Asynchronous in-memory data backup system

An article of manufacture comprising a processor-readable storage medium having stored therein program code of one or more software programs, wherein the program code is executable by one or more processors to implement a process comprising:

• receiving, by a data backup system, notification of a checkpoint request issued by a process executing on a host computing system to store a copy of a checkpoint image comprising one or more memory pages that reside in a first memory region of memory on the host computing system;
• pulling, by the data backup system, a copy of metadata from a metadata log residing in a second memory region of memory on the host computing system, wherein the metadata is associated with the one or more memory pages of the checkpoint image;
• pulling, by the data backup system, a copy of the one or more memory pages of the checkpoint image from the first memory region of memory on the host computing system;
• generating, by the data backup system, a copy of the checkpoint image using the copies of the one or more memory pages and the associated metadata pulled from the host computing system;
• and
• storing, by the data backup system, the copy of the checkpoint image in a storage device on the data backup system;
• wherein the copy of the checkpoint image stored in the storage device on the data backup system comprises a same in-memory format as the checkpoint image residing in the first memory region of memory on the host computing system.

A system, comprising:

• a storage device;
• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory to store program code that is executable by the at least one processor to implement a data backup system, wherein the data backup system is configured to:
• receive notification of a checkpoint request issued by a process executing on a host computing system to store a copy of a checkpoint image comprising one or more memory pages that reside in a first memory region of memory on the host computing system;
• pull a copy of metadata from a metadata log residing in a second memory region of memory on the host computing system, wherein the metadata is associated with the one or more memory pages of the checkpoint image;
• pull a copy of the one or more memory pages of the checkpoint image from the first memory region of memory on the host computing system;
• generate a copy of the checkpoint image using the copies of the one or more memory pages and the associated metadata pulled from the host computing system;
• and
• store the copy of the checkpoint image in the storage device;
• wherein the copy of the checkpoint image stored in the storage device comprises a same in-memory format as the checkpoint image residing in the first memory region of memory on the host computing system.