Centralized Multi-Cloud Workload Protection with Platform Agnostic Centralized File Browse and File Retrieval Time Machine

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for finding content among incremental snapshots in a cloud based virtual machine environment, which instructions when executed by one or more processors implement:

• periodically causing instantiation of a first indexing virtual machine on a first cloud and a second indexing virtual machine on a second cloud by a cloud snapshot metadata manager;
• the first and second indexing virtual machines, upon instantiation, compiling, for indexing, metadata of one or more snapshot file systems on the first and second clouds, respectively, which have not been indexed since a prior instantiation of the first and second indexing virtual machines on the first and second clouds;
• the first and second indexing virtual machines transmitting the compiled metadata to the cloud snapshot metadata manager;
• and
• the cloud snapshot metadata manager transmitting metadata to a client and causing the client to at least initiate automatically creating an index of the compiled metadata from multiple virtual machine snapshots on multiple clouds and responding to queries from a user using the index of compiled metadata, without requiring the user to instantiate or to attach to the snapshots.

A system for finding content among incremental snapshots in a cloud based virtual machine environment, including:

• one or more cloud snapshot metadata manager, including a processor and memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor perform:
• periodically causing instantiation of a first indexing virtual machine on a first cloud and a second indexing virtual machine on a second cloud;
• wherein the first and second indexing virtual machines, upon instantiation, compiling, for indexing, metadata of one or more snapshot file systems on the first and second clouds, respectively, which have not been indexed since a prior instantiation of the first and second indexing virtual machines on the first and second clouds;
• wherein the first and second indexing virtual machines transmitting the compiled metadata to the cloud snapshot metadata manager;
• and
• transmitting metadata to a client and causing the client to at least initiate automatically creating an index of the compiled metadata from multiple virtual machine snapshots on multiple clouds and responding to queries from a user using the index of compiled metadata, without requiring the user to instantiate or to attach to the snapshots.