Transparent snapshot-based file system consistent virtual machine protection

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and memory configured to store one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of:
• receiving at a data protection agent a command to conduct a file system-consistent backup of a virtual machine, the virtual machine comprising a plurality of applications and a copy service having a plurality of application writers and a plurality of system writers, the application writers being responsible for quiescing the applications, and the system writers being responsible for quiescing system state of the virtual machine;
• issuing, from the data protection agent, a first request to the copy service indicating that all files of the virtual machine are to be backed up and that archive attributes of all the files should remain unchanged, the first request thereby triggering the copy service to notify the application writers and system writers of a snapshot operation;
• issuing, from the data protection agent, a second request to a snapshot data mover for a snapshot of the virtual machine, the snapshot data mover executing on the host and outside of the virtual machine;
• passing the request for the snapshot from the snapshot data mover to a virtual machine manager;
• receiving, at the snapshot data mover, an identifier identifying the snapshot from the virtual machine manager;
• and
• passing the snapshot identifier to the data protection agent to allow the data protection agent to locate the snapshot and conduct the backup.

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by one or more processors to implement a method comprising:

• receiving at a data protection agent a command to conduct a file system-consistent backup of a virtual machine, the virtual machine comprising a plurality of applications and a copy service having a plurality of application writers and a plurality of system writers, the application writers being responsible for quiescing the applications, and the system writers being responsible for quiescing system state of the virtual machine;
• issuing, from the data protection agent, a first request to the copy service indicating that all files of the virtual machine are to be backed up and that archive attributes of all the files should remain unchanged, the first request thereby triggering the copy service to notify the application writers and system writers of a snapshot operation;
• issuing, from the data protection agent, a second request to a snapshot data mover for a snapshot of the virtual machine, the snapshot data mover executing on the host and outside of the virtual machine;
• passing the request for the snapshot from the snapshot data mover to a virtual machine manager;
• receiving, at the snapshot data mover, an identifier identifying the snapshot from the virtual machine manager;
• and
• passing the snapshot identifier to the data protection agent to allow the data protection agent to locate the snapshot and conduct the backup.