The assignment of data agent proxies for executing virtual-machine secondary copy operations including streaming backup jobs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016373291-A1
Application number	US-201514744952-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 19, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A comprehensive approach to streaming backups for virtual machines (“VMs”) in a storage management system comprises improvements to the assignment of data agent proxies for VM secondary copy operations. New considerations in performing a VM streaming backup job include without limitation: determining and enforcing a system-wide per-proxy limit of concurrent data streams; generating an ordered priority list of the VMs to be backed up as a basis for choosing which proxies will back up the respective VM, though the illustrative system may not strictly adhere to the priority list based on further considerations; identifying a next available proxy based on data stream utilization at the proxy; and dynamically re-generating the priority list and re-evaluating considerations if some VMs become “stranded” due to a failure to be backed up. Secondary copy operations are distributed to proxies in ways that improve the chances of successfully completing VM streaming backups.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for determining a per-proxy limit of data streams allowed for backup operations in a storage management system, the method comprising:
designating, by a storage manager component of the storage management system, a first data agent to act as coordinator of a first backup job,
wherein the first backup job is configured to perform secondary copy operations for a first set of virtual machines in the storage management system,
wherein the coordinator data agent executes on a first virtual machine, and wherein the first virtual machine is designated a first proxy, and
wherein the first virtual machine executes on a first computing device having one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory;
designating, by the storage manager, a second data agent to act as controller in the first backup job,
wherein the controller data agent executes on a second computing device having one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory, and wherein the second computing device is designated a second proxy;
collecting, by the coordinator data agent, information about operational properties of the first proxy and the second proxy; determining, by the coordinator data agent, a respective maximum limit of data streams assignable to each of the first proxy and the second proxy,
wherein the respective maximum limit of data streams is based on the operational properties of each respective proxy; and
wherein each proxy may concurrently use no more than the respective maximum limit of data streams in the course of performing one or more backup jobs in the storage management system, including while performing the first backup job.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
assigning, by the coordinator data agent, a first data stream to the first proxy in the course of performing the first backup job,
wherein the first data stream originates at a first storage device comprising virtual-machine data being backed up in the first backup job and terminates at the coordinator data agent that executes on the first proxy; and

wherein the first proxy concurrently uses no more than the maximum limit of data streams determined by the coordinator data agent for the first proxy based on the operational properties of the first proxy.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the coordinator data agent and the controller data agent are virtual-server data agents, which are configured for backup of virtual machines in the storage management system.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of virtual machines comprises a first subset of virtual machines that execute on a first host computing device, and a second subset of virtual machines that execute on a second host computing device.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first proxy which hosts the coordinator data agent executes on the same computing device as the first subset of virtual machines, such that the first computing device coincides with the first host computing device.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
collecting, by the coordinator data agent, job-related information for executing the first backup job; and
wherein the job-related information for executing the first backup job comprises one or more of: the identities of the first set of virtual machines to be backed up, one or more operational properties of each virtual machine in the first set, information about one or more storage devices storing virtual-machine data to be backed up, and a maximum number of data streams allowed to be used concurrently while performing the first backup job.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the operational properties of each respective proxy for which information is collected by the coordinator data agent comprise at least one of: a processing capacity of the respective proxy, and an amount of random-access memory of the respective proxy; and
wherein the maximum limit of data streams assignable to each respective proxy is based on the at least one of: the processing capacity of the respective proxy, and the amount of random-access memory of the respective proxy.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the maximum limit of data streams assignable to each respective proxy positively correlates to at least one of: the processing capacity of the respective proxy, and the amount of random-access memory of the respective proxy.

9 . A computer-readable medium, excluding transitory propagating signals, storing instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method for managing backup operations in a storage management system, the method comprising:
collecting, by a designated coordinator for a first backup job in a storage management system, information about operational properties of a first proxy and a second proxy,
wherein the coordinator operates as the first proxy,
wherein a designated controller operates as the second proxy, and
wherein the first backup job is associated with one or more secondary copy operations for a first set of virtual machines;
determining, by the coordinator, a respective limit of data streams for each of the first proxy and the second proxy,
wherein the respective limit of data streams is based on the operational properties of each respective proxy; and
wherein each proxy is constrained by the limit of data streams in the course of performing one or more backup jobs in the storage management system, including while performing the first backup job.

10 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the coordinator is a data agent that executes on a first computing device having one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory, and wherein the controller is a data agent that executes on a first virtual machine, and wherein the first virtual machine executes on a second computing device having one or more processors and non-transitory computer-readable memory.

11 . The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the limit of data streams for each of the first proxy and the second proxy is based on the at least one of: the processing capacity of the respective proxy, and the amount of random-access memory of the respective proxy.

12 . A method for generating an ordered priority list of a first set of virtual machines to be backed up in a storage management system, the method comprising:
associating each virtual machine in the first set of virtual machines with one or more proxies from a set of candidate proxies in the storage management system,
wherein the associating includes determining which of candidate proxies are eligible to back up a respective virtual machine;
ordering the first set of virtual machines into a priority list in order of increasing number of associated eligible proxies for the respective virtual machine; and in the course of executing the first backup job, assigning to a first virtual machine in the first set being backed up, a first eligible proxy based on the ordered priority list.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the ordering into the priority list comprises breaking a tie among a plurality of virtual machines in the first set by ordering the virtual machines in the plurality in decreasing of the total amount of storage allocated to each respective virtual machine.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein a virtual machine in the ordered priority list is associated with a higher priority if that virtual machine is connected to a storage area network (SAN) or if that virtual machine has the largest amount of data to back up as compared to other virtual machines in

Assignees

• Commvault Systems Inc

Inventors

• Dornemann Henry Wallace

Classifications

• H04L67/28

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L41/046 Primary

  comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor · CPC title

• H04L41/042 Primary

  comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network · CPC title

• H04L67/56 Primary

  Provisioning of proxy services (store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54) · CPC title

• H04L41/0856

  by backing up or archiving configuration information · CPC title