Disk image introspection for storage systems

A system, comprising:

• a memory storing instructions;
• one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform operations including:
• a virtual machine process configured to access a disk image in a storage system, the storage system comprising:
• a prefetch operation configured to access a disk image metadata structure for the storage system;
• an input/output (I/O) operation configured to receive an I/O request to the disk image in a file system of the storage system;
• a layout process configured to lay out the disk image in the file system of the storage system;
• and
• an introspection process configured to reconstruct a file system request in response to the I/O request, and to perform type-specific introspection on the disk image to determine an original file system request based on the I/O request to the disk image, and based upon results of the introspection, maps data ranges in the disk image to blocks or files within the file system.

A computer program product for virtual machine disk image access in a storage system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• prefetch, by the processor, a disk image metadata structure;
• receive, by the processor, an input/output (I/O) request to the disk image;
• and
• in response to the I/O request, reconstruct, by the processor, a file system request by laying out the disk image, performing type-specific introspection on the disk image, and mapping data ranges in the disk image to blocks or files within the file system based on results of the introspection.