# US 12,181,977 B2 · Method and system for application aware access of metadata based backups

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- Number: US 12,181,977 B2
- Document ID: US12181977B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/174,152
- Filed: 2023-02-24
- Published: 2024-08-29
- Granted: 2024-12-31
- Earliest claimed: 2023-02-24
- Assignees: Dell Products L.P.
- Applicants: Dell Products L.P.
- Inventors: Sunil Yadav; Shelesh Chopra
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12181977B2

## CPC

- G06F 11/1458: {Management of the backup or restore process}
- G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects}
- G06F 16/10: File systems; File servers
- G06F 16/113: {Details of archiving (lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data G06F11/1446)}
- G06F 16/122: {using management policies (point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185)}
- G06F 16/128: {Details of file system snapshots on the file-level, e.g. snapshot creation, administration, deletion (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations or in hardware G06F11/14, G06F11/16)}
- G06F 16/174: Redundancy elimination performed by the file system (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operations G06F11/14)
- G06F 16/176: Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
- G06F 16/183: {Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS (network file access protocols H04L67/1097)}
- G06F 16/188: Virtual file systems
- G06F 16/24578: {using ranking}
- G06F 2009/45579: {I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage}
- G06F 2009/45583: {Memory management, e.g. access or allocation}
- G06F 2201/84: Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Techniques described herein relate to a method for performing data protection of file system data on a host. The method includes identifying a backup access event associated with a backup of a virtual machine (VM) stored on a backup storage, wherein the VM comprises a plurality of applications; obtaining backup metadata associated with the backup from a data protection manager; generating a placeholder file structure using the backup metadata and storing the placeholder file in a virtual hard disk file; loading the virtual hard disk file on a host associated with the VM; instantiating single application instances of the VM on the host; and performing application aware backup access services using the placeholder file structure, the backup metadata, and the single application instances of the VM, wherein the single application instances of the VM have limited access to placeholder file structure portions associated with the single application instances.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for performing data protection of file system data on a host, comprising:
identifying a backup access event associated with a backup of a virtual machine (VM) stored on a backup storage, wherein the VM comprises a plurality of applications;
in response to identifying the backup access event:
generating a virtual hard disk file, wherein the virtual hard disk file is mounted to the host;
obtaining backup metadata associated with the backup from a data protection manager, wherein the data protection manager performs data protection management services;
generating a placeholder file structure using the backup metadata and storing the placeholder file in the virtual hard disk file, wherein the placeholder file structure comprises placeholder files arranged in a hierarchy based on the backup metadata, wherein a logical block address (LBA) is associated with each placeholder file in the placeholder file structure, wherein a key value map is used to locate the placeholder file;
loading the virtual hard disk file on a host associated with the VM;
instantiating single application instances of the VM on the host;
performing application aware backup access services using the placeholder file structure, the backup metadata, and the single application instances of the VM, wherein the single application instances of the VM have limited access to placeholder file structure portions associated with the application included in the single application instances of the VM; and
prior to identifying the backup access event associated with the backup of the file system stored on the backup storage:
identifying a backup generation event associated with the application;
in response to identifying the backup generation event:
obtaining file system metadata associated with the application;
generating the backup metadata based on the file system metadata and the backup;
storing the backup of the file system data associated with the application in the backup storage; and
providing the backup metadata to the data protection manager.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein performing the application aware backup access services comprises:
obtaining a first data access request for a first file corresponding to a first file in the placeholder file structure from a first single application instance of the VM of the single application instances of the VM;
obtaining, in response to the first data access request, first file data associated with the first file from the backup storage using the backup metadata;
providing the first file data to the first single application instance of the VM associated the first application;
obtaining a second data access request for a second file corresponding to a second file in the placeholder file from a second single application instance of the VM of the single application instances of the VM;
obtaining, in response to the second data access request, second file data associated with the second file from the backup storage using the backup metadata; and
providing the second file data to the second single application instance of the VM associated the second application.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining, in response to the data access request, the first file data associated with the file from the backup storage using the backup metadata comprises:
sending, by an ISCSI initiator, an SCSI command specifying the LBA associated with the placeholder file stored on the virtual hard disk file to an ISCSI target; and
mapping the LBA to an offset associated the file stored in the backup storage.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the placeholder file structure specifies file identifiers and file sizes of the files included in the file system.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the virtual hard disk file comprises a VHDX file.

### Claim 6

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 performing data protection of file system data on a host, the method comprising:
identifying a backup access event associated with a backup of a virtual machine (VM) stored on a backup storage, wherein the VM comprises a plurality of applications;
in response to identifying the backup access event:
generating a virtual hard disk file, wherein the virtual hard disk file is mounted to the host;
obtaining backup metadata associated with the backup from a data protection manager, wherein the data protection manager perform data protection management services;
generating a placeholder file structure using the backup metadata and storing the placeholder file in the virtual hard disk file, wherein the placeholder file structure comprises placeholder files arranged in a hierarchy based on the backup metadata, wherein a logical block address (LBA) is associated with each placeholder file in the placeholder file structure, wherein a key value map is used to locate the placeholder file;
loading the virtual hard disk file on a host associated with the VM;
instantiating single application instances of the VM on the host;
performing application aware backup access services using the placeholder file structure, the backup metadata, and the single application instances of the VM, wherein the single application instances of the VM have limited access to placeholder file structure portions associated with the application included in the single application instances of the VM; and
prior to identifying the backup access event associated with the backup of the file system stored on the backup storage:
identifying a backup generation event associated with the application;
in response to identifying the backup generation event:
obtaining file system metadata associated with the application;
generating the backup metadata based on the file system metadata and the backup;
storing the backup of the file system data associated with the application in the backup storage; and
providing the backup metadata to the data protection manager.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein performing the application aware backup access services comprises:
obtaining a first data access request for a first file corresponding to a first file in the placeholder file structure from a first single application instance of the VM of the single application instances of the VM;
obtaining, in response to the first data access request, first file data associated with the first file from the backup storage using the backup metadata;
providing the first file data to the first single application instance of the VM associated the first application;
obtaining a second data access request for a second file corresponding to a second file in the placeholder file from a second single application instance of the VM of the single application instances of the VM;
obtaining, in response to the second data access request, second file data associated with the second file from the backup storage using the backup metadata; and
providing the second file data to the second single application instance of the VM associated the second application.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein obtaining, in response to the data access request, the first file data associated with the file from the backup storage using the backup metadata comprises:
sending, by an ISCSI initiator, an SCSI command specifying the LBA associated with the placeholder file stored on the virtual hard disk file to an ISCSI target; and
mapping the LBA to an offset associated the file stored in the backup storage.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the placeholder file structure specifies file identifiers and file sizes of the files included in the file system.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the virtual hard disk file comprises a VHDX file.

### Claim 11

A system for performing data protection of file system data on a host, comprising:
a backup storage for storing backups; and
a host comprising a data protection agent programmed to:
identify a backup access event associated with a backup of a virtual machine (VM) stored on the backup storage, wherein the VM comprises a plurality of applications;
in response to identifying the backup access event:
generate a virtual hard disk file, wherein the virtual hard disk file is mounted to the host;
obtain backup metadata associated with the backup from a data protection manager, wherein the data protection manager performs data protection management services;
generate a placeholder file structure using the backup metadata and storing the placeholder file in the virtual hard disk file, wherein the placeholder file structure comprises placeholder files arranged in a hierarchy based on the backup metadata, wherein a logical block address (LBA) is associated with each placeholder file in the placeholder file structure, wherein a key value map is used to locate the placeholder file;
load the virtual hard disk file on a host associated with the VM;
instantiate single application instances of the VM on the host;
perform application aware backup access services using the placeholder file structure, the backup metadata, and the single application instances of the VM, wherein the single application instances of the VM have limited access to placeholder file structure portions associated with the application included in the single application instances of the VM; and
prior to identifying the backup access event associated with the backup of the file system stored on the backup storage:
identify a backup generation event associated with the application;
in response to identifying the backup generation event:
obtain file system metadata associated with the application;
generate the backup metadata based on the file system metadata and the backup;
store the backup of the file system data associated with the application in the backup storage; and
provide the backup metadata to the data protection manager.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein performing the application aware backup access services comprises:
obtaining a first data access request for a first file corresponding to a first file in the placeholder file structure from a first single application instance of the VM of the single application instances of the VM;
obtaining, in response to the first data access request, first file data associated with the first file from the backup storage using the backup metadata;
providing the first file data to the first single application instance of the VM associated the first application;
obtaining a second data access request for a second file corresponding to a second file in the placeholder file from a second single application instance of the VM of the single application instances of the VM;
obtaining, in response to the second data access request, second file data associated with the second file from the backup storage using the backup metadata; and
providing the second file data to the second single application instance of the VM associated the second application.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein obtaining, in response to the data access request, the first file data associated with the file from the backup storage using the backup metadata comprises:
sending, by an ISCSI initiator, an SCSI command specifying the LBA associated with the placeholder file stored on the virtual hard disk file to an ISCSI target; and
mapping the LBA to an offset associated the file stored in the backup storage.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the placeholder file structure specifies file identifiers and file sizes of the files included in the file system.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The system of claim 14, wherein the virtual hard disk file comprises a VHDX file.