IP Library Granted Patent US 9,740,520
Granted Patent B1
US 9,740,520 · App. 14/871,037 · Granted Aug 22, 2017

Systems and methods for virtual machine boot disk restoration

Inventors: Pooja Sarda (Cupertino, CA); Dipen Modi (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Veritas Technologies
G06F9/45558G06F11/1464G06F2009/45575
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,740,520
App. No.
14/871,037
Granted
Aug 22, 2017
Kind
B1
Abstract

A computer-implemented method for virtual machine boot disk restoration may include (1) identifying a hypervisor that hosts at least one virtual machine, where a replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data stored by the virtual machine, including a virtual machine boot disk used by the virtual machine, to a data repository that is separate from the hypervisor, (2) determining that the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine, including boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk, (3) attaching, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to a storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor, and (4) restoring, from the replication system and via the storage proxy virtual machine, the boot disk data back to the virtual machine boot disk. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims (43)

1. A computer-implemented method for virtual machine boot disk restoration, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

identifying a hypervisor that hosts at least one virtual machine, wherein a replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data stored by the virtual machine, including a virtual machine boot disk used by the virtual machine, to a data repository that is separate from the hypervisor;

determining that the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine, including boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk;

attaching, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to a storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor;

restoring, from the replication system and via the storage proxy virtual machine, the boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk back to the virtual machine boot disk.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the replication system lacks direct access via a storage area network to a storage device that stores the virtual machine boot disk for the hypervisor.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data stored by the virtual machine by communicating with the virtual machine.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual machine is offline when the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine, preventing the replication system from restoring at least a portion of the replicated virtual machine data via communication with the virtual machine.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein attaching, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor comprises bringing the storage proxy virtual machine online in response to determining that the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:

the hypervisor hosts a plurality of virtual machines;

the replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data for each of the plurality of virtual machines, including a plurality of virtual machine boot disks;

attaching the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine comprises attaching the plurality of virtual machine boot disks to the storage proxy virtual machine.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

bringing the virtual machine online after restoring the boot disk data to the virtual machine boot disk;

restoring at least a portion of the replicated virtual machine data from the replication system by communicating directly with the virtual machine.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising restoring, from the replication system and via the storage proxy virtual machine, an additional portion of the replicated virtual machine data to an additional virtual machine disk.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein attaching, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor comprises creating, according to a storage networking protocol used by the replication system, a logical volume that maps onto the virtual machine boot disk.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein attaching, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor comprises connecting the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine with a virtual storage interface adapter.

11. A system for virtual machine boot disk restoration, the system comprising:

an identification module, stored in memory, that identifies a hypervisor that hosts at least one virtual machine, wherein a replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data stored by the virtual machine, including a virtual machine boot disk used by the virtual machine, to a data repository that is separate from the hypervisor;

a determination module, stored in memory, that determines that the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine, including boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk;

an attachment module, stored in memory, that attaches, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to a storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor;

a restoration module, stored in memory, that restores, from the replication system and via the storage proxy virtual machine, the boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk back to the virtual machine boot disk;

at least one physical processor configured to execute the identification module, the determination module, the attachment module, and the restoration module.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the replication system lacks direct access via a storage area network to a storage device that stores the virtual machine boot disk for the hypervisor.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data stored by the virtual machine by communicating with the virtual machine.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the virtual machine is offline when the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine, preventing the replication system from restoring at least a portion of the replicated virtual machine data via communication with the virtual machine.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the attachment module attaches, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor by bringing the storage proxy virtual machine online in response to determining that the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein:

the hypervisor hosts a plurality of virtual machines;

the replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data for each of the plurality of virtual machines, including a plurality of virtual machine boot disks;

attaching the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine comprises attaching the plurality of virtual machine boot disks to the storage proxy virtual machine.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the restoration module further:

brings the virtual machine online after restoring the boot disk data to the virtual machine boot disk;

restores at least a portion of the replicated virtual machine data from the replication system by communicating directly with the virtual machine.

18. The system of claim 11 , the restoration module restores, from the replication system and via the storage proxy virtual machine, an additional portion of the replicated virtual machine data to an additional virtual machine disk.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the attachment module attaches, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to the storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor by creating, according to a storage networking protocol used by the replication system, a logical volume that maps onto the virtual machine boot disk.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

identify a hypervisor that hosts at least one virtual machine, wherein a replication system is configured to replicate virtual machine data stored by the virtual machine, including a virtual machine boot disk used by the virtual machine, to a data repository that is separate from the hypervisor;

determine that the replication system is to restore the replicated virtual machine data back to the hypervisor for the virtual machine, including boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk;

attach, at the hypervisor, the virtual machine boot disk to a storage proxy virtual machine hosted by the hypervisor;

restore, from the replication system and via the storage proxy virtual machine, the boot disk data replicated from the virtual machine boot disk back to the virtual machine boot disk.

Assignments (16)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 12, 2025
From: ARCTERA US LLC
To: CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 073951/0470 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT AT R/F 070530/0497 Recorded Dec 1, 2025
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: ARCTERA US LLC
Reel/Frame 073833/0730 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT AT R/F 069585/0150 Recorded Dec 1, 2025
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: ARCTERA US LLC
Reel/Frame 073833/0848 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 16, 2024
From: ACQUIOM AGENCY SERVICES LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: VERITAS TECHNOLOGIES LLC (F/K/A VERITAS US IP HOLDINGS LLC)
Reel/Frame 069712/0090 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 13, 2024
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: VERITAS TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Reel/Frame 069634/0584 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 10, 2024
From: ARCTERA US LLC
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 069563/0243 →
PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 10, 2024
From: ARCTERA US LLC
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 069585/0150 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2024
From: VERITAS TECHNOLOGIES LLC
To: ARCTERA US LLC
Reel/Frame 069548/0468 →
ASSIGNMENT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT COLLATERAL Recorded Nov 25, 2024
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS ASSIGNOR
To: ACQUIOM AGENCY SERVICES LLC, AS ASSIGNEE
Reel/Frame 069440/0084 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY IN PATENTS AT R/F 037891/0726 Recorded Nov 30, 2020
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: VERITAS US IP HOLDINGS, LLC
Reel/Frame 054535/0814 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 20, 2020
From: VERITAS TECHNOLOGIES LLC
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 054370/0134 →
MERGER Recorded Apr 18, 2016
From: VERITAS US IP HOLDINGS LLC
To: VERITAS TECHNOLOGIES LLC
Reel/Frame 038483/0203 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 23, 2016
From: VERITAS US IP HOLDINGS LLC
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 037891/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 23, 2016
From: VERITAS US IP HOLDINGS LLC
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 037891/0726 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 4, 2016
From: SYMANTEC CORPORATION
To: VERITAS US IP HOLDINGS LLC
Reel/Frame 037693/0158 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 30, 2015
From: SARDA, POOJA; MODI, DIPEN
To: SYMANTEC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 036695/0788 →