Data Deduplication in a Virtualization Environment

摘要

Techniques are described herein that are capable of optimizing (i.e., deduplicating) data in a virtualization environment. For example, optimization designations (a.k.a. deduplication designations) may be assigned to respective regions of a virtualized storage file. A virtualized storage file is a file that is configured to be mounted as a disk or a volume to provide a file system interface for accessing hosted files. In accordance with this example, each optimization designation indicates an extent to which the respective region is to be optimized (i.e., deduplicated). In another example, a virtualized storage file is mounted to provide a virtual disk that includes hosted files. In accordance with this example, optimization designations are assigned to the respective hosted files. In further accordance with this example, each optimization designation indicates an extent to which the respective hosted file is to be optimized.

主权项

1. A system to indicate an extent to which each hosted file that is included in a virtual disk is to be optimized, the system comprising:
at least one element including at least one of (a) one or more processors, (b) hardware logic, or (c) electrical circuitry, the at least one element configured to mount a virtualized storage file to provide a virtual disk that includes a plurality of hosted files, the at least one element configured to review an on-disk format of a file system that is associated with the virtual disk to obtain metadata that indicates that each hosted file of the plurality of hosted files corresponds to one or more of a plurality of virtualized storage file offsets in the virtualized storage file, the plurality of virtualized storage file offsets corresponding to respective regions in a plurality of regions of the virtualized storage file, the at least one element configured to assign a plurality of optimization designations to the plurality of respective hosted files, each optimization designation assigned to the respective hosted file based on at least one property of that hosted file, each optimization designation indicating an extent to which the respective hosted file is to be optimized.