# US 2025/0094201 A1 · Space-efficient storage of virtual machines in a backup storage system

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- Number: US 2025/0094201 A1
- Document ID: US20250094201A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 18/467,182
- Filed: 2023-09-14
- Published: 2025-03-20
- Earliest claimed: 2023-09-14
- Assignees: Dell Products L.P.
- Applicants: Dell Products L.P.
- Inventors: Sunil Yadav; Shelesh Chopra
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20250094201A1

## CPC

- G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects}
- G06F 11/1451: {by selection of backup contents}
- G06F 11/1458: {Management of the backup or restore process}
- G06F 2009/45583: {Memory management, e.g. access or allocation}
- G06F 2201/815: Virtual
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A method for managing virtual machine (VMs) includes obtaining, by a backup agent, a backup request for a space-efficient backup of a VM, in response to the backup request: parsing a virtual disk associated with the VM to obtain data block information of VM data associated with the VM, performing, using data block information of the VM data, a used block analysis to identify a set of used blocks by the VM data, generating an updated data block information, wherein the updated data block information comprises the set of used blocks, generating the space-efficient backup of the VM using the updated data block information, and storing the space-efficient backup in a backup storage system.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for managing virtual machines (VMs), comprising:
obtaining, by a backup agent, a backup request for a space-efficient backup of a VM;
in response to the backup request:
parsing a virtual disk associated with the VM to obtain data block information of VM data associated with the VM;
performing, using data block information of the VM data, a used block analysis to identify a set of used blocks by the VM data;
generating an updated data block information, wherein the updated data block information comprises the set of used blocks;
generating the space-efficient backup of the VM using the updated data block information; and
storing the space-efficient backup in a backup storage system.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the VM data is a size larger than 200 gigabytes (GB).

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1,
wherein the data block information specifies:
a set of logical blocks in the virtual disk, and
a file associated with each of the set of logical blocks, and
wherein the used block analysis comprises:
making a first determination, for a first logical block of the set of logical blocks, that the first logical block is associated with a file of a file system of the virtual disk; and
based on the first determination, identifying the first logical block as a used block of the set of used blocks.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3,
wherein the used block analysis further comprises:
making a second determination, for a second logical block of the set of logical blocks, that the second logical block is not associated with any file of the file system; and
based on the second determination, not including the second logical block as any of the set of used blocks.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the space-efficient backup is stored in the backup storage system as a set of backup slices, wherein one of the set of backup slices comprises a portion of the set of used blocks.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5,
wherein performing the used block analysis further comprises using a VM backup metadata file, and
wherein the VM backup metadata file is obtained from the backup storage system.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein a backup slice of the set of backup slices comprises a portion of the VM data and the VM backup metadata file.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the VM backup metadata file comprises a set of attributes associated with the portion of the VM data.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein one of the set of attributes is a storage location of a data block of the VM data.

### Claim 10

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, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a backup agent, a backup request for a space-efficient backup of a VM;
in response to the backup request:
parsing a virtual disk associated with the VM to obtain data block information of VM data associated with the VM;
performing, using data block information of the VM data, a used block analysis to identify a set of used blocks by the VM data;
generating an updated data block information, wherein the updated data block information comprises the set of used blocks;
generating the space-efficient backup of the VM using the updated data block information; and
storing the space-efficient backup in a backup storage system.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the VM data is a size larger than 200 gigabytes (GB).

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10,
wherein the data block information specifies:
a set of logical blocks in the virtual disk, and
a file associated with each of the set of logical blocks, and
wherein the used block analysis comprises:
making a first determination, for a first logical block of the set of logical blocks, that the first logical block is associated with a file of a file system of the virtual disk; and
based on the first determination, identifying the first logical block as a used block of the set of used blocks.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12,
wherein the used block analysis further comprises:
making a second determination, for a second logical block of the set of logical blocks, that the second logical block is not associated with any file of the file system; and
based on the second determination, not including the second logical block as any of the set of used blocks.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the space-efficient backup is stored in the backup storage system as a set of backup slices, wherein one of the set of backup slices comprises a portion of the set of used blocks.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14,
wherein performing the used block analysis further comprises using a VM backup metadata file, and
wherein the VM backup metadata file is obtained from the backup storage system.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein a backup slice of the set of backup slices comprises a portion of the VM data and the VM backup metadata file.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the VM backup metadata file comprises a set of attributes associated with the portion of the VM data.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein one of the set of attributes is a storage location of a data block of the VM data.

### Claim 19

A system, comprising:
a processor; and
memory comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor, perform a method, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a backup agent, a backup request for a space-efficient backup of a VM;
in response to the backup request:
parsing a virtual disk associated with the VM to obtain data block information of VM data associated with the VM;
performing, using data block information of the VM data, a used block analysis to identify a set of used blocks by the VM data;
generating an updated data block information, wherein the updated data block information comprises the set of used blocks;
generating the space-efficient backup of the VM using the updated data block information; and
storing the space-efficient backup in a backup storage system.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1,
wherein the data block information specifies:
a set of logical blocks in the virtual disk, and
a file associated with each of the set of logical blocks, and
wherein the used block analysis comprises:
making a first determination, for a first logical block of the set of logical blocks, that the first logical block is associated with a file of a file system of the virtual disk; and
based on the first determination, identifying the first logical block as a used block of the set of used blocks.