VMware Assigned Six Patents

Maintaing encryption keys to provide encryption on top of data deduplication
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,652,634) developed by Wang, Wenguang, Santa Clara, CA, and Meng, Xiaoxuan, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “maintaing encryption keys to provide encryption on top of data deduplication.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems generate an encryption key based upon data content of a portion of data to be encrypted by the encryption key. The encryption key is stored as one of a plurality of encryption keys within a subset of storage. Each of the plurality of encryption keys is generated based upon corresponding data content. A checksum representing the plurality of encryption keys is calculated. In response to receiving an input/output, (I/O) request for data encrypted by the encryption key, a verification checksum representing the plurality of encryption keys is calculated. The requested data is decrypted using the encryption key in response to verifying the checksum and verification checksum match.“

The patent application was filed on May 19, 2015 (14/716,768).

Low-cost backup and edge caching using unused disk blocks
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,645,950) developed by Clark, Jonathan, Palo Alto, CA, for a “low-cost backup and edge caching using unused disk blocks.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A designated storage system receives a request to store data in the local storage as a backup copy. The designated storage system requests a file system in the computer system to store the backup copy as a file in the local storage and maintains a record describing storage locations for each of the one or more sets of contiguous available file system data blocks. The storage system may transmit the record to a management computer configured to track which of the computer systems has stored the backup copy. The storage system then requests the file system to delete the file, whereupon the file system removes the file descriptor and frees the one or more file system data blocks in order to satisfy the deletion request but does not delete the data stored in the one or more file system data blocks.“

The patent application was filed on January 31, 2013 (13/756,454).

Centralized power management with partial suspend mode for distributed storage
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,645,636) developed by Aranjani, Noble Peter, Kulathumkal, Jubish Jose, and K, Sivaprasad Govindankutty, Bangalore, India, for a “centralized power management with partial suspend mode for distributed storage systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An example method is provided to perform centralized power management for a distributed storage system accessible by a cluster in a virtualized computing environment. The method may comprise a management entity identifying a first host from the cluster to enter into a partial suspend mode, and selecting a second host from the cluster to take control of a storage controller of the first host. The method may further comprise the management entity transferring control of the storage controller to the second host to allow the second host to control the storage controller via a network controller of the first host, and instructing the first host to enter into the partial suspend mode to suspend operations of one or more components of the first host while the storage controller is controllable by the second host via the network controller.“

The patent application was filed on July 23, 2015 (14/806,679).

Reducing input/output operations for centralized backup and storage
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,639,433) developed by Rabinovich, Dmitry, Genah, Meytal, and Gartsbein, Anton, Herzliya, Israel, for a “reducing input/output, (I/O) operations for centralized backup and storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques are described for reducing I/O operations and storage capacity requirements for centralized backup storage systems. A central server optimizes the collection and centralization of backup data from a number of endpoint devices for backup purposes. The central server utilizes a single instance store and a persistent files cache to minimize the number of backup copies for each non-unique file, reduce storage usage, network traffic, memory footprint and CPU cycles required to identify and process non-unique data. For each file in the single instance store, the server tracks the source device of that file until a threshold number of devices have been reached. Once the file reaches the threshold number of sources, the file is marked as persistent and its hash value is placed in the persistent files cache. Thereafter, all pointer creation and reference counting for that file cease.“

The patent application was filed on December 26, 2014 (14/583,477).

Load applications and application data into virtual machine using hypervisor-attached volumes
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,639,385) developed by Conover, Matthew, Mountain View, CA, for a “systems and methods to load applications and application data into a virtual machine using hypervisor-attached volumes.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems, methods, and software are described herein for operating a data management system, including a virtual machine agent running within a virtual machine responding to an attach-triggering event, determining selected storage volumes to be attached to the virtual machine based on a request generated by the virtual agent in response to the attach-triggering event, and dynamically attaching the selected storage volumes to the virtual machine.“

The patent application was filed on August 13, 2014 (14/458,586).

Test programs
VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,626,284) developed by Xue, Lan, Palo Alto, CA, Sathyanarayana, Sreevathsa, Bangalore, India, Jensen, Thor Donbaek, Hoejbjerg, Danemark, Lorimer, Erik, Sunnyvale, CA, and Truong, James, San Jose, CA, for a “systems and methods to test programs.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The embodiments described herein include a host that includes an operating system and a storage simulation module in communication with the host. The storage simulation module includes a pseudo-adapter configured to emulate a storage adapter and a pseudo-storage device coupled to the pseudo-adapter, wherein the pseudo-storage device is configured to emulate a storage device. The storage simulation module is configured to simulate an error event for the pseudo-adapter and/or the pseudo-storage device upon receipt of an operation from the operating system.“

The patent application was filed on February 8, 2013 (13/762,938).