Application level live synchronization across computing platforms such as cloud platforms

Abstract

An illustrative “Live Synchronization” feature creates and maintains a ready standby “synchronized application” that is available to take over as a failover solution for a “primary” application that operates in a production environment, but will do so on a different computing platform (e.g., physical server, virtual machine, container, etc.), and possibly on a differed kind of computing platform than, the primary. The illustrative system has specialized features and components for discovering and singling out each primary application and identifying and locating its disk image, e.g., VMDK file. The application is Live Synched to the standby/failover application without reference to whether and how other co-resident applications might be treated. The standby/failover destination supporting the synchronized application may be located anywhere, whether in the same data center as the primary or geographically remote or in a private or public cloud setting.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for synchronizing data for an application to a standby copy of the application across computing platforms, the method comprising:
 by a first computing platform comprising one or more hardware processors,
 wherein the first computing platform is in communication with a second computing platform that hosts at least a first application, and 
 wherein primary data for the first application is stored in first data storage that is communicatively coupled to the second computing platform: 
   identifying and locating a first disk image of the primary data for the first application;   based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native tracker of changed data blocks that are issued by the first application, pushing a changed block filter to the second computing platform for tracking the changed data blocks that are issued by the first application;   instructing the changed block filter at the second computing platform to transmit the changed data blocks to the first computing platform; and   causing the changed data blocks received from the changed block filter to be applied to a copy of the first disk image that resides in second data storage, which is distinct from the first data storage that stores the primary data for the first application; and   wherein the copy of the first disk image at the second data storage is accessible to a standby copy of the first application that is hosted by a third computing platform, which is distinct from the first computing platform and from the second computing platform.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 by the first computing platform, based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native utility for communicating with the first application, pushing a first utility to the second computing platform; 
 by the first computing platform, using the first utility to establish communications with the first application; and 
 by the first computing platform, using the first utility to identify and locate the first disk image of the primary data for the first application. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 by the first computing platform, based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native utility for communicating with the first application, pushing a first utility to the second computing platform; 
 by the first computing platform, using the first utility to establish communications with the first application; and 
 by the first computing platform, using the first utility to discover a file system storing the primary data for the first application. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 by the first computing platform, based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native utility for communicating with the first application, pushing a first utility to the second computing platform; 
 by the first computing platform, using the first utility to establish communications with the first application, and 
 by the first computing platform, using the first utility to determine whether the first application comprises the application-native tracker. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of: the first computing platform, the second computing platform, and the third computing platform, operates in a cloud platform. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of: the first data storage and the second data storage is configured on a cloud platform. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first application and the standby copy of the first application executes on a virtual machine at the second computing platform and the third computing platform, respectively. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the copy of the first disk image is continuously replicated from the changed data blocks that are issued by the first application after an initial backup of the first disk image. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein based on a failure detected at the first application, the standby copy of the first application executes at the third computing platform using the copy of the first disk image. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first application is synchronized to the standby copy of the first application based on the first application being selected for synchronization, and further wherein a second application that is also hosted by the second computing platform is not selected for synchronization to a corresponding standby copy. 
     
     
         11 . A system for synchronizing data for an application to a standby copy of the application across computing platforms, the system comprising:
 a first computing platform comprising one or more hardware processors,
 wherein the first computing platform is in communication with a second computing platform that hosts at least a first application, and 
 wherein primary data for the first application is stored in first data storage that is communicatively coupled to the second computing platform; and 
   wherein the first computing platform is configured to:
 identify, at the first data storage, a first disk image of the primary data for the first application; 
 based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native tracker of changed data blocks that are issued by the first application, push a changed block filter to the second computing platform for tracking the changed data blocks that are issued by the first application; 
 instruct the changed block filter at the second computing platform to transmit the changed data blocks to the first computing platform; and 
 cause the changed data blocks received from the changed block filter to be applied to a copy of the first disk image that resides in second data storage, which is distinct from the first data storage that stores the primary data for the first application; and 
   wherein the first application is synchronized to a standby copy of the first application, which is hosted by a third computing platform that is distinct from the first computing platform and from the second computing platform, and wherein the copy of the first disk image at the second data storage is accessible to the standby copy of the first application.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first computing platform is further configured to:
 based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native utility for communicating with the first application, pushing a first utility to the second computing platform,
 using the first utility to establish communications with the first application, and 
 using the first utility to identify and locate the first disk image of the primary data for the first application. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first computing platform is further configured to:
 based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native utility for communicating with the first application, pushing a first utility to the second computing platform,
 using the first utility to establish communications with the first application, and 
 using the first utility to discover a file system storing the primary data for the first application. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first computing platform is further configured to:
 based on determining that the first application lacks an application-native utility for communicating with the first application, pushing a first utility to the second computing platform,
 using the first utility to establish communications with the first application, and 
 using the first utility to determine whether the first application comprises the application-native tracker. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of: the first computing platform, the second computing platform, and the third computing platform, operates in a cloud platform. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of: the first data storage and the second data storage is configured on a cloud platform. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first application and the standby copy of the first application executes on a virtual machine at the second computing platform and the third computing platform, respectively. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the copy of the first disk image is continuously replicated from the changed data blocks that are issued by the first application after an initial backup of the first disk image. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein based on a failure detected at the first application, the standby copy of the first application executes at the third computing platform using the copy of the first disk image. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first application is synchronized to the standby copy of the first application based on the first application being selected for synchronization, and further wherein a second application that is also hosted by the second computing platform is not selected for synchronization to a corresponding standby copy.