Seamless virtual machine recall in a data storage system

A method of restoring virtual machines in a networked data storage system comprising:

• receiving at one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware, an indication that a virtual machine placeholder has been accessed, wherein:
• the virtual machine placeholder is stored on one or more primary storage devices and was created during a backup that copied data associated with the virtual machine from the primary storage subsystem to the secondary storage subsystem,
• the virtual machine placeholder on the one or more primary storage devices is recognized as the virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, and
• the virtual machine placeholder comprises information usable in restoring the virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices;
• and
• in response to receiving the indication that the virtual machine placeholder has been accessed, instructing the one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware to restore at least a portion of the virtual machine and the associated data from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices.

A data storage system configured to restore virtual machines comprising:

• a virtual machine placeholder stored on one or more primary storage devices, wherein:
• the virtual machine placeholder was created during a backup that copied data associated with a virtual machine from the primary storage subsystem to the secondary storage subsystem,
• the virtual machine placeholder on the one or more primary storage devices is recognized as the virtual machine by one or more virtualization applications, and
• the virtual machine placeholder comprises information usable in restoring the virtual machine from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices;
• one or more computing devices comprising computer hardware that receive an indication that a virtual machine placeholder has been accessed;
• and
• in response to receiving the indication that the virtual machine placeholder has been accessed, the one or more computing devices restore at least a portion of the virtual machine and the associated data from the one or more secondary storage devices to the one or more primary storage devices.