Symantec Assigned Four Patents

Proxy backup of virtual disk image files on NAS
Symantec Corp., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,438,349) developed by five co-inventors for a "proxy backup of virtual disk image files on NAS devices."

The co-inventors are James Robert Olson, Afton, MN, Timothy M. Naftel, Longmont, CO, David Teater, Minneapolis, Sinh D. Nguyen, Eden Prairie, MN, and James P. Ohr, St. Paul, MN.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system and method for backing up a VM executing on a virtualization server computer are described. A snapshot of a virtual disk image file of the VM may be created on a network-attached storage (NAS) device coupled to the virtualization server computer. The snapshot may be used to backup the virtual disk image file from the NAS device to a backup storage device without transferring the virtual disk image file through the virtualization server computer. Mapping information useable to access the plurality of files stored in the virtual disk image file on an individual basis may be created and stored together with the backup copy of the virtual disk image file on the backup storage device."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 21, 2009 (12/545,450).

Dynamically backing up database files
Symantec Operating, Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,429,359) developed by Milin Desai, Sunnyvale, CA, and Michael Payne, Archer, FL, for a "method and apparatus for dynamically backing up database files."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and apparatus for backing up a storage system, e.g., one or more disk drives. In one embodiment, an apparatus utilizes a volume snapshot service (VSS) to create a snapshot image file of a computer’s storage system and then subsequently reads the data blocks contained in the snapshot image file. A determination of the number of modified data blocks, i.e., the data blocks that have changed since a last backup operation, is made. The apparatus estimates a backup size from the number of modified data blocks and subsequently determines if the estimated backup size exceeds a predetermined threshold. In the event the predetermined threshold is exceeded, a backup operation is conducted."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 31, 2004 (11/026,656).

Dynamically managing migration of single instance
of data between storage devices
Symantec Corp., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,412,824) developed by Daniel Schiff, Reading, UK, for "systems and methods for dynamically managing the migration of a single instance of data between storage devices."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A computer-implemented method for dynamically managing the migration of a single instance of data between storage devices is described. A request to access a single instance of data stored in a storage device is received. A copy of the single instance of data is retrieved from the storage device. A determination is made as to whether a frequency of requests to access the single instance of data satisfies a threshold. The single instance of data is duplicated if the frequency of requests satisfies the threshold. The duplicated single instance of data is stored."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 27, 2009 (12/548,711).

Managing virtual storage disk data
Symantec Corp., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,407,438) developed by Dilip Ranade, Maharashtra, India, for "systems and methods for managing virtual storage disk data."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method for managing virtual disk storage may include: 1) identifying first and second virtual storage disks on a physical storage system; 2) identifying relocatable data in the first and second virtual storage disks; 3) comparing the relocatable data from the first and second virtual storage disks to identify one or more data objects in the first virtual storage disk that are identical to one or more data objects in the second virtual storage disk; 4) physically relocating the data objects from the first virtual storage disk to create a first chunk of data without changing a logical state of data in the first virtual storage disk; and 5) physically relocating the data objects from the second virtual storage disk to create a second chunk of data that is identical to the first chunk of data without changing a logical state of data in the second virtual storage disk."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 16, 2010 (12/857,079).