Cross-platform virtual machine backup and replication

Abstract

According to certain aspects, a method can include, at a first time, performing an incremental backup of first data associated with a virtual machine (VM) residing on a source client computing device from the source client computing device to one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup copy of the VM, where the VM is associated with a hypervisor of a first type; receiving an instruction to restore the first data associated with the VM from the one or more secondary storage devices; retrieving the first data from the one or more secondary storage devices; and applying the first data to second data associated with a replicated VM running on the destination client computing device, where the replicated VM is a replicated version of the VM, and where the second data corresponds to data of the VM at a time before the first time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of backing up a virtual machine in an independent format, the method comprising:
 with one or more secondary storage computing devices comprising one or more hardware processors,
 receiving, from a first source computing device, first data that comprises a first backup of the virtual machine (VM) corresponding to a first time, wherein the first data is constructed according to a first format that corresponds with a first type of hypervisor that runs the VM; 
 converting the first data into second data based on the first type of hypervisor, wherein the second data is constructed according to a common format different from the first format; 
 storing the second data in a secondary storage subsystem; 
 receiving, from the first source computing device, third data comprising an incremental backup of the VM corresponding to a second time later than the first time, wherein the third data comprises an incremental change between the VM at the first time and the VM at the second time; 
 converting the third data into fourth data based on the first type of hypervisor, wherein the fourth data is constructed according to the common format; and 
 storing the fourth data in the secondary storage subsystem.