Systems and Methods for Maintaining a Virtual Failover Volume of a Target Computing System

Abstract

Some of the methods provided herein may include periodically revising a mirror of the target computing system, according to a predetermined backup schedule, the mirror being stored on the virtual failover volume resident on an appliance that is operatively associated with the target computing system, by periodically comparing the mirror to a configuration of the target computing system to determine changed data blocks relative to the mirror, storing the changed data blocks as one or more differential files in the virtual failover volume, and incorporating the changed data blocks into the mirror. In some embodiments, the systems and methods may be utilized to resparsify the virtual failover volume.

1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method for maintaining a virtual failover volume of a target computing system, the method comprising:
 periodically revising a mirror of the target computing system by:
 comparing the mirror to a configuration of the target computing system to determine changed data blocks relative to the mirror; 
 updating the mirror with the changed blocks; and 
 creating a bootable image file from the revised mirror. 
   
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising creating the virtual failover volume on an appliance. 
     
     
         33 . The method according to  claim 32 , further comprising formatting the virtual failover volume as a sparse file, utilizing a new technology file system (NTFS) file system. 
     
     
         34 . The method according to  claim 32 , wherein if the target computing system includes two or more storage mediums, the step of creating includes creating a virtual failover volume for each of the two or more storage mediums, each of the two or more storage mediums being formatted as a sparse file, utilizing a new technology file system (NTFS). 
     
     
         35 . The method according to  claim 33 , further comprising resparsifying the virtual failover volume by determining data blocks marked for deletion on the virtual failover volume and freeing the data blocks marked for deletion by informing the virtual machine that the data blocks marked for deletion are available for reuse. 
     
     
         36 . The method according to  claim 31 , wherein periodically revising the mirror of the target computing system includes moving data blocks from the target computing system into a backing store, the backing store including a root file system utilizable by an operating system of a virtual machine. 
     
     
         37 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising storing the changed data blocks as one or more differential files in the virtual failover volume. 
     
     
         38 . The method according to  claim 31 , wherein creating a bootable image file includes:
 inheriting copy data blocks from the mirror into the bootable image file; and   inheriting changed data blocks from the one or more differential files into the bootable image.   
     
     
         39 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising periodically updating a revisable differential file by:
 comparing the revisable differential file to the target computing system to determine changed data blocks relative to the revisable differential file; and   combining the determined changed data blocks into the revisable differential file.   
     
     
         40 . The method according to  claim 39 , wherein the revisable differential file is stored in a differential file archive on the virtual failover volume each time the step of periodically updating the revisable differential file is executed. 
     
     
         41 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising rendering a previous mirror of the target computing system at an arbitrary point in time by utilizing one or more mirrors and one or more differential files. 
     
     
         42 . The method according to  claim 31 , further comprising executing a virtual machine to boot the bootable image file upon receiving information indicative of an occurrence of a failover event. 
     
     
         43 . The method according to  claim 42 , wherein the virtual machine is adapted to access files from the virtual failover volume by utilizing a copy on write functionality to gather at least one of data blocks corresponding to the file from the mirror and changed data blocks corresponding to one or more to the files from the one or more differential files. 
     
     
         44 . The method according to  claim 43 , further comprising utilizing a copy on write functionality to store data blocks created by the virtual machine on the virtual failover volume. 
     
     
         45 . A system for maintaining a virtual failover volume of a file structure of a target computing system, the system comprising:
 a memory for storing computer readable instructions for maintaining a virtual failover volume of a file structure of a target computing system; and   a processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to:
 periodically revising a mirror of the target computing system by:
 periodically comparing the mirror to a configuration of the target computing system to determine changed data blocks relative to the mirror; 
 incorporating the changed data blocks into the mirror; 
 creating a bootable image file from the revised mirror; and 
 booting the bootable image file via a virtual machine on the appliance to create a virtual failover computing system. 
 
   
     
     
         46 . The system according to  claim 45 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to create the virtual failover volume on the appliance. 
     
     
         47 . The system according to  claim 46 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to format the virtual failover volume as a sparse file, utilizing a new technology file system (NTFS) file system. 
     
     
         48 . The system according to  claim 47 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to resparsify the virtual failover volume by determining data blocks marked for deletion on the virtual failover volume and freeing the data blocks marked for deletion by informing the virtual machine that the data blocks marked for deletion are available for reuse. 
     
     
         49 . The system according to  claim 46 , wherein if the file structure includes two or more file structures, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to create a virtual failover volume for each of the two or more file structures, each of the two or more storage file structures being formatted as a sparse file, utilizing a new technology file system (NTFS). 
     
     
         50 . A method, comprising:
 comparing a mirror of a target computing system to a current configuration of the target computing system;   determine changed data blocks relative to the mirror;   updating the mirror with the changed data blocks;   creating a bootable image file from the updated mirror; and   booting the bootable image file to create a virtual failover computing system.