Patent Abstract:
Systems and methods for backing up applications executing on a virtual machine are provided. The method comprises submitting a first notification to a remote computing system to prepare an application running on a virtual machine for backup, such that application data consistency is maintained during the backup process; receiving a second notification from the remote computing system, indicating that the application is prepared for backup; creating a snapshot of the virtual machine in response to the second notification; and receiving application data from the computing system to process the snapshot and complete an application-specific backup for the virtual machine.

Full Description:
COPYRIGHT &amp; TRADEMARK NOTICES 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, which is subject to copyright protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever. 
     Certain marks referenced herein may be common law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks is for providing an enabling disclosure by way of example and shall not be construed to limit the scope of this invention to material associated with such marks. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to virtual machines and, more particularly, to methods, systems and computer products for backing up applications executing on a virtual machine. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Virtualization is the abstraction of computer resources and creation of a virtual version of something such as an operating system, a server, a storage device or network resources. Server virtualization is the abstraction of server resources (including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems) and is used by many businesses and large organizations to reduce the costs of having individual physical servers (such as corporate web servers, print servers, databases, etc.). 
     Server virtualization helps to eliminate server sprawl, makes more efficient use of server resources, and centralizes server administration. A short-term server failure can cost an enterprise more in lost revenues than the cost associated with purchasing and installing the server. Therefore, the ability to backup virtual machines and move data from one virtual machine to another machine (i.e., another virtual machine or a physical machine) is critically important. 
     A server administrator may use a software application, often provided by an outside vendor, to create virtual machines (VMs) by dividing a physical server (host machine) into multiple isolated virtual environments (guests). Many vendors offer enterprise-level virtualization products such as the VMware® ESX Server, which allow multiple operating system environments to co-exist on the same computing system (VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.). 
     These virtualization products often provide a framework for backup of virtual machines from one or more virtualization servers at a central point known as a backup proxy (e.g., VMware has a capability known as VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) for this purpose). The backup framework provides virtual disk snapshot and remote snapshot mounting capabilities, but the data movement and storage of the backup data is left to a third-party implementation that is often supported by backup products provided by other vendors. 
     Current backup frameworks have many shortcomings associated with managing backup data for software applications (e.g., database, mail, etc) running in the virtual machines. Server administrators normally use third-party backup products to initiate or modify the backup process for each application. Third-party backup products, such as the International Business Machines (IBM®) Tivoli® Storage Manager product, provide specialized data protection products which handle the backup for specific applications (IBM and Tivoli are registered trademarks of IBM). 
     However, when these specific applications are executed over a virtual machine, current backup frameworks do not provide any mechanism for the third-party backup products to automatically interact with the applications during backup. Instead, a server administrator is required to run scripts inside the virtual machines before and after taking a snapshot of the virtual disks to facilitate such interaction manually. 
     Furthermore, in the current systems, the backup framework is not provided with any information on application to data mapping or the identity of applications that are running on each virtual machine. Therefore, the server administrator must track this information and manually prepare the required scripts on each virtual machine to stop and restart the execution of each application, respectively before and after each snapshot is taken. As such, applications must be brought offline (e.g., placed in a frozen or saved state) before the backup process is initiated in order to achieve application data consistency. 
     Microsoft&#39;s® Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides an alternative to the above-noted backup frameworks by allowing the possibility to backup specific applications by tracking the files that are to be backed up and the volumes that are to be frozen, and by notifying each application running on the virtual machine to prepare itself for backup before a snapshot of the virtual machine is taken. Unfortunately, however, the VSS system substantially increases the load on the host server since all the work for preparation and taking the backup is performed by the host server. Moreover, while VSS may be configured to indicate where the virtual disk snapshot images reside, it still cannot be used in conjunction with the VCB backup proxy. 
     Methods and systems are needed that can overcome the aforementioned shortcomings. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure is directed to systems, methods and corresponding products that facilitate backing up applications executing on a virtual machine. 
     For purposes of summarizing, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages without achieving all advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. 
     In accordance with one embodiment, a method for backing up an application comprises submitting a first notification to a remote computing system to prepare an application running on a virtual machine for backup, such that application data consistency is maintained during the backup process; receiving a second notification from the remote computing system, indicating that the application is prepared for backup; creating a snapshot of the virtual machine in response to the second notification; and receiving application data from the computing system to process the snapshot and complete an application-specific backup for the virtual machine. In one implementation, application data is mapped to one or more volumes. 
     In accordance with another embodiment, a method of backing up one or more applications executing on a virtual machine, comprises preparing an application for backup in response to a first notification from a first system communicatively coupled to a second system on which one or more virtual machines are running. The first system identifies a first virtual machine executing the application and provides the first notification to the first virtual machine to prepare the application for backup, such that application data consistency is maintained during the backup process. 
     The method may further comprise providing a second notification from the second system to the first system, indicating that the application is prepared for backup, wherein the first system creates a snapshot of the first virtual machine in response to the second notification; and communicating the application data to the first system, wherein the first system utilizes the application data to process the snapshot and complete an application-specific backup for the first virtual machine. 
     In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system comprising one or more logic units is provided. The one or more logic units are configured to perform the functions and operations associated with the above-disclosed methods. In yet another embodiment, a computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program is provided. The computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the functions and operations associated with the above-disclosed methods. 
     One or more of the above-disclosed embodiments in addition to certain alternatives are provided in further detail below with reference to the attached figures. The invention is not, however, limited to any particular embodiment disclosed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments of the present invention are understood by referring to the figures in the attached drawings, as provided below. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an operating environment in which virtual machines on a virtualization server may be backed up using a proxy backup in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary operating environment in accordance with one or more embodiments in which virtual machines on virtualization server may be backed up by integrating application snapshot capabilities with a proxy backup framework. 
         FIGS. 3A through 3C  are flow diagrams for an exemplary backup method in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIGS. 4 and 5  are block diagrams of hardware and software environments in which the disclosed systems and methods may operate, in accordance with one or more embodiments. 
     
    
    
     Features, elements, and aspects of the invention that are referenced by the same numerals in different figures represent the same, equivalent, or similar features, elements, or aspects, in accordance with one or more embodiments. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     The present disclosure is directed to systems and corresponding methods that facilitate backing up applications executing on a virtual machine. 
     In the following, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough description of various embodiments of the invention. Certain embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details or with some variations in detail. In some instances, certain features are described in less detail so as not to obscure other aspects of the invention. The level of detail associated with each of the elements or features should not be construed to qualify the novelty or importance of one feature over the others. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a virtualization server  102  may be executed on a physical server  100 . The virtualization server  102  may be executed on top of an operating system (OS) running on the physical server  100 . The virtualization server  102  (e.g., VMWare ESX Server) may be provided by a third-party vendor. One or more virtual machines  104  may run on the virtualization server  102  and with guest operating systems  106  and applications  108  executing on top of the virtual machines  104 . In an exemplary embodiment, the virtualization server  102  may be configured for storing virtual machine  104  disk images and creating snapshots of virtual machines  104 . 
     The virtualization server  102  may communicate with a proxy server  114  over a communications network  110 . The network  110  may comprise a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), in a distributed or non-distributed environment. The virtualization server  102  and proxy server  114  may also communicate with a storage medium  112 . A backup client  116  and a backup framework  118  may execute on the proxy server  114 . In an exemplary embodiment, the backup client  116  may comprise a storage management software program (e.g., IBM&#39;s Tivoli Storage Manager, etc.) installed on the proxy server  114 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the backup framework  118  (e.g., VMWare Consolidated Backup, etc.) may be configured to take snapshots of virtual machines  104  and the respective application data. The proxy server  114  is configured to support backup client  116  and backup framework  118  and also communicate with a backup storage  120  (e.g., a tape library, a storage area network (SAN), etc.) for the purpose of storing the backup data and snapshots of the virtual systems and the respective applications or data being executed on one or more virtual machines  106 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , to reduce the processing load on the proxy server  114 , backup client  116  may be installed desirably as separate modules on the proxy server  114  (i.e., shown as proxy backup  208  in  FIG. 2 ) and on each virtual machine  104  (i.e., shown as guest backup  210  in  FIG. 2 ). The guest backup modules  210  on each virtual machine  104  may communicate among each other and possibly with the proxy backup  208  using a client-to-client communication protocol. The backup clients  116  may also be configured to communicate with a virtualization center  200  and a storage management server  202 . 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the virtualization center  200  may comprise a server that maintains information about the physical servers  100  and virtual machines  104  coupled to network  110 . The virtual machines  104  may include a snapshot framework utility (e.g., Microsoft&#39;s VSS, etc.) providing snapshot capabilities for backing up application data within the virtual machine execution environment. The snapshot frame work utility may comprise a snapshot writer  204  and a snapshot provider  206 . The snapshot writer  204  prepares the application  108  for backup; and the snapshot provider  206  may create a snapshot of the application, or facilitate the creation of the snapshot by another component such as the virtualization server  102 , the backup framework  118 , or the storage medium  112 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , in an exemplary embodiment, the proxy backup  208  may initiate a backup process to store data associated with applications  108  (P 300 ). The proxy backup  208  may initiate the backup in response to user interaction with a backup system or as a result of a prescheduled backup process. In one embodiment, the proxy backup  208  may be configured to allow a server administrator to select one or more specific applications  108  for backup. In another embodiment, the proxy backup  208  may simply initiate a backup of all applications  108 . 
     In an exemplary implementation, the proxy backup  208  may construct a list of active virtual machines  104  in a network  110  (P 302 ). The proxy backup  208  may query the virtualization center  200  to obtain information regarding the virtual machines  104  across the network  110 . In accordance with one or more embodiments, the proxy backup  208  detects the active virtual machines  104  over which applications  108  designated for backup are executed (P 304 ). 
     The proxy backup  208  may communicate with a guest backup  210  on each active virtual machine  104  to discover which applications  108  are running on the virtual machine  104 . The virtual machines  104  for backup may be identified by polling active virtual machines  104  and discovering which virtual machines  104  are running the application to be backed up. Accordingly, the proxy backup  208  may identify one or more applications  108  or one or more virtual machines  104  for backup (P 306 ). 
     For each virtual machine  104  identified by the proxy backup  208 , the proxy backup  208  notifies the guest backup  210  on each virtual machine  104  to, for example, prepare a designated virtual machine  104  for backup (P 308 ). In an exemplary embodiment, the guest backup  210  may notify the snapshot writer  204  to prepare an application  108  for backup (P 310 ). The snapshot writer  204  is configured to manage application data in a consistent state by, for example, placing the application in a temporary halt state (i.e., by blocking or terminating operations that would alter the application data e.g., write operations, queuing I/O operations, committing pending operations to disk, etc.), preferably without terminating the application, until a snapshot is taken. 
     The snapshot writer  204  may signal the snapshot provider  206  and guest backup  210  that the application  108  is prepared for backup. In an exemplary embodiment, the snapshot provider  206  is configured not to create a snapshot so that the process of taking a snapshot is deferred to another system component as provided in further detail below to save system resources at physical server  100 . In another embodiment, the snapshot provider  206  is configured to take a snapshot of the application data and the related attributes associated with the state of the virtual machine. 
     The guest backup  210  may communicate and notify the proxy backup  208  that the applications  108  are ready for backup (P 312 ). The proxy backup  208  may communicate and notify the backup framework  118  to create a snapshot of the related application data and virtual machine  104  (P 314 ). In accordance with one embodiment, the backup framework  118  may be configured to communicate with the virtualization server  102  to initiate a snapshot and create a virtual disk image of the virtual machines  104 . The snapshot provider  206  may wait and allow the backup framework  118  to create a snapshot of the virtual machine  104 . 
     As such, by using the backup framework  118  instead of the snapshot provider  206 , the process of creating a snapshot may be offloaded and performed without consuming processing recourses of the physical server  100 . The guest backup  210  may determine the files and volumes that may be included in the backup and provide this information to the proxy backup  208 . The backup framework  118  may be modified to receive this information from the proxy backup  208  to reduce the number of snapshot volumes, for example, as opposed to blindly taking a snapshot of all volumes used by a virtual machine  104 . 
     The backup framework  118  may mount the virtual disk snapshot from the storage medium  112  to the proxy server  114 , such that the proxy backup  208  client may read from the snapshot virtual disk as if it were a local disk, for example. In some implementations, the proxy backup  208  may communicate with the guest backup  210  to indicate the backup framework  118  has completed the snapshot. And, the guest backup  210  may notify the snapshot provider  206  that the snapshot has been completed (P 315 ). The snapshot provider  206  may signal the snapshot writer  204  to allow the applications  108  to resume processing and normal operation. 
     The guest backup  210  may communicate application-specific information (e.g., a list of files and volumes associated with the applications  108 ) to the proxy backup  208  (P 316 ). The snapshot writer  204  may provide application-specific information to the guest backup  210 . The proxy backup  208  client may communicate with a storage management server  202  to backup the snapshot virtual disk data to backup storage  120  (P 318 ). In one embodiment, the proxy backup  208  may transmit or release the snapshot data to the storage management server  202  (P 320 ). Thereby, the backup processing from the proxy server  114  is offloaded to the storage management server  202 . Proxy backup  208  may then notify the guest backup  210  that the backup is completed (P 322 ). 
     In one embodiment, the data may be moved from the proxy server  114  to the storage management server  202 , for example, using the same or a similar method used for moving data from the virtualization server  102  to the proxy server  114  as disclosed herein in association with snapshot frameworks. In another embodiment, the proxy backup  208  client may manage the mounted snapshot as a local disk, for example, for backup purposes. The proxy backup  208  client may notify the backup framework  118  to dismount and remove the virtual disk file snapshots from the storage medium  112 . 
     The exemplary backup methods and systems disclosed above improve the existing systems by combining a proxy backup framework  118  and an application  108  snapshot framework. Integrating the backup framework  118  with the application  108  snapshot framework allows on-line backups, eliminating any requirement to temporarily stop the running applications or to implement user-defined scripts. Thus, advantageously, application  108  backups are offloaded to the proxy server  114  or storage management server  202  keeping physical server  100  resources free from the additional load. 
     In one exemplary embodiment, application-specific information may be maintained to utilize application-specific data protection features that may be provided by a backup client  116 . The virtual machine&#39;s  104  storage management at the application level provides the same granular restore scenarios within virtual machines  104  as are offered with applications running on physical hosts  100 . Backup clients  116  may be configured to restore applications  108  and the related data. 
     In different embodiments, the invention can be implemented either entirely in the form of hardware or entirely in the form of software, or a combination of both hardware and software elements. For example, a physical server  100 , virtualization server  102 , proxy server  114 , backup server  202 , virtualization center  200 , and backup clients  116 ,  208 ,  210 , applications  108 , and snapshot frameworks  118 ,  204 ,  206  may comprise a controlled computing system environment that can be presented largely in terms of hardware components and software code executed to perform processes that achieve the results contemplated by the system of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , a computing system environment in accordance with an exemplary embodiment is composed of a hardware environment  400  and a software environment  500 . The hardware environment  400  comprises the machinery and equipment that provide an execution environment for the software; and the software provides the execution instructions for the hardware as provided below. 
     As provided here, the software elements that are executed on the illustrated hardware elements are described in terms of specific logical/functional relationships. It should be noted, however, that the respective methods implemented in software may be also implemented in hardware by way of configured and programmed processors, ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and DSPs (digital signal processors), for example. 
     Software environment  500  is divided into two major classes comprising system software  502  and application software  504 . System software  502  comprises control programs, such as the operating system (OS) and information management systems that instruct the hardware how to function and process information. 
     In one embodiment, backup clients  116 ,  208 ,  210 , applications  108 , and snapshot frameworks  118 ,  204 ,  206  may be implemented as system software  502  or application software  504  executed on one or more hardware environments to facilitate a backup process as noted above. Application software  504  may comprise but is not limited to program code, data structures, firmware, resident software, microcode or any other form of information or routine that may be read, analyzed or executed by a microcontroller. 
     In an alternative embodiment, the invention may be implemented as computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus or device. 
     The computer-readable medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid-state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk read/write (CD-R/W) and digital videodisk (DVD). 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , an embodiment of the system software  502  and application software  504  can be implemented as computer software in the form of computer readable code executed on a data processing system such as hardware environment  400  that comprises a processor  402  coupled to one or more computer readable media or memory elements by way of a system bus  404 . The computer readable media or the memory elements, for example, can comprise local memory  406 , storage media  408 , and cache memory  410 . Processor  402  loads executable code from storage media  408  to local memory  406 . Cache memory  410  provides temporary storage to reduce the number of times code is loaded from storage media  408  for execution. 
     A user interface device  412  (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, etc.) and a display screen  414  can be coupled to the computing system either directly or through an intervening I/O controller  416 , for example. A communication interface unit  418 , such as a network adapter, may be also coupled to the computing system to enable the data processing system to communicate with other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Wired or wireless modems and Ethernet cards are a few of the exemplary types of network adapters. 
     In one or more embodiments, hardware environment  400  may not include all the above components, or may comprise other components for additional functionality or utility. For example, hardware environment  400  may be a laptop computer or other portable computing device embodied in an embedded system such as a set-top box, a personal data assistant (PDA), a mobile communication unit (e.g., a wireless phone), or other similar hardware platforms that have information processing and/or data storage and communication capabilities. 
     In certain embodiments of the system, communication interface  418  communicates with other systems by sending and receiving electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information including program code. The communication may be established by way of a remote network (e.g., the Internet), or alternatively by way of transmission over a carrier wave. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 5 , system software  502  and application software  504  can comprise one or more computer programs that are executed on top of an operating system after being loaded from storage media  408  into local memory  406 . In a client-server architecture, application software  504  may comprise client software and server software. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, client software is executed on virtual machines  104  and server software is executed on server systems  102 ,  114 ,  200 , or  202 . 
     Software environment  500  may also comprise browser software  508  for accessing data available over local or remote computing networks. Further, software environment  500  may comprise a user interface  506  (e.g., a Graphical User Interface (GUI)) for receiving user commands and data. Please note that the hardware and software architectures and environments described above are for purposes of example, and one or more embodiments of the invention may be implemented over any type of system architecture or processing environment. 
     It should also be understood that the logic code, programs, modules, processes, methods and the order in which the respective steps of each method are performed are purely exemplary. Depending on implementation, the steps may be performed in any order or in parallel, unless indicated otherwise in the present disclosure. Further, the logic code is not related, or limited to any particular programming language, and may comprise of one or more modules that execute on one or more processors in a distributed, non-distributed or multiprocessing environment. 
     Therefore, it should be understood that the invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. These and various other adaptations and combinations of the embodiments disclosed are within the scope of the invention and are further defined by the claims and their full scope of equivalents.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6