CN115617575A

CN115617575A - VMware virtual machine backup method under CDM scene

Info

Publication number: CN115617575A
Application number: CN202211277087.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 潘思佳; 马鹤鸣; 齐京伟
Original assignee: Hualu Optical Storage Research Institute Dalian Co ltd
Current assignee: Hualu Optical Storage Research Institute Dalian Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-10-18
Filing date: 2022-10-18
Publication date: 2023-01-17

Abstract

The invention discloses a VMware virtual machine backup method under a CDM scene, which comprises the steps that a user connects and transmits a backup task to a vCenter, the vCenter is connected to a corresponding virtual machine according to a virtual machine id of the backup task, and a change block tracking module of the vCenter is started; the vCenter downloads configuration files of a folder where the virtual machine is located, wherein the configuration files comprise vmx,. Nvram,. Vmxf files; creating a snapshot file of the virtual machine at the current moment; downloading a vmdk file except a flat vmdk file of a folder where the virtual machine is located; and (3) opening a virtual machine-flat.vmdk disk connected with the snapshot by using VDDK, acquiring the total number of the disks, sequentially acquiring the change areas of the disks according to the change block tracking module, sequentially reading the block information in the change areas of the disks, and writing and storing the block information in the backup software server. The method realizes backup and recovery of the VMware virtual machine, is suitable for CDM scenes, has consistent full backup and incremental backup processes, and has the advantages of high backup efficiency, space saving and high backup and recovery speed compared with the traditional backup.

Description

VMware virtual machine backup method under CDM scene

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of virtual machine backup, in particular to a VMware virtual machine backup method under a CDM scene.

Background

Many of the VMware virtual machine backup schemes currently offered on the market are based on VMware vSphere StorageAPI-Data Protection (VADP). VADP is the next generation VMware data protection framework introduced in vSphere 4.0, allowing backup products to centralize, validate, off-host, and independent LAN backup for vSphere virtual machines. Backup products using VADP can backup the vSphere virtual machine from a central backup server or virtual machine without the need for a backup agent and without requiring the backup process to be done within each guest virtual machine on the ESX host. This frees the ESX hosts from the backup process and reduces costs by allowing more virtual machines to run per ESX host. VADP leverages the snapshot functionality of VMware vStorage, allowing backups to be performed across an entire SAN without requiring virtual machine downtime. Therefore, backup can be performed uninterruptedly at any time of day without expanding a backup window, related applications and users do not need to stop or shutdown within a backup period, ESX host resources required for performing backup processing are reduced, and flexible backup periods are supported. VMware provides vSphere api and VDDK (Virtual Disk Development Kit Virtual Disk Development suite) for developing Virtual machine backup software.

When operating for vSphere 6.5, NBD (Network Block Device transport mode, also called LAN transport mode) in VDDK6.7 communicates using the Network File Copy (NFC) protocol. When using NBD, the various VDDK and VCB operations use separate connections for each virtual disk it accesses on each ESX/ESXi Server host, the transfer speed is slower. When the data protection software is compiled using the VDDK6.7 library, NBD mode backup and restore is much slower than before on vSphere 6.5 or 6.0.

The existing technologies for backup recovery of the VMware virtual machine are as follows: a local backup program is installed in each VM, a backup program is installed in an ESX Service Console, and VMware centralized backup (VCB-Proxy).

Installing a local backup program in each VM is a conventional backup method, and a backup program is installed in each VM as if the backup program was installed in each physical server before. Data flows to the backup/restore facility through the LAN, as has been done in the past when a backup program was installed on a local physical server.

The advantages of this approach are as follows: the installation and configuration of the backup program is very similar to the installation and configuration in a physical server, so no special skills or program changes are required. The restore process is unchanged, similar to the process of restoring files to a physical server.

The disadvantages of this approach are as follows: since all backups run in the same server, it causes the problem of over-consuming VMware host resources. Although servers can be packaged into small numbers of large VMDK files, backup programs cannot take advantage of this to provide fast backup or restore capabilities; when disaster recovery is carried out, the server needs to be recovered quickly and comprehensively, and the method is not valuable in this respect.

The installation of the backup program in the ESX Service Console is the installation of the backup program in the ESX Service Console, backing up the set of potential VMDK files in the VM. The Service Console adopts the Linux operating system, so that a Linux backup program can be used.

Advantages of this approach include: only one backup program is needed to backup all VMs, rather than one VM equipped with one backup program. By the method, the VM resources can be completely backed up, and only a small amount of large VMDK files need to be simply backed up. The image can be restored quickly because only a large image needs to be restored without having to search for a large number of small images.

Disadvantages of this approach include: scripts are required to automatically shut down, snapshot, and start up the VM in order to ensure consistency of application data during backup. It is not possible to restore files and this method can only backup and restore images. In addition, this method does not enable incremental backups.

A VMware centralized backup (VCB-Proxy) involves a set of VMware facilities, commonly referred to as VMware centralized backups. This approach connects non-LAN backups in a centralized Windows 2003 proxy server to the same SAN volume, called ESXServer. The data is then transferred to the proxy server by third party backup software for subsequent backup. This method is more complex than the two methods described above, and comprises the following components:

backup proxy server: the server can access the same volume as the VMware host. And loading/outputting the VMDK file in the proxy server. This loading/output enables backup by the backup program hosted in the proxy server.

VCB framework: the "sync mover" in the ESX server can refresh the file system, creating a snapshot. The "vLUN pushers" in the VCB proxy allow VMDK files to exist in the server. With the VCB automatic workflow, a command line facility (vcbMouter/vcbRestore) functions.

The backup software integration module: the modules are integrated into the components of the VCB framework. Both VMware and backup programs can develop and support such modules.

The backup/recovery of the VCB files is to load VMDK files in a VCB proxy server, and the specific steps are as follows:

1, backup work requires a VCB framework to acquire VM snapshots, VB snapshots are loaded in a VCB proxy server, and a loading path comprises SAN and C: \ mnt and the like.

2 backup (full, incremental, differential backup) directories/files with a backup program.

The 3-backup program requires the VCB framework to offload VM snapshots so that the VM no longer has snapshot functionality.

4 files are restored to the original VM via the LAN by the backup program installed in the VM.

Advantages of this approach include: all VMs can be backed up using one backup program in the VCB Proxy without having to be equipped with one program per VM. By the method, the VM resources can be completely backed up, and only a small amount of large VMDK files need to be simply backed up. The image can be restored quickly because only a large image needs to be restored without having to search for a large number of small images. The backup process is transferred to the VCB proxy server, and the cost of the ESX server is reduced. The backup method can be realized in SAN without LAN, and theoretically, the backup speed is faster than that of the backup method based on LAN.

Disadvantages of this approach include: the availability of automation and ease of use depends on the capabilities of the third party backup software. Without some form of backup software integrated into the backup process, it becomes very complicated to deploy this approach. If a file is to be restored directly to a VM, backup software needs to be installed in the VM. For Windows systems without integrated VSS, the image backup provided by the VCB will leave the data in the same state. The VCB does not provide a recovery mechanism for the Windows system state, and although it is possible to successfully achieve a full server recovery, if the system state is disturbed while operating the VM, a full recovery cannot be guaranteed.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a VMware virtual machine backup method under a CDM scene, which aims to overcome the technical problem.

A VMware virtual machine backup method under a CDM scene comprises the following steps,

step one, a user connects and transmits a backup task to a vCenter, the vCenter is connected to a corresponding virtual machine according to a virtual machine id of the backup task, and a change block tracking module of the vCenter is started and used for monitoring the update condition of disk data in real time;

step two, the vCenter downloads configuration files of a folder where the virtual machine is located and stores the configuration files in a backup software server, wherein the configuration files comprise vmx, nvram and vmxf files;

step three, creating a snapshot file of the virtual machine at the current moment, wherein the snapshot file comprises a description file of the current snapshot and a snapshot data file of the current snapshot, and the description file comprises a file list for explaining the file list and the type included in the snapshot data file of the current snapshot;

step four, downloading a file except a folder of the virtual machine and storing the file in a backup software server, wherein the name and the format of the downloaded file are consistent with those of the file in the folder of the virtual machine;

and step five, opening a virtual machine-flat.vmdk disk connected with the snapshot by using VDDK, acquiring the total number of the disks, sequentially acquiring the change areas of the disks according to the time sequence by the change block tracking module, sequentially reading the block information in the change areas of the disks, and writing and storing the block information in the backup software server.

Preferably, the sequentially acquiring the change areas of the disk according to the change block tracking module includes tracking the virtual machine according to the VMkernel of the change block tracking module, acquiring the changed or changing block of the information on the disk where the virtual machine is located, and taking the changed or changing block of the information as the change area.

Preferably, the writing and storing the block information in the backup software server further includes performing virtual machine recovery according to the block information, the configuration file, and the vmdk file stored in the backup software server.

Preferably, the virtual machine recovery according to the block information, the configuration file and the vmdk file stored in the backup software server comprises,

s1, connecting vCenter by a user, creating a virtual machine folder at a storage position appointed by the user,

s2, transmitting the vmx,. Nvram,. Vmxf,. Vmdk files stored in the backup software server to a virtual machine folder, registering the virtual machine according to the vmx virtual machine configuration file, acquiring the disk information of the virtual machine,

and S3, creating a virtual machine disk in the virtual machine folder, opening the virtual machine-flat.vmdk disk of the backup software service end through VDDK, acquiring the block information file generated during backup from the backup software service end, reading the block information file in the backup file, writing the block information file into the virtual machine disk, and completing recovery.

Preferably, the opening of the virtual machine-flat.vmdk disk of the backup software service end through VDDK includes acquiring a disk sequence when the virtual machine is backed up, and the VDDK sequentially opens the disk, writes data in the backup file into the disk, and closes the disk according to the disk sequence.

The invention provides a backup method of a VMware virtual machine under a CDM scene, which realizes backup and recovery of the VMware virtual machine and is suitable for the CDM scene; the backed-up file has the same format as the original file of the virtual machine, can be directly used for mounting the virtual machine, and can be mounted and used in a short time; the method does not depend on a host, does not need shutdown operation for backup and recovery, and does not influence the normal work of the virtual machine; and the method is compatible with a plurality of versions, and the backup and recovery speed is high.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a bus exception handling apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the virtual machine backup process of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the virtual machine recovery process of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of the method of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 1, the method of this embodiment may include:

CDM (Copy Data Management) Copy Data Management, also called replica Data Management, is a method of reducing storage consumption, including eliminating unnecessary duplication of production Data. Backup software runs independently of other enterprise applications and typically creates multiple copies of the same data. However, redundant copies of the same data can waste storage space, reduce network performance, and make it more difficult to access or recover mission critical data. CDM software can help eliminate these problems by reducing the number of complete copies using data virtualization. Data with application consistency guarantee is obtained from a production environment through a snapshot technology, a 'golden copy' (golden copy) is generated on non-production storage, the 'golden copy' data format is an original disk format, and the 'golden copy' data format can be virtualized into a plurality of copies to be directly mounted to a server for backup recovery, disaster recovery or development test respectively.

The vCenter Server is a VMware's centralized management utility that manages virtual machines, multiple ESxi hosts, and all related components from a centralized location. The vCenter is provided by a user, added to the system, and the management functions of the vCenter are used through the vSphere api.

When backing up a virtual machine, the process of backing up the virtual machine is shown in fig. 2, and the method comprises the steps that firstly, a user provides ip, a user name and a password of a vCenter to be connected with the vCenter, and transmits a backup task to the vCenter, the vCenter is connected to a corresponding virtual machine according to a virtual machine id of the backup task, and a Changed Block Tracking module (CBT) of the vCenter is started and is used for monitoring the update condition of disk data in real time;

the CBT is a VMkernel function that can track the memory blocks of a virtual machine as they change over time. VMkernel tracks block changes on the virtual machine, enhancing the backup process for applications developed to utilize VMware's vStorage API, which enables incremental backups to recognize last backed up changes, writing only changes or blocks in use.

the description file may include the filename of the snapshot, file format, MD5, snapshot time, file list, etc. Wherein the file name refers to a saved file of the snapshot file; the file format refers to a file format stored by a snapshot file of the virtual machine, such as delta, raw and the like; MD5 refers to the integrity check code of the snapshot file itself; the snapshot time refers to the time of snapshot generation and is stored in a standard format of year, month, day, hour, minute and second; the file list is a list of files and types included in the snapshot file, and includes, for example, a disk snapshot file 1, a file 2, and a file 3, a memory snapshot file 1 and a file 2, and the like.

Step four, downloading a file except a flat.vmdk of a folder where the virtual machine is located, storing the vmdk file in a backup software server, wherein the name and the format of the downloaded file are consistent with those of the file in the folder where the virtual machine is located;

The method comprises the steps of sequentially acquiring the change areas of the disk according to the change block tracking module, tracking the virtual machine according to the VMkernel of the change block tracking module, acquiring the changed or changing blocks of the information on the disk where the virtual machine is located, taking the changed or changing blocks as change areas, sequentially reading the block information in the change areas of the disk, and writing and storing the block information in the backup software server.

The virtual machine recovery is performed according to the block information, the configuration file, and the vmdk file stored in the backup software server, as shown in fig. 3, including,

The method comprises the steps that a virtual machine-flat.vmdk disk of a backup software server side is opened through VDDK, the disk is opened, data in a backup file is written into the disk, and the disk is closed according to the disk sequence by the VDDK.

The beneficial effects of the whole are as follows: the invention provides a VMware virtual machine backup method under a CDM scene, which realizes backup and recovery of the VMware virtual machine, is suitable for the CDM scene, has consistent full backup and incremental backup processes, can obtain a full backup by incrementally backing up a small amount of data after the first full backup, has higher efficiency than the traditional backup and saves space; the backed-up file has the same format as the original file of the virtual machine, can be directly used for mounting the virtual machine, and can be mounted and used in a short time; the method does not depend on a host, does not need shutdown operation for backup and recovery, and does not influence the normal work of the virtual machine; and the method is compatible with a plurality of versions, and the backup and recovery speed is high.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A VMware virtual machine backup method under a CDM scene is characterized by comprising the following steps,

2. The VMware virtual machine backup method under the CDM scene, according to claim 1, characterized in that, sequentially acquiring the change area of the disk according to the change block tracking module comprises tracking the virtual machine according to the VMkernel of the change block tracking module, acquiring the block of which the information on the disk where the virtual machine is located has been changed or is being changed, and taking the block of which the information has been changed or is being changed as the change area.

3. The method for backing up the VMware virtual machine under the CDM scene, according to claim 1, wherein the writing and storing the block information in the backup software server further comprises performing virtual machine recovery according to the block information, the configuration file and the vmdk file stored in the backup software server.

4. The VMware virtual machine backup method under CDM scenario of claim 3, wherein said performing virtual machine recovery according to block information, configuration file and vmdk file stored in backup software server comprises,

5. The VMware virtual machine backup method under CDM scenario of claim 4, wherein said opening the virtual machine-flat.vmdk disk of the backup software service end through VDDK comprises obtaining the disk sequence when the virtual machine is backed up, VDDK opening the disk, writing the data in the backup file into the disk, closing the disk in sequence according to the disk sequence.