Bare-metal snapshots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12450127-B2
Application number	US-202318497228-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2023
Priority date	Oct 30, 2023
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

An integrated circuit includes a host interface coupled to a host device executing a tenant operating system (OS) on bare metal and hardware accelerator(s) coupled to the host interface and a network interface. The hardware accelerator(s) receive, over the host interface, a snapshot request relating to a snapshot of tenant OS. Snapshot request includes a location, in a physical memory of the host device, of a swap file having contents of random access memory of the host device. The hardware accelerator(s) encrypt the swap file and initiate transfer of the encrypted swap file to a network storage device coupled to a cloud-based server. The hardware accelerator(s) send, over the network interface, to a snapshot manager hosted by the cloud-based server, metadata associated with storing the encrypted swap file in the cloud-based server, to allow the snapshot manager to manage the snapshot of the tenant OS.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit comprising:
a host interface operatively coupled to a host device executing a tenant operating system (OS) on bare metal; and
one or more hardware accelerators, operatively coupled to the host interface and a network interface, wherein the one or more hardware accelerators are to:
receive, over the host interface, a snapshot request relating to a snapshot of the tenant OS, the snapshot request comprising a location, in a physical memory of the host device, of a swap file comprising contents of random access memory of the host device;
encrypt the swap file and initiate transfer of the encrypted swap file to a network storage device coupled to a cloud-based server; and
send, over the network interface, to a snapshot manager hosted by the cloud-based server, metadata associated with storing the encrypted swap file in the cloud-based server, to allow the snapshot manager to manage the snapshot of the tenant OS.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a central processing unit (CPU) operatively coupled to the host interface and the network interface, wherein the CPU and the one or more hardware accelerators are to host a hardware-accelerated snapshot client that coordinates snapshot activities between the snapshot manager and a snapshot user interface executed on the host device, wherein the snapshot manager is hosted by the cloud-based server.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the hardware-accelerated snapshot client is further to perform at least one of:
periodically request updates from the snapshot user interface on behalf of the snapshot manager;
facilitate management, by the snapshot manager, of resources available to the host device associated with snapshotting; or
facilitate management, by the snapshot manager, of a power state of the host device in association with the snapshot request.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the snapshot request is associated with a hibernation request, and wherein the hardware-accelerated snapshot client is further to:
perform a direct memory access (DMA) read of the host device to identify a configuration and state of the tenant OS; and
perform a DMA write to a particular location in the physical memory that triggers a suspend-to-disk functionality, wherein the suspend-to-disk functionality triggers the host device to generate the swap file.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit is a data processing unit (DPU), wherein the DPU is a programmable data center infrastructure on a chip.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the metadata comprises one or more of a host identifier of the host device, a hardware configuration of the host device, a date and timestamp of the swap file, and an encryption key used to encrypt the swap file.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a central processing unit (CPU) operatively coupled to the host interface and the network interface, wherein the CPU and the one or more hardware accelerators are to host a storage performance development kit (SPDK) programmed to present the network storage device as an emulated storage disk, which is available to the host device as a Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) disk over Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) of the host interface.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the CPU and the one or more hardware accelerators are further to host a hardware-accelerated storage client to:
employ the SPDK to communicate with the network storage device via PCIe protocol, including to encrypt and write the encrypted swap file to the network storage device and to retrieve, from the network storage device, the encrypted swap file in response to a request to boot the tenant OS; and
provide an authentication token to the snapshot manager that represents an identity of the integrated circuit.

9. A computing system comprising:
a memory comprising a snapshot data store;
a network interface to communicate with a data processing unit (DPU), wherein the DPU is coupled to a host device executing a tenant operating system (OS) on bare metal; and
one or more processing devices operatively coupled to the memory and to the network interface, the one or more processing devices to:
authenticate, based on a DPU identifier received from the DPU, a snapshot client executing on the DPU during initiation of the host device;
store, in the snapshot data store, registration data indicating that the DPU is assigned to support the host device; and
upon receiving, from the DPU, a request relating to a snapshot of the tenant OS executing on the host device, determine to handle the request in view of the registration data in the snapshot data store.

10. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the registration data comprises a mapping between a host identifier of the host device and the DPU identifier, wherein the host identifier is obtained from the request.

11. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the request comprises a snapshot request, wherein the one or more processing devices are further to, in response to the request:
verify a power state of the host device appropriate for snapshotting;
issue a hibernation trigger call, via the DPU, to the host device;
store, in the snapshot data store associated with the DPU and the host device, an encryption key generated by a storage client executing on the DPU; and
receive, from the DPU, an indication of completion of hibernation of the host device.

12. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the network interface is further to communicate with a network storage device that is also coupled to the DPU, wherein the request is a snapshot request, and wherein the one or more processing devices are further to:
cause a storage volume manager to store a swap file, received from the host device by the DPU, in a particular storage volume of the network storage device;
identify a date and time of generating the swap file; and
store an entry in the snapshot data store associated with the host device, wherein the entry includes at least the date and time and a storage volume location in the network storage device.

13. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processing devices are further to, via the DPU, populate an indication of the entry within a snapshot user interface executing on host device.

14. The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the network interface is further to communicate with a network storage device that is also coupled to the DPU, wherein the tenant OS is a first tenant OS, wherein the request comprises one of a snapshot duplication request or a snapshot migration request, and wherein the one or more processing devices are further to, in response to the request:
access an entry in the snapshot data store for the host device to verify that the host device has permission to request one of a snapshot duplication or a snapshot migration;
validate that the host device is compatible with a second tenant OS associated with the one of the snapshot duplication request or the snapshot migration request; and
cause a storage volume manager to copy or move a swap file comprising a host identifier associated with the second tenant OS, to be stored in a particular storage volume of the network storage device assigned to the host device.

15. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the one or more processing devices are further to:
configure the DPU with an encryption key for the second tenant OS; and
send a successful completion message to a snapshot user interface on the host device,

Assignees

• Nvidia Corp

Inventors

• Desai Soham Jayesh
• Ailabouni Rami
• Liu Newton Paine
• Ramakrishnan Binu

Classifications

• G06F11/1451

  by selection of backup contents · CPC title

• G06F11/1464 Primary

  for networked environments · CPC title

• G06F21/602 Primary

  Providing cryptographic facilities or services · CPC title

• G06F2201/84

  Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data · CPC title