Host management across virtualization management servers

• US 10,135,692 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2015
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Purushotham, Rupesh, Soni, Ram Prakash, Lakshman Rao, Shwetha
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Krishnan, Raji
• Application Number:
  US14/848,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20160380832A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources

Abstract

In an example, method of managing hosts across a plurality of virtualization management servers, each of the plurality of virtualization management servers managing a plurality of the hosts, each of the hosts configured with virtualization software executing at least one virtual computing instance is disclosed. The method includes deploying, by a rescue service, a rescue agent on each of the plurality of virtualization management servers; obtaining host inventories and configurations at the rescue service for the plurality of virtualization management servers; assigning each of the plurality of virtualization management servers to a category of a plurality of categories based on configuration maximums of the plurality of virtualization management servers; and updating rescue storage managed by the rescue service to monitor resource usage of the plurality of virtualization management servers based on assigned category and the host inventories.

Claims

1. A method of managing hosts across a plurality of virtualization management servers, each of the plurality of virtualization management servers managing a plurality of the hosts, each of the hosts configured with virtualization software executing at least one virtual computing instance, the method comprising:

deploying, by a rescue service, a rescue agent on each of the plurality of virtualization management servers, wherein the rescue service in cooperation with the rescue agents facilitates detection of inactivation of the virtualization management servers and migration of hosts managed by inactive virtualization management servers to active virtualization management servers;

obtaining host inventories and configurations at the rescue service for the plurality of virtualization management servers;

assigning each of the plurality of virtualization management servers to a category of a plurality of categories based on configuration maximums of the plurality of virtualization management servers, wherein the configuration maximums include at least one configuration maximum related to the hosts being managed by each of the virtualization management servers; and

updating rescue storage managed by the rescue service to monitor resource usage of the plurality of virtualization management servers based on the assigned category and the host inventories.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the host inventories and the configurations comprises:

obtaining access information for a database used by a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers;

storing the access information in the rescue storage; and

obtaining a host inventory and a configuration for the first virtualization management server by accessing the database using the access information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the host inventories and the configurations comprises:

obtaining a host inventory and a configuration for a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers from an embedded database of the first virtualization management server; and

storing the host inventory and the configuration in the rescue storage.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at the rescue service, that a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers is inactive;

identifying, at the rescue service, orphaned hosts for the first virtualization management server;

identifying at least one active virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers to manage the orphaned hosts based on the resource usage maintained in the rescue storage; and

migrating the orphaned hosts to the at least one active virtualization management server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of identifying the orphaned hosts comprises:

obtaining a host inventory for the first virtualization management server from the rescue storage or from an external database using access information in the rescue storage.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of identifying the at least one active virtualization management server comprises:

sorting a list of the orphaned hosts;

selecting a set of orphaned hosts having at least one of the orphaned hosts;

storing a categorization and resource usage table representing the resource usage in the rescue storage;

selecting an active virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers;

migrating the set of orphaned hosts to the selected active virtualization management server; and

updating the categorization and resource usage table.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the orphaned hosts comprise a cluster of hosts.

8. A computer system, comprising:

a hardware platform comprising a processor and a memory; and

a rescue service comprising code stored in the memory and configured for execution by the processor to;

deploy a rescue agent on each of a plurality of virtualization management servers, each of the plurality of virtualization management servers managing a plurality of the hosts, each of the hosts configured with virtualization software executing at least one virtual computing instance, wherein the rescue service in cooperation with the rescue agents facilitates detection of inactivation of the virtualization management servers and migration of hosts managed by of inactive virtualization management servers to active virtualization management servers;

obtain host inventories and configurations for the plurality of virtualization management servers;

assign each of the plurality of virtualization management servers to a category of a plurality of categories based on configuration maximums of the plurality of virtualization management servers, wherein the configuration maximums include at least one configuration maximum related to the hosts being managed by each of the virtualization management servers; and

update rescue storage to monitor resource usage of the plurality of virtualization management servers based on assigned category and the host inventories.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the rescue service is executable by the processor to:

obtain access information for an external database used by a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers;

store the access information in the rescue storage; and

obtain a host inventory and a configuration for the first virtualization management server by accessing the external database using the access information.

10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the rescue service is executable by the processor to:

obtain a host inventory and a configuration for a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers from an embedded database of the first virtualization management server; and

store the host inventory and the configuration in the rescue storage.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the rescue service is executable by the processor to:

determine that a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers is inactive;

identify orphaned hosts for the first virtualization management server;

identify at least one active virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers to manage the orphaned hosts based on the resource usage maintained in the rescue storage; and

migrate the orphaned hosts to the at least one active virtualization management server.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the rescue service is executable by the processor to:

obtain a host inventory for the first virtualization management server from the rescue storage or from an external database using access information in the rescue storage.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the rescue service is executable by the processor to:

sort a list of the orphaned hosts;

select a set of orphaned hosts having at least one of the orphaned hosts;

store a categorization and resource usage table representing the resource usage in the rescue storage;

select an active virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers;

migrate the set of orphaned hosts to the selected active virtualization management server; and

update the categorization and resource usage table.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed in a computer system, causes the computer system to carry out a method of managing hosts across a plurality of virtualization management servers, each of the plurality of virtualization management servers managing a plurality of the hosts, each of the hosts configured with virtualization software executing at least one virtual computing instance, the method comprising:

deploying, by a rescue service, a rescue agent on each of the plurality of virtualization management servers, wherein the rescue service in cooperation with the rescue agents facilitates detection of inactivation of the virtualization management servers and migration of hosts managed by of inactive virtualization management servers to active virtualization management servers;

obtaining host inventories and configurations at the rescue service for the plurality of virtualization management servers;

assigning each of the plurality of virtualization management servers to a category of a plurality of categories based on configuration maximums of the plurality of virtualization management servers, wherein the configuration maximums include at least one configuration maximum related to the hosts being managed by each of the virtualization management servers; and

updating rescue storage managed by the rescue service to monitor resource usage of the plurality of virtualization management servers based on assigned category and the host inventories.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the step of obtaining the host inventories and the configurations comprises:

obtaining access information for an external database used by a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers;

storing the access information in the rescue storage; and

obtaining a host inventory and a configuration for the first virtualization management server by accessing the external database using the access information.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the step of obtaining the host inventories and the configurations comprises:

obtaining a host inventory and a configuration for a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers from an embedded database of the first virtualization management server; and

storing the host inventory and the configuration in the rescue storage.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, at the rescue service, that a first virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers is inactive;

identifying, at the rescue service, orphaned hosts for the first virtualization management server;

identifying at least one active virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers to manage the orphaned hosts based on the resource usage maintained in the rescue storage; and

migrating the orphaned hosts to the at least one active virtualization management server.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the step of identifying the orphaned hosts comprises:

obtaining a host inventory for the first virtualization management server from the rescue storage or from an external database using access information in the rescue storage.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the step of identifying the at least one active virtualization management server comprises:

sorting a list of the orphaned hosts;

selecting a set of orphaned hosts having at least one of the orphaned hosts;

storing a categorization and resource usage table representing the resource usage in the rescue storage;

selecting an active virtualization management server of the plurality of virtualization management servers;

migrating the set of orphaned hosts to the selected active virtualization management server; and

updating the categorization and resource usage table.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the orphaned hosts comprise a cluster of hosts.