copied.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to identify one or more files for the deduplication metadata associated with deduplicated data for the first virtual machine and to locate the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine in the first portion of the first memory based on the deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the deduplication metadata associated with the deduplicated data for the first virtual machine comprises:

a block number;

the reference link counter associated with the block number; and

a hash value.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the block number indicates a location of a physical data block associated with the data for the first virtual machine.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the reference link counter indicates a number of times the block number is linked.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second unique identification data for the second virtual machine comprises at least a system identifier.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second unique identification data for the second virtual machine is accessible via a different authorization process than the first virtual machine.