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 method comprising:
assigning a plurality of optimization designations to a plurality of regions of a virtualized storage file, the plurality of regions corresponding to a plurality of respective virtualized storage file offsets in the virtualized storage file, each optimization designation being assigned to a respective region of the plurality of regions based on at least one property of a hosted file that is mapped to the respective virtualized storage file offset that corresponds to that region, each optimization designation indicating an extent to which the respective region is to be optimized; optimizing each region to the extent that is indicated by the respective optimization designation that is assigned to that region, said optimizing comprising: optimizing a first region of the plurality of regions to an extent that is indicated by a first optimization designation that is assigned to the first region to provide an optimized representation of the first region; in response to optimizing the first region, determining one or more changes that occur with respect to the first region since optimizing the first region; generating a difference file that specifies the one or more changes; and optimizing the difference file to the extent that is indicated by the first optimization designation without optimizing the optimized representation of the first region to the extent that is indicated by the first optimization designation.