Patent ID: 8726273
Filing Date: 2014-05-13
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of managing a size of a thinly provisioned virtual disk utilized by a virtual machine running on a host system, wherein the thinly provisioned virtual disk comprises at least one file stored in a file system utilized by a hypervisor of the host system, the method comprising: creating a second virtual disk for the virtual machine, wherein the second virtual disk is backed by a storage space provided in a nonvolatile physical storage; providing the virtual machine access to the second virtual disk; before the virtual machine is powered on, creating a delta disk by taking a snapshot of the second virtual disk and configuring the virtual machine to store only temporary files in the delta disk rather than in the thinly provisioned virtual disk and to store other files in the thinly provisioned virtual disk, wherein the temporary files are files that are created and used by software running in the virtual machine during one power-on session, and configuring the virtual machine further comprises: identifying write operations corresponding to the temporary files associated with the file system, and redirecting the write operations to store the temporary files to the delta disk without a need to reconfigure the file system and the software that are running in the virtual machine; and after the virtual machine is powered off, deleting the delta disk to remove at least some of the temporary files from the file system thereby freeing the storage space in the nonvolatile physical storage.