US 11,681,589 B2
System and method for distributed-agent backup of virtual machines
Victor Batraev, Sofia (BG); Serguei Beloussov, Costa del Sol (SG); and Stanislav Protasov, Singapore (SG)
Assigned to Acronis International GmbH, Schaffhausen (CH)
Filed by Acronis International Gmbh, Schaffhausen (CH)
Filed on Mar. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/301,249.
Prior Publication US 2022/0318098 A1, Oct. 6, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 12/00 (2006.01); G06F 11/14 (2006.01); G06F 9/455 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 11/1464 (2013.01) [G06F 9/45558 (2013.01); G06F 11/1451 (2013.01); G06F 11/1461 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45595 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer implemented method for consistent data backup of a virtual machine with one or more installed applications using an inside backup agent running inside the virtual machine and an outside backup agent running outside the virtual machine, the method comprising:
the outside backup agent initiating a backup process for a target virtual machine containing a system object specified in a backup task;
the inside backup agent installed on the target virtual machine receiving a notification that the outside backup agent running outside of the target virtual machine is ready to create a backup copy of the virtual machine;
the inside backup agent collecting meta-data, wherein meta-data defines a data structure and state of the system object for a definite system state of the target virtual machine;
the outside backup agent receiving notification that meta-data is collected on the target virtual machine;
the outside backup agent creating a backup copy of the target virtual machine for the definite system state;
consolidating backup copy and meta-data related to the target virtual machine into a consistent backup copy;
wherein the inside backup agent stores only file-system metadata and files required for availability of the one or more installed applications; and
wherein the inside backup agent requires fewer system resources than are required by the outside backup agent.