Systems and methods for continuous data protection with near zero recovery point

Abstract

Example embodiments relate generally to systems and methods for continuous data protection (CDP) and more specifically to an input and output (I/O) filtering framework and log management system to seek a near-zero recovery point objective (RPO).

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a backup site, I/O data intercepted from an I/O stream between a virtual machine (VM) and a virtualization server;   flushing the I/O data to a first log file, the first log file being included in a first plurality of log files, each log file in the first plurality of log files, other than a second log file included in the first plurality of log files, including the I/O data intercepted from the I/O stream between the VM and the virtualization server, the second log file, of the first plurality of log files, further including a base snapshot of the VM to form a recoverable snapshot-log chain; and   
       pushing data to a replication target based on the recoverable snapshot-log chain. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 establishing an instance of a log replication sender at a backup site to communicate with a log replication receiver at a replication target; and   
       determining a request for data from the replication target. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the first plurality of log files includes a second plurality of log files, the method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 buffering the I/O data into memory before the flushing the I/O data to a log file; and 
 removing the second plurality of log files from the recoverable snapshot-log chain based on a first service level agreement policy, the second plurality of log files including the second log file. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising configuring the log replication receiver at the replication target to run at an unmodified existing snapshot recovery service. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising configuring a CDP metadata service to communicate with the log replication sender and the log replication receiver. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 configuring the log replication sender to identify a log file to be replicated in the first plurality of log files at the log receiver; and   
       based on the identified log file including a closed file, including contents of the log file in a closed replication. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the configuring the log replication sender to identify a log file to be replicated in the first plurality of log files at the log receiver and, based on the identified log file including an open file receiving I/O data from the intercepted I/O stream, including the I/O data in a live replication. 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 at least one processor for executing machine-readable instructions; and   a memory storing instructions configured to cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, at a backup site, I/O data intercepted from an I/O stream between a virtual machine (VM) and a virtualization server; 
 flushing the I/O data to a first log file, the first log file being included in a first plurality of log files, each log file in the first plurality of log files, other than a second log file included in the first plurality of log files, including the/O data intercepted from the I/O stream between the VM and the virtualization server, the second log file, of the first plurality of log files, further including a base snapshot of the VM to form a recoverable snapshot-log chain; and 
   pushing data to a replication target based on the recoverable snapshot-log chain.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 establishing an instance of a log replication sender at a backup site to communicate with a log replication receiver at the replication target; and   
       determining a request for data from a replication target. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the first plurality of log files includes a second plurality of log files, the system of  claim 1  wherein the operations further comprise:
 buffering the I/O data into memory before the flushing the I/O data to a log file; and 
 removing the second plurality of log files from the recoverable snapshot-log chain based on a first service level agreement policy, the second plurality of log files including the second log file. 
 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise configuring the log replication receiver at the replication target to run at an unmodified existing snapshot recovery service. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise configuring a CDP metadata service to communicate with the log replication sender and the log replication receiver. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 configuring the log replication sender to identify a log file to be replicated in the first plurality of log files at the log receiver, and   
       based on the identified log file including a closed file, including contents of the log file in a closed replication. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the configuring the log replication sender to identify a log file to be replicated in the first plurality of log files at the log receiver and, based on the identified log file including an open file receiving I/O data from the intercepted I/O stream, including the I/O data in a live replication. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory, machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when read by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations in a method for continuous data protection for a virtual machine (VM) having a virtual disk, the operations comprising:
 receiving, at a backup site, I/O data intercepted from an I/O stream between a virtual machine (VM) and a virtualization server;   flushing the I/O data to a first log file, the first log file being included in a first plurality of log files, each log file in the first plurality of log files, other than a second log file included in the first plurality of log files, including the I/O data intercepted from the I/O stream between the VM and the virtualization server, the second log file, of the first plurality of log files, further including a base snapshot of the VM to form a recoverable snapshot-log chain; and   
       pushing data to a replication target based on the recoverable snapshot-log chain. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium, of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 establishing an instance of a log replication sender at a backup site to communicate with a log replication receiver at a replication target; and   
       determining a request for data from the replication target. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium, of  claim 16 , wherein the first plurality of log files includes a second plurality of log files and wherein the operations further comprise:
 buffering the I/O data into memory before the flushing the I/O data to a log file; and   removing the second plurality of log files from the recoverable snapshot-log chain based on a first service level agreement policy, the second plurality of log files including the second log file.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise configuring the log replication receiver at the replication target to run at an unmodified existing snapshot recovery service. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise configuring a CDP metadata service to communicate with the log replication sender and the log replication receiver. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 configuring the log replication sender to identify a log file to be replicated in the first plurality of log files at the log receiver; and   
       based on the identified log file including a closed file, including contents of the log file in a closed replication.