Exploiting object tags to produce a work order across backup engines for a backup job

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11526404-B2
Application number	US-201715473450-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2017
Priority date	Mar 29, 2017
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

Provided are techniques for exploiting object tags in order to produce a work order across several backup engines for a backup job. A selection of tags for an object is received. A work order for the object is created using the tags. The work order is stored with a virtual server that stores the object, wherein a data mover of a backup engine retrieves the work order from the virtual server to back up the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by at least one processor to perform:
in a virtualized environment that comprises a virtual management system coupled to a plurality of virtual machines, wherein the virtual management system is coupled to a plurality of backup engines external to the virtualized environment, wherein the virtual management system stores a plurality of tags created by tag services at a data mover of each backup engine of the plurality of backup engines,
for a first virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines,
creating a first work order for a first object using first tags of the tags stored at the virtual management system; and
in response to creating the first work order, storing the first work order on the first virtual machine that stores the first object; and

for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines,
creating a second work order for a second object using second tags of the tags stored at the virtual management system; and
in response to creating the second work order, storing the second work order on the second virtual machine that stores the second object; and

performing backups with load balancing and a prioritization option selected from a group of options comprising: an option based on a size of a data transfer, an option based on incremental backups and full backups, an option based on at-risk status of the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine, and an option based on locality.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the first object is one of a virtual machine folder, a host folder, a resource pool, a host, a cluster, and a datacenter.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tags are associated with categories including backup management, data mover, disk backup list, management class, schedule, snapshot attempts, and application protection.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the program code is executable by the at least one processor to perform:
in response to receiving an indication that a tag of the first tags is being set or changed for any container object, triggering determination of inheritance of the first tags.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the virtual management system, the plurality of virtual machines, web servers, clients, a data protection management server, and the plurality of backup engines are nodes in a cloud infrastructure.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein a Software as a Service (SaaS) is configured to perform computer program product operations.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the program code is executable by the at least one processor to perform:
provisioning the plurality of backup engines by:
in response to determining that a first number of the virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines are performing incremental backups, reducing a number of backup engines in the plurality of backup engines; and
in response to determining that a second number of the virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines are not backed up, increasing the number of backup engines in the plurality of backup engines.

8. A computer system, comprising:
one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories and one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices; and
program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, to perform operations comprising:
in a virtualized environment that comprises a virtual management system coupled to a plurality of virtual machines, wherein the virtual management system is coupled to a plurality of backup engines external to the virtualized environment, wherein the virtual management system stores a plurality of tags created by tag services at a data mover of each backup engine of the plurality of backup engines,
for a first virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines,
creating a first work order for a first object using first tags of the tags stored at the virtual management system; and
in response to creating the first work order, storing the first work order on the first virtual machine that stores the first object;

for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines,
creating a second work order for a second object using second tags of the tags stored at the virtual management system; and
in response to creating the second work order, storing the second work order on the second virtual machine that stores the second object; and

performing backups with load balancing and a prioritization option selected from a group of options comprising: an option based on a size of a data transfer, an option based on incremental backups and full backups, an option based on at-risk status of the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine, and an option based on locality.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the first object is one of a virtual machine folder, a host folder, a resource pool, a host, a cluster, and a datacenter.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of tags are associated with categories including backup management, data mover, disk backup list, management class, schedule, snapshot attempts, and application protection.

11. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to receiving an indication that a tag of the first tags is being set or changed for any container object, triggering determination of inheritance of the first tags.

12. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the virtual management system, the plurality of virtual machines, web servers, clients, a data protection management server, and the plurality of backup engines are nodes in a cloud infrastructure.

13. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein a Software as a Service (SaaS) is configured to perform computer system operations.

14. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
provisioning the plurality of backup engines by:
in response to determining that a first number of the virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines are performing incremental backups, reducing a number of backup engines in the plurality of backup engines; and
in response to determining that a second number of the virtual machines of the plurality of virtual machines are not backed up, increasing the number of backup engines in the plurality of backup engines.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
in a virtualized environment that comprises a virtual management system coupled to a plurality of virtual machines, wherein the virtual management system is coupled to a plurality of backup engines external to the virtualized environment, wherein the virtual management system stores a plurality of tags created by tag services at a data mover of each backup engine of the plurality of backup engines,
for a first virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines,
creating a first work order for a first object using first tags of the tags stored at the virtual management system; and
in response to creating the first work order, storing the first work order on the first virtual machine that stores the first object;

for a second virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines,
creating a second work order f

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Cox Sean P
• Derk David G
• Gibble Kevin L
• Hochberg Avishai H
• Smith James P
• Voyk Steven V
• Wedlake Martine B
• Yu Jean X

Classifications

• G06F11/1464 Primary

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F2201/815

  Virtual · CPC title

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title