# US 2019/0317867 A1 · Unified rct backup for different hypervisor configurations > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0317867 A1 - Document ID: US20190317867A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/955,639 - Filed: 2018-04-17 - Published: 2019-10-17 - Earliest claimed: 2018-04-17 - Assignees: EMC IP Holding Company LLC - Applicants: EMC IP Holding Company LLC - Inventors: Sunil Yadav; Aaditya R. Bansal; Soumen Acharya; Suman C. Tokuri; Sudha V. Hebsur - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190317867A1 ## CPC - G06F 11/1458: {Management of the backup or restore process} - G06F 11/1471: involving logging of persistent data for recovery - G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects} - G06F 11/0709: {in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems} - G06F 11/0712: {in a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems} - G06F 11/1407: {Checkpointing the instruction stream} - G06F 11/1448: {Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore} - G06F 11/1451: {by selection of backup contents} - G06F 11/1469: {Backup restoration techniques} - G06F 2201/80: Database-specific techniques - G06F 2201/815: Virtual - 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 A unified backup workflow process for different hypervisor configurations of virtual machines on different storage of a cluster leverages RCT-based backup functionality so that backup operations can be performed by a single host of the cluster. The process enables backing up together virtual machines that are local, as well as part of CSV or SMB storage using virtual machine level snapshots as checkpoints rather than volume level snapshots that were traditionally used. Backup data is sent to a backup server as a data stream rather than a file, which avoids the necessity of maintaining chains or structures that identify parent-child disks on the server. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of unified backup for different hypervisor configurations of virtual machines on different storage of a cluster having a plurality of hosts, the method being performed by a single host, comprising: determining information for targets of all of said virtual machines that span over one or more of said hosts; accessing said targets of virtual machines that span over one or more of said hosts and creating individual virtual machine-level checkpoints for said targets; identifying cluster hosts for a backup rollover of the targets of said individual virtual machines, and balancing the backup data load of said virtual machine targets among said identified hosts; backing up the data of said virtual machines targets using said identified hosts; and creating a reference point for said backed up data to track data changes following said backing up. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising validating said data backup and creating a snap-view of metadata of the backup process for performing recovery or a next incremental backup of the virtual machine target. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said accessing comprises querying said hosts to gather virtual machine data points the targets of virtual machines that span said hosts. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein said accessing comprises accessing together virtual machines based on cluster shared column storage and on server message block storage. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said creating individual machine-level checkpoints comprises creating a machine-level snapshot of each target of a virtual machine. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein said creating snapshots comprises creating snapshots of individual target virtual machines instead of creating snapshots of storage volumes. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said backing up comprises sending a copy of underlying disks for a full back up as a data stream to a backup server. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein said sending comprises streaming copies of said underlying disks in parallel to the backup server. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said backing up comprises sending, for an incremental backup, metadata identifying extent locations, lengths and offsets on a backup server of chunks of data that changed since the last backup, and streaming to the backup server the changes to said chunks of data for merging with the previously stored data. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein creating a reference point comprises using a checkpoint created for a virtual machine and a resilient change tracking identifier that tracks changes to a target subsequent to backup. ### Claim 11 A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing executable instructions for controlling the operations of a processor to perform a method of unified backup of different hypervisor configurations of virtual machines on different storage of a cluster having a plurality of hosts, comprising: determining information for targets of all of said virtual machines that span over one or more of said hosts; accessing said targets of virtual machines that span over one or more of said hosts and creating individual virtual machine-level checkpoints for said targets; identifying cluster hosts for a backup rollover of the targets of said individual virtual machines, and balancing the backup data load of said virtual machine targets among said identified hosts; backing up the data of said virtual machines targets using said identified hosts; and creating a reference point for said backed up data to track data changes following said backing up. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 further comprising validating said data backup and creating a snap-view of metadata of the backup process for performing recovery or a next incremental backup of the virtual machine target. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein said accessing comprises querying said hosts to gather virtual machine data points the targets of virtual machines that span said hosts. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein said accessing comprises accessing together virtual machines based on cluster shared column storage and on server message block storage. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein said creating individual machine-level checkpoints comprises creating a machine-level snapshot of each target of a virtual machine. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein said creating snapshots comprises creating snapshots of individual target virtual machines instead of creating snapshots of storage volumes. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein said backing up comprises sending a copy of underlying disks for a full back up as a data stream to a backup server. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein said sending comprises streaming copies of said underlying disks in parallel to the backup server. ### Claim 19 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein said backing up comprises sending, for an incremental backup, metadata identifying extent locations, lengths and offsets on a backup server of chunks of data that changed since the last backup, and streaming to the backup server the changes to said chunks of data for merging with the previously stored data. ### Claim 20 (depends on 11) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein creating a reference point comprises using a checkpoint created for a virtual machine and a resilient change tracking identifier that tracks changes to a target subsequent to backup.