Establishing a mapping to a virtual disk

1. A computer implemented method for mapping a Virtual machine (VM) drive to underlying storage, the method comprising:

locating a signature for a physical disk mounted to a VM, the signature to the physical disk being assigned by an operating system;

creating a snapshot of the physical disk to the VM while the VM is in operation;

querying the snapshot of the physical disk in read-only mode for the signature;

finding a signature associated with at least one or more files on a storage medium representing a virtual machine file system (VMFS) for a hypervisor that is running the VM;

finding a portion of the at least one or more files on the storage medium that contains the signature;

comparing the signature of the snapshot of the physical disk with the signature associated with at least one or more files on the storage medium until a common signature is found; and

mapping the found portion of the at least one or more files on the storage medium for the hypervisor to the physical disk mounted on the VM.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the finding a portion of the at least one or more files comprises:

opening the at least one or more files corresponding to the VMFS.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the signature is a volume serial number.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the signature is a master boot record.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

finding the VM's disk virtual path.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein querying the snapshot of the physical disk in read-only mode for the signature includes locating backing information and a virtual disk path associated with the snapshot of the physical disk.

7. A computer program product for mapping a Virtual machine (VM) drive to underlying storage comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executable program code for using read signatures in replication, the code configured to enable the execution of:

locating a signature for a physical disk mounted to a VM, the signature to the physical disk being assigned by an operating system;

creating a snapshot of the physical disk to the VM while the VM is in operation;

querying the snapshot of the physical disk in read-only mode for the signature;

finding a signature associated with at least one or more files on a storage medium representing a virtual machine file system (VMFS) for a hypervisor that is running the VM;

finding a portion of the at least one or more files on the storage medium that contains the signature; and

comparing the signature of the snapshot of the physical disk with the signature associated with at least one or more files on the storage medium until a common signature is found; and

mapping the found portion of the at least one or more files on the storage medium for the hypervisor to the physical disk mounted on the VM.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the finding a portion of the at least one or more files comprises:

opening the at least one or more files corresponding to the VMFS.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the signature is a volume serial number.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the signature is a master boot record.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 , the method further comprising:

finding the VM's disk virtual path.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein querying the snapshot of the physical disk in read-only mode for the signature includes locating backing information and a virtual disk path associated with the snapshot of the physical disk.

13. A system for providing a back-up application agnostic back-up during asynchronous data replication, the system comprising:

a virtual machine (VM);

a disk mounted to the VM;

a storage medium;

a virtual machine file system (VMFS), stored on the storage medium; and

computer-executable logic operating in memory, wherein the computer-executable program logic is configured for execution of:

locating a signature for a physical disk mounted to a VM, the signature to the physical disk being assigned by an operating system;

creating a snapshot of the physical disk to the VM while the VM is in operation;

querying the snapshot of the physical disk in read-only mode for the signature;

finding a signature associated with at least one or more files on a storage medium representing the virtual machine file system (VMFS) for a hypervisor that is running the VM;

finding a portion of the at least one or more files on the storage medium that contains the signature; and

comparing the signature of the snapshot of the physical disk with the signature associated with at least one or more files on the storage medium until a common signature is found; and

mapping the found portion of the at least one or more files on the storage medium for the hypervisor to the physical disk mounted on the VM.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the finding a portion of the at least one or more files comprises:

opening the at least one or more files corresponding to the VMFS.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the signature is a volume serial number.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the signature is a master boot record.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the computer-executable program logic is further configured for execution of:

finding the VM's disk virtual path.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein querying the snapshot of the physical disk in read-only mode for the signature includes locating backing information and a virtual disk path associated with the snapshot of the physical disk.