Patent ID: 8621461

Claim:
A method comprising: executing a guest operating system as a virtual machine on a first physical host coupled to a storage server via a network, the guest operating system including a network storage operating system, the virtual machine operating as a virtual storage server or a simulated storage server, the first physical host including a plurality of host slots, each of the host slots capable of executing a different virtual machine, the first physical host including random access memory (RAM); using at least a portion of the RAM as a RAM drive to emulate a virtual, secondary, persistent mass storage device of the virtual machine controlled by the guest operating system, wherein using said at least a portion of the RAM as a RAM drive includes creating a mount point for a host slot of the host slots that is executing the virtual machine, and mounting the RAM drive on the created mount point; using the RAM drive to store a data image file of the virtual machine, wherein the data image file represents the virtual, secondary, persistent mass storage device of the virtual storage server; and responding, by a host operating system on the first physical host, to an event associated with an interruption in operation of the virtual machine, by causing contents of the RAM drive to be sent over the network to the storage server and storing persistently in the storage server.