Method and system for backing up virtual machines in a cluster shared volume

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11921586-B2
Application number	US-202217685642-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2022
Priority date	Mar 3, 2022
Publication date	Mar 5, 2024
Grant date	Mar 5, 2024

Abstract

A method for performing a data backup process on a cluster includes: obtaining a backup generation request for virtual machines; in response to obtaining the backup generation request: generating a first set of backup groupings based on the backup generation request where each of the first set of backup groupings includes at least one of the virtual machines; issuing a disable migration command to a plurality of production hosts where each of the plurality of production hosts is associated with at least one of the virtual machines; identifying, after the issuing, a virtual machine of the virtual machines that is migrating; removing, based on the identifying, the virtual machine from the first set of backup groupings to obtain a second set of backup groupings where the virtual machine is placed in an excluded group after the removing; and backing up the second set of backup groupings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for performing a data backup process on a cluster, the method comprising:
obtaining a backup generation request for virtual machines;
in response to obtaining the backup generation request:
generating a first set of backup groupings based on the backup generation request, wherein each of the first set of backup groupings comprises at least one of the virtual machines;
issuing a disable migration command to a plurality of production hosts, wherein each of the plurality of production hosts is associated with at least one of the virtual machines;
identifying, after the issuing, a virtual machine, in a production host of the plurality of production hosts, of the virtual machines that is migrating;
removing, based on the identifying, the virtual machine from the first set of backup groupings to obtain a second set of backup groupings, wherein the virtual machine is placed in an excluded group after the removing; and
backing up the second set of backup groupings.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after backing up the second set of backup groupings, determining the virtual machine that has not completed migration; and
in response to the determination, maintaining the virtual machine in the excluded group, wherein no members of the excluded group are backed up.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after backing up the second set of backup groupings, determining that the virtual machine has completed migration; and
in response to the determination, initiating a backup of the virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein issuing the disable migration command to the plurality of production hosts comprises:
identifying the plurality of production hosts,
wherein the disable migration command is issued to the identified plurality of production hosts.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein identifying the plurality of production hosts comprises using a production host to virtual machine mapping or application to virtual machine mapping.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the disable migration command prevents the plurality of production hosts from initiating new migrations.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the virtual machine that is migrating comprises:
attempting to obtain a shadow copy of the virtual machine;
determining that the attempt to obtain the shadow copy of the virtual machine has failed; and
determining, based on the failure, that the virtual machine is migrating.

8. A production host for hosting virtual machines, comprising:
a processor;
a persistent storage storing:
a first set of backup groupings, and
a backup process stack; and

a production agent programmed to:
obtain backup generation requests for the virtual machines; and
in response to obtaining the backup generation requests: generate the first set of backup groupings based on the backup generation requests, wherein each of the first set of backup groupings comprises at least one of the virtual machines;
issue a disable migration command to a plurality of production hosts, wherein each of the plurality of production hosts is associated with at least one of the virtual machines;
identify, after the issuing, a virtual machine, in a production host of the plurality of production hosts, of the virtual machines that is migrating;
remove, based on the identifying, the virtual machine from the first set of backup groupings to obtain a second set of backup groupings, wherein the virtual machine is placed in an excluded group after the removing; and
backup the second set of backup groupings.

9. The production host of claim 8 , wherein the production agent is further programmed to:
after backing up the second set of backup groupings, determining the virtual machine that has not completed migration; and
in response to the determination, maintaining the virtual machine in the excluded group, wherein no members of the excluded group are backed up.

10. The production host of claim 8 , wherein the production agent is further programmed to:
after backing up the second set of backup groupings, determining that the virtual machine has completed migration; and
in response to the determination, initiate a backup of the virtual machine.

11. The production host of claim 8 , wherein issuing the disable migration command to the plurality of production hosts comprises:
identifying the plurality of production hosts,
wherein the disable command is issued to the identified plurality of production hosts.

12. The production host of claim 11 , wherein identifying the plurality of production hosts comprises using a production host to virtual machine mapping or application to virtual machine mapping.

13. The production host of claim 8 , wherein the disable migration command prevents the plurality of production hosts from initiating new migrations.

14. The production host of claim 8 , wherein identifying the virtual machine that is migrating comprises:
attempting to obtain a shadow copy of the virtual machine;
determining that the attempt to obtain the shadow copy of the virtual machine has failed; and
determining, based on the failure, that the virtual machine is migrating.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor enables the computer processor to perform a method for hosting virtual machines, the method comprising:
obtaining backup generation requests for the virtual machines; and
in response to obtaining the backup generation requests:
generating a first set of backup groupings based on the backup generation request, wherein each of the first set of backup groupings comprises at least one of the virtual machines;
issuing a disable migration command to a plurality of production hosts, wherein each of the plurality of production hosts is associated with at least one of the virtual machines;
identifying, after the issuing, a virtual machine, in a production host of the plurality of production hosts, of the virtual machines that is migrating;
removing, based on the identifying, the virtual machine from the first set of backup groupings to obtain a second set of backup groupings, wherein the virtual machine is placed in an excluded group after the removing;
backing up the second set of backup groupings
after backing up the second set of backup groupings, determining the virtual machine that has not completed migration; and
in response to the determination, maintaining the virtual machine in the excluded group, wherein no members of the excluded group are backed up.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein after backing up the second set of backup groupings, determining that the virtual machine has completed migration; and
in response to the determination, initiate a backup of the virtual machine.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein issuing the disable migration command to the plurality of production hosts comprises:
identifying the plurality of production hosts,
wherein the disable command is issued to the identified plurality of production hosts.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein identifying the plurality of production hosts comprises using a production host to virtual machine mapping or application to virtual machine mapping.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the disable migration command prevents the plurality of production hosts from init

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Yadav Sunil
• Chopra Shelesh
• Bansal Aaditya Rakesh
• Sharma Manish

Classifications

• G06F11/1451 Primary

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• G06F11/1464

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F16/113

  Details of archiving (lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data G06F11/1446) · CPC title

• G06F2009/45562

  Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances · CPC title