Systems and methods for collapsing a derivative version of a primary storage volume

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer readable media for restoring virtual machines. In a particular embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable medium is provided having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method for restoring virtual machines. The method comprises generating a snapshot of a storage volume representing a virtual machine in a virtual machine environment and storing the snapshot in the virtual machine environment which tracks changes to the snapshot that occur since the snapshot was generated. Based on the changes, the method provides merging differences between the storage volume and the snapshot.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method for restoring virtual machines, the method comprising:
 generating a snapshot of a storage volume representing a virtual machine in a virtual machine environment;   storing the snapshot in the virtual machine environment which tracks changes to the snapshot that occur since the snapshot was generated; and   based on the changes, merging differences between the storage volume and the snapshot.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the storage volume comprises a v-disk file. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the storage volume comprises a plurality of data blocks. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the changes comprise blocks of the plurality of data blocks that are changed, allocated, and non-transient. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein merging the differences comprises copying only the changes to the storage volume. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the changes are identified based on metadata. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises removing the snapshot after merging the differences between the storage volume and the snapshot. 
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method for controlling storage volume snapshots, the method comprising:
 generating a copy of a storage volume in a networked environment, wherein the storage volume comprises a plurality of data blocks;   generating a version of the copy by modifying at least one block of the plurality of data blocks; and   identifying the at least one block and storing the at least one block in the networked environment.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the storage volume comprises a v-disk file. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one block comprises one or more blocks of the plurality of data blocks that are changed, allocated, and non-transient. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises merging the at least one block into the storage volume. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises removing the version after merging the at least one block. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one block is identified based on metadata. 
     
     
         14 . A system for controlling a virtual storage volume in a networked computing environment, comprising:
 a processor configured to generate a snapshot of a storage volume representing a virtual machine in a virtual machine environment;   a storage medium configured to store the snapshot in the virtual machine environment which tracks changes to the snapshot that occur since the snapshot was generated; and   the processor further configured to merge differences between the storage volume and the snapshot based on the changes.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the storage volume comprises a v-disk file. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the storage volume comprises a plurality of data blocks. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the changes comprise blocks of the plurality of data blocks that are changed, allocated, and non-transient. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the processor configured to merge the differences comprises the processor configured to copying only the changes to the storage volume. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the changes are identified based on metadata. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the storage system is further configured to remove the snapshot after the differences are merged between the storage volume and the snapshot.