Patent ID: 8468174

Claim:
A method of creating a virtual database system, the method comprising: receiving information identifying a source database for providing data for storage in a first virtual database and a second virtual database being created; receiving information identifying a first point in time, such that the source database comprises information stored prior to the first point in time; receiving information identifying a first destination database server for accessing the first virtual database being created; and creating the first virtual database on a storage system storing a plurality of point-in-time copies of the source database, the point-in-time copies comprising database blocks such that at least some of the database blocks are associated with multiple point-in-time copies of the source database, the creating of the first virtual database comprising: creating a first set of files for the first virtual database, each file in the first set of files linked with a first set of database blocks comprising information stored in the source database prior to the first point in time; and mounting the first set of files on the first destination database server allowing the first destination database server to read from and write to the first set of files; receiving information identifying a second point in time, such that the source database comprises information stored prior to the second point in time; receiving information identifying a second destination database server for accessing the second virtual database being created; and creating the second virtual database on the storage system, the creating of the second virtual database comprising: creating a second set of files for the second virtual database, each file in the second set of files linked with a second set of database blocks comprising information stored in the source database prior to the second point in time; and mounting the second set of files on the second destination database server allowing the second destination database server to read from and write to the second set of files.