US 12,229,577 B2
Virtual machine file management using file-level snapshots
Da Long Wang, Hangzhou (CN); Qin Yue Chen, Shanghai (CN); Xue Lian Feng, Ningbo (CN); Yang Liang, Beijing (CN); Yang Yang Feng, Ningbo (CN); and Bin Xiong, Beijing (CN)
Assigned to INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed by INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Armonk, NY (US)
Filed on Apr. 23, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/238,604.
Prior Publication US 2022/0342686 A1, Oct. 27, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 9/455 (2018.01); G06F 16/11 (2019.01); G06F 16/174 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 9/45558 (2013.01) [G06F 16/128 (2019.01); G06F 16/174 (2019.01); G06F 2009/45583 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45591 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer implemented method by a virtual machine (VM) file management system for managing a VM executing on an operating system (OS), comprising:
generating, for a VM file processed by the VM, a series of a plurality of file-level snapshots in a stack of snapshots, wherein each of the plurality of file-level snapshots are responsive to a modification of the VM file by a respective user and include:
a time attribute indicating a time when a respective file-level snapshot was created,
a specific version of the VM file as modified at the time indicated by the time attribute, and
a user attribute indicating a role of the respective user associated with the modification;
receiving a request to merge files, the request to merge files including a selected role; and
merging versions of VM files only for the selected role to generate a modified VM file that acts as a current VM file to be processed by the VM, wherein
the plurality of file-level snapshots include a plurality of different roles respectively having a plurality of different privileges for modifying the VM file, and
the merging versions
rolls back those one or more versions of VM files associated with the selected role, and
does not roll back those one or more versions of VM files not associated with the selected role.