Selecting files for restoration from block-level backup for virtual machines

Abstract

A data storage system receives a user instruction through a user interface to restore a specific virtual machine file from a block-level backup. The system accesses a file index which is created during the block-level backup by accessing the file allocation table of the underlying host system and associating the blocks with the file location information of the virtual machine files stored in the file allocation table. The system further creates a file level table based at least in part on the virtual machine file information stored in the file index, displays a listing of the virtual machine files from the file level table, and receives a user selected virtual machine file to restore.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented method to select a virtual file for restoration from block-level data protection with file-level restore granularity of the virtual files in a data management system, the method comprising:
 receiving an instruction to perform a file restore of a virtual file associated with a virtual machine backed up by a block-level backup procedure,   the virtual machine associated with a host operating system having a file allocation table (FAT) comprising file information of the virtual files, wherein during the block-level backup procedure, an index is created that associates the file information for each virtual file with a location of a corresponding block of data in a secondary storage device;   automatically creating a file level table of the virtual files backed up by the block-level backup procedure based on the file information stored in the index;   automatically displaying the file level table to a user on a graphical user interface (GUI); and   receiving an indication of a selected file to restore from the file level table.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising reading the index. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein a media agent associated with the virtual machine reads the index. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the index associates location information from the block-level backup procedure with the file information from the FAT. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein a media agent accesses the FAT. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the media agent is further configured to automatically restore one or more transferred blocks of data in the secondary storage device that are associated with at least the portion of the selected file without restoring transferred blocks of data associated with other than the selected file to create restored blocks of data. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the file information from the FAT comprises, for each virtual file, file metadata including a linked list of one or more clusters across which the virtual file is stored on a data store and a file name. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the file level table comprises names of the virtual files and the indication comprises the name of the selected file. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the file level table further comprises a listing of protected versions of each virtual file and a date of each protected version and the indication further comprises the date of the protected version of the selected file. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a media agent retrieves the file information from the FAT and adds the file information to a media agent index associated with the media agent for each virtual file in each block of data backed up by the block-level backup procedure. 
     
     
         11 . A system to select a virtual file for restoration from block-level data protection with file-level restore granularity of the virtual files in a data management system, the system comprising:
 computer hardware; and   computer-readable storage comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the computer hardware, cause the computer hardware to perform operations defined by the computer-readable instructions, the computer-readable instructions configured to:
 receive an instruction to perform a file restore of a virtual file associated with a virtual machine backed up by a block-level backup procedure, the virtual machine associated with a host operating system having a file allocation table (FAT) comprising file information of the virtual files, wherein when blocks of data comprising the virtual files are transferred from a data store to a secondary storage device to create a secondary copy of the virtual files during the block-level backup procedure, an index is created that associates the file information for each virtual file with a location of a corresponding block of data in the secondary storage device; 
 automatically create a file level table of the virtual files backed up by the block-level backup procedure based on the file information stored in the index; 
 automatically display the file level table to a user on a graphical user interface (GUI); and 
 receive an indication of a selected file to restore from the file level table. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to read the index. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12  wherein a media agent associated with the virtual machine reads the index. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the index associates location information from the block-level backup procedure with the file information from the FAT. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein a media agent accesses the FAT. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the media agent is further configured to automatically restore one or more transferred blocks of data in the secondary storage device that are associated with at least the portion of the selected file without restoring transferred blocks of data associated with other than the selected file to create restored blocks of data. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the file information from the FAT comprises, for each virtual file, file metadata including a linked list of one or more clusters across which the virtual file is stored on the data store and a file name. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the file level table comprises names of the virtual files and the indication comprises the name of the selected file. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the file level table further comprises a listing of protected versions of each virtual file and a date of each protected version and the indication further comprises the date of the protected version of the selected file. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11  wherein a media agent retrieves the file information from the FAT and adds the file information to a media agent index associated with the media agent for each virtual file in each block of data backed up by the block-level backup procedure.