Vmware, Inc.

Jairam Ranganathan

Gregory Hutchins

Joel Baxter

Osten Kit Colbert

Robert Bosch

Haripriya Rajagopal

Li Zheng

Steven Michael Kusalo

A method for migrating a virtual machine disk (VM disk) from first physical storage to second physical storage while the virtual machine (VM) is running, the method comprising: (a) creating a first child VM disk to which writes are redirected from a first parent VM disk, the first parent VM disk being on the first physical storage; (b) copying the first parent VM disk to the second physical storage as a second parent VM disk; (c) re-parenting the first VM child disk to the second parent VM disk; and (d) consolidating the first child VM disk and the second parent VM disk.

Online virtual machine disk migration

A method and software is described for recreating on a target datastore a set of hierarchical files that are present on a source datastore. A content identifier (ID) is maintained for each component of the set of hierarchical files. The content ID of a component is updated when its contents are modified. The child component is copied from the source datastore to the target datastore. The content ID corresponding to the parent component on the source datastore is compared with content IDs corresponding to files present on the target datastore. When a matching content ID is discovered, it infers a copy of the parent component. The matching file on the target datastore is associated with the copied child component so that the matching file becomes a new parent component to the copied child component, thereby recreating the set of hierarchical files on the target.

Efficient reconstruction of virtual disk hierarchies across storage domains

A method for migrating a virtual machine disk (VM disk) from first physical storage to second physical storage while the virtual machine (VM) is running, the method comprising: (a) taking a snapshot of the VM disk as represented by a first parent VM disk stored on the first physical storage, whereby a first child VM disk is created on one of the first or second physical storage; (b) copying the first parent VM disk to the second physical storage as a second parent VM disk; (c) re-parenting the first VM child disk to the second parent VM disk; and (d) consolidating the first child VM disk and the second parent VM disk.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Jairam Ranganathan