SMART AUTO-BACKUP OF VIRTUAL MACHINES USING A VIRTUAL PROXY
A method and system for implementing smart auto-backups of virtual machines using a virtual proxy. Specifically, the method and system disclosed herein overcome the potential for data loss when failure events transpire between schedule system-initiated backup operations. Data loss, more specifically, may be averted through the triggering of the smart auto-backups during the period of time elapsed between successive scheduled system-initiated backup operations. Further, the triggering may be based on the meeting of two criterion representative of an input-output (IO) operations threshold and an elapsed time threshold
1 . A method for backing up virtual machines, comprising:
obtaining, for a virtual machine, a last backup timestamp (LBT);
monitoring disk input-output (IO) operations generated by the virtual machine, to obtain an IO operations metric (IOM);
making a first determination that the IOM exceeds an IO operations threshold (IOT);
making a second determination that a difference in time between a current timestamp (CT) and the LBT exceeds an elapsed time threshold (ETT); and
based on the first and second determinations:
issuing a backup request to perform an auto-backup of the virtual machine.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the LBT encodes time information pertaining to a latest backup operation performed for the virtual machine.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the latest backup operation is a periodic system-initiated backup.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the IOM represents a polled disk IO performance metric, wherein the polled disk IO performance metric is one selected from a group consisting of IO throughput, IO bandwidth, and IO latency.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the IOT is derived from historical IO operations information for the virtual machine.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the backup request comprises a virtual machine identifier (ID) assigned to the virtual machine.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the backup request further comprises a backup type, wherein the backup type is one selected from a group consisting of a full backup and an incremental backup.
8 . A system, comprising:
a computer processor;
at least one virtual machine executing on the computer processor; and
a virtual proxy executing on the computer processor and operatively connected to the at least virtual machine,
wherein the virtual machine proxy is programmed to:
obtain, for the at least one virtual machine, a last backup timestamp (LBT);
monitor disk input-output (IO) operations generated by the at least one virtual machine, to obtain an IO operations metric (IOM);
make a first determination that the IOM exceeds an IO operations threshold (IOT);
make a second determination that a difference in time between a current timestamp (CT) and the LBT exceeds an elapsed time threshold (ETT); and
based on the first and second determinations:
issue a backup request to perform an auto-backup of the at least one virtual machine.
9 . The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
a virtual machine hypervisor (VMH) executing on the computer processor and programmed to manage the at least one virtual machine and the virtual proxy.
10 . The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a physical storage array (PSA) operatively connected to the VMH, and comprising at least one virtual machine disk comprising state corresponding to the at least one virtual machine.
11 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising:
a virtual machine host comprising the computer processor, the at least one virtual machine, the virtual proxy, the VMH, and the PSA.
12 . The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a data protection service (DPS) operatively connected to the virtual machine host, and programmed to:
receive the backup request issued by the virtual proxy; and
in response to the backup request:
perform a backup operation entailing replication of the at least one virtual machine disk to obtain at least one replica virtual machine disk.
13 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising:
a backup storage system (BSS) operatively connected to the DPS and the virtual proxy,
wherein the DPS is further programmed to:
upon completing the backup operation, consolidate the at least one replica virtual machine disk on the BSS.
14 . A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor, enables the computer processor to:
obtain, for a virtual machine, a last backup timestamp (LBT);
monitor disk input-output (IO) operations generated by the virtual machine, to obtain an IO operations metric (IOM);
make a first determination that the IOM exceeds an IO operations threshold (IOT);
make a second determination that a difference in time between a current timestamp (CT) and the LBT exceeds an elapsed time threshold (ETT); and
based on the first and second determinations:
issue a backup request to perform an auto-backup of the virtual machine.
15 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 14 , wherein the LBT encodes time information pertaining to a latest backup operation performed for the virtual machine.
16 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 15 , wherein the latest backup operation is a periodic system-initiated backup.
17 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 14 , wherein the IOM represents a polled disk IO performance metric, wherein the polled disk IO performance metric is one selected from a group consisting of IO throughput, IO bandwidth, and IO latency.
18 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 14 , wherein the IOT is derived from historical IO operations information for the virtual machine.
19 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 14 , wherein the backup request comprises a virtual machine identifier (ID) assigned to the virtual machine.
20 . The non-transitory CRM of claim 19 , wherein the backup request further comprises a backup type, wherein the backup type is one selected from a group consisting of a full backup and an incremental backup.