# US 10,503,428 B2 · System and method for concurrent multipoint backup > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,503,428 B2 - Document ID: US10503428B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/964,103 - Filed: 2018-04-27 - Published: 2019-10-31 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2018-04-27 - Assignees: EMC IP Holding Company LLC - Applicants: EMC IP Holding Company LLC - Inventors: Shelesh Chopra; Manish Sharma; Sunil Yadav - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10503428B2 ## CPC - G06F 3/065: {Replication mechanisms} - G06F 3/0608: {Saving storage space on storage systems} - G06F 3/0619: {in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors} - G06F 3/0653: {Monitoring storage devices or systems} - G06F 3/0664: {at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system} - G06F 3/067: {Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]} - G06F 3/0671: {In-line storage system} - G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects} - G06F 2009/45575: {Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A remote backup agent that provides support services includes a persistent storage storing a bad host map and a processor that obtains a first support request for a virtual machine of the virtual machines; obtains a capacity analysis of the backup storages in response to the request; makes a first determination, using the capacity analysis, that the backup storages do not have sufficient capacity to service the support request; in response to the first determination: predicts a future capacity of the backup storages and makes a second determination, using the predicted future capacity, that the backup storages have sufficient capacity to service the support request at a future point in time; in response to the second determination: initiates a support session between the remote backup agent and the virtual machine using the bad host map at the future point in time to service the first support request. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A remote backup agent that provides support services to virtual machines using backup storages, comprising: a persistent storage comprising a bad host map; and a processor programmed to: obtain a first support request for a virtual machine of the virtual machines; obtain a capacity analysis of the backup storages in response to the request; make a first determination, using the capacity analysis, that the backup storages do not have sufficient capacity to service the support request; in response to the first determination: predict a future capacity of the backup storages; make a second determination, using the predicted future capacity, that the backup storages have sufficient capacity to service the support request at a future point in time; and in response to the second determination: initiate a support session between the remote backup agent and the virtual machine using the bad host map at the future point in time to service the first support request. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein the support session comprises: storing data of the virtual machine in the backup storages. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein the support session comprises: performing a restoration of the virtual machine using data stored in the backup storages. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein obtaining the capacity analysis of the backup storages comprises: identify service request time specified by the support request; and comparing the identified service request time to availability of computing resources of the backup storage. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The remote backup agent of claim 4, wherein the computing resources of the backup storage comprise: an available communication bandwidth between the backup servers and a production host that hosts the virtual machine. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The remote backup agent of claim 4, wherein the computing resources of the backup storage comprise: an available cache of the backup service. ### Claim 7 (depends on 4) The remote backup agent of claim 4, wherein the computing resources of the backup storage comprise: an available storage throughput of the backup service. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to: obtain a second support request for a virtual machine of the virtual machines; make a third determination, using the capacity analysis, that the backup storages do not have sufficient capacity to service the second support request; in response to the third determination: make a fourth determination, using the predicted future capacity, that the backup storages have do not sufficient capacity to service the support request at a future point in time; and in response to the fourth determination: deny a second support session between the remote backup agent and the virtual machine to service the second support request. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein predicting the future capacity of the backup storages comprises: identifying a portion of the virtual machines scheduled to have sessions with the backup servers at a prediction time of the future capacity; estimating a workload of each virtual machine of the portion of the virtual machines; aggregating the estimate workloads; and comparing the aggregated workloads to a total computing resources of the backup storages to generate the prediction. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein the remote backup agent is separate from the virtual machines. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein the virtual machines are hosted by production hosts separate from the remote backup agent. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The remote backup agent of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to: obtain a group support request for a portion of the virtual machines; in response to the group support request, initiate sequential sessions with each virtual machine of the portion of the virtual machines; make a third determination, that the sequential sessions did not complete; and in response to the third determination: identify a subportion of the portion of the virtual machines for which session were not initiated as part of the sequential session; updating the bad host map to reflect a production host that hosted a virtual machine for which any session of the sequential sessions failed; and initiate second sequential sessions with each virtual machine of the subportion of the portion of the virtual machines. ### Claim 13 A method of providing support services to virtual machines, comprising: obtaining a first support request for a virtual machine of the virtual machines; obtaining a capacity analysis of the backup storages in response to the request; making a first determination, using the capacity analysis, that the backup storages do not have sufficient capacity to service the support request; in response to the first determination: predicting a future capacity of the backup storages; making a second determination, using the predicted future capacity, that the backup storages have sufficient capacity to service the support request at a future point in time; and in response to the second determination: initiating a support session between the remote backup agent and the virtual machine using the bad host map at the future point in time to service the first support request. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the support session comprises: storing data of the virtual machine in the backup storages. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the support session comprises: performing a restoration of the virtual machine using data stored in the backup storages. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein obtaining the capacity analysis of the backup storages comprises: identifying service request time specified by the support request; and comparing the identified service request time to availability of computing resources of the backup storage. ### Claim 17 A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor enables the computer processor to perform a method for providing support services to virtual machines, the method comprising: obtaining a first support request for a virtual machine of the virtual machines; obtaining a capacity analysis of the backup storages in response to the request; making a first determination, using the capacity analysis, that the backup storages do not have sufficient capacity to service the support request; in response to the first determination: predicting a future capacity of the backup storages; making a second determination, using the predicted future capacity, that the backup storages have sufficient capacity to service the support request at a future point in time; and in response to the second determination: initiating a support session between the remote backup agent and the virtual machine using the bad host map at the future point in time to service the first support request. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the support session comprises: storing data of the virtual machine in the backup storages. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the support session comprises: performing a restoration of the virtual machine using data stored in the backup storages. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein obtaining the capacity analysis of the backup storages comprises: identifying service request time specified by the support request; and comparing the identified service request time to availability of computing resources of the backup storage.