Systems and methods for performing data protection operations with a proxy register
Embodiments of the invention eliminate problems associated with annotation dependency when providing data protection operations. A proxy register is provided such that proxies can register with the data protection servers. The proxies identified in the proxy register, for each server, are uniquely identified in the proxy register and the proxy register ensures that proxies participating in the performance of data protection operations are excluded from being protected while unregistered proxies can be protected by the data protection application.
1. A method for performing a data protection operation, the method comprising:
initiating a data protection operation by a data protection server, wherein the data protection server is associated with a proxy register, wherein the proxy register identifies virtual machines that perform data protection operations for the data protection server;
selecting virtual machines to be protected by the data protection operation;
excluding virtual machines included in the proxy register from being selected such that the virtual machines included in the proxy register are not protected by the data protection operation, wherein virtual machines or proxies that are not registered with the data protection server in the proxy register are eligible to be protected by the data protection operation; and
performing the data protection operation on the selected virtual machines by one or more of the virtual machines identified in the proxy register along with the data protection server.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the data protection server and at least one proxy included in the proxy register performing a backup operation on the selected virtual machines.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein proxies identified in the proxy register are each associated with their own a unique identifier and wherein the ability of the proxies identified in the proxy register to participate in the data protection operation or be the subject of the data protection operation is not dependent on any annotations associated with the proxies in the proxy register.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the proxy register by adding a virtual machine to the proxy register or by removing a virtual machine from the proxy register.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein any proxy included in the proxy register and whose status is disabled can be protected by the data protection operation.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein enabled proxies in the proxy register can coordinate with the data protection server to perform the data protection operation, but are not eligible to be the subject of the data protection operation.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the data protection operation is at least one of a backup operation, an encryption operation, a compress operation, a restore operation, an archive operation, a de-duplication operation or combination thereof.
8. A method for performing a data protection operation in a computing environment that includes data protection servers including a first and a second data protection server, the method comprising:
performing data protection operations by the data protection servers in the computing system, the data protection servers including a first data protection server and a second data protection server, wherein the data protection operations are initiated by a user, on a predetermined schedule;
before performing a data protection operation, determining whether any virtual machines associated with the data protection operation are registered with any of the data protection servers;
selecting one or more of the virtual machines to be subject to the data protection operations performed by the first or second data protection server;
making virtual machines registered with the first data protection server and selected for the data protection operations ineligible for a first data protection operation performed by the first data protection server;
performing the first data protection operation by the first data protection server, wherein any virtual machines registered with the first data protection server in a first proxy registry are excluded from receiving the first data protection operation and wherein one or more of the virtual machines registered with the first data protection server participate in the performing of the first data protection operation while being excluded from being protected by the first data protection operation; and
performing a second data protection operation by the second data protection server, wherein any virtual machines registered in a second proxy registry are excluded from receiving the data protection operation performed by the second data protection server.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a first proxy included in a proxy register associated with the first data protection server participates in performing the data protection operation.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first proxy is not identified in a prosy register of the second data protection server and can be the subject of the data protection operation performed by the second data protection server.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the first and second data protection server is associated with its own proxy register.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein each virtual machine is associated with its own unique identifier.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein each proxy register contains at least a proxy name, a proxy status, a proxy identifier.
14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising cloning a virtual machine included in a proxy register associated with the first data protection server, wherein the cloned virtual machine has its own unique identifier and is not automatically included in the proxy register such that the cloned virtual machine can receive the data protection operation performed by the first data protection server.
15. The method of claim 8 , further comprising displaying a list of the virtual machines.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising making virtual machines registered with the second data protection server ineligible for selection for the data protection operation performed by the second data protection server.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein one or more of the virtual machines in the proxy register of the second data protection server participate in performing the data protection operation while being excluded from receiving the data protection operation.
18. The method of claim 8 , further comprising managing the first and second proxy registries by adding virtual machines and/or by removing virtual machines from the first and second proxy registries, wherein the first proxy registry is independent of the second proxy registry.