Storage virtual machine relocation

• US 10,346,194 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2018
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Ramani, Balaji, Nishime, Kazunobu, Majmudar, Pankti Vinay, Deshmukh, Prachi Bapurao, Coatney, Susan M., Singh, Vijay
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough, S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duncan, Timothy P
• Application Number:
  US15/902,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20180181430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 502 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/16 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2033 switching over of hardware resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2092 Techniques of failing over between control units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3034 where the computing system component is a storage system, e.g. DASD based or network based digital input from or digital output to record carriers G06F3/06; digital recording or reproducing G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3433 for load management allocation of a server based on load conditions G06F9/505; load rebalancing G06F9/5083; redistributing the load in a network by a load balancer H04L67/1029
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21805 enabling multiple viewpoints, e.g. using a plurality of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 : for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 : Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 : involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 : Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 : Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 : Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 : Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 : for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 : Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 : Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or devices are provided for storage virtual machine relocation (e.g., ownership change) between storage clusters. For example, operational statistics of a first storage cluster and a second storage cluster may be evaluated to identify a set of load balancing metrics. Ownership of one or more storage aggregates and/or one or more storage virtual machines may be changed (e.g., permanently changed for load balancing purposes or temporarily changed for disaster recovery purposes) between the first storage cluster and the second storage cluster utilizing zero-copy ownership change operations based upon the set of load balancing metrics. For example, if the first storage cluster is experiencing a relatively heavier load of client I/O operations and the second storage cluster has available resources, ownership of a storage aggregate and a storage virtual machine may be switched from the first storage cluster to the second storage cluster for load balancing.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining that a first operational load of a first computing environment comprising a storage virtual machine (SVM) associated with a storage aggregate is a threshold amount greater than a second operational load of a second computing environment comprising a replicated SVM, wherein the SVM is owned by the first computing environment that locally controls operation of the SVM and the replicated SVM is owned by the first computing environment that remotely controls operation of the replicated SVM over a network connection to the second computing environment; and

switching ownership of the storage aggregate, the SVM, and the replicated SVM from the first computing environment to the second computing environment, wherein ownership of the SVM and the replicated SVM is switched such that the second computing environment remotely controls operation of the SVM over the network and locally controls operation of the replicated SVM for providing client access to data within the storage aggregate, wherein the replicated SVM is switched from a dormant state to an active state for facilitating the client access via the second computing environment to the data within the storage aggregate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing environment is implemented as software configured to host virtual machines.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second computing environment is implemented as software configured to host virtual machines.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching ownership comprises:

utilizing a zero-copy ownership change operation to switch the ownership of the storage aggregate based upon replicated data within local mirror storage.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching ownership comprises:

maintaining non-disruptive client access to data through the storage aggregate during switchover of ownership of the storage aggregate, the SVM, and the replicated SVM.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching ownership comprises:

unmounting the storage aggregate for changing ownership of a storage device, associated with the storage aggregate, from the first computing environment to the second computing environment.

7. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions, for performing a method, which when executed by a machine, causes the machine to:

determine that a first operational load of a first computing environment comprising a storage virtual machine (SVM) associated with a storage aggregate is a threshold amount greater than a second operational load of a second computing environment comprising a replicated SVM, wherein the SVM is owned by the first computing environment that locally controls operation of the SVM and the replicated SVM is owned by the first computing environment that remotely controls operation of the replicated SVM over a network connection to the second computing environment; and

switch ownership of the storage aggregate, the SVM, and the replicated SVM from the first computing environment to the second computing environment, wherein ownership of the SVM and the replicated SVM is switched such that the second computing environment remotely controls operation of the SVM over the network and locally controls operation of the replicated SVM for providing client access to data within the storage aggregate, wherein the replicated SVM is switched from a dormant state to an active state for facilitating the client access via the second computing environment to the data within the storage aggregate.

8. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

unmount the storage aggregate for changing ownership of a storage device, associated with the storage aggregate, from the first computing environment to the second computing environment.

9. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

utilize a zero-copy ownership change operation to switch the ownership of the storage aggregate based upon replicated data within a mirror storage device comprised within the second computing environment.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the mirror storage device is configured as a backup mirror of data stored within a storage device associated with the storage aggregate.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

switch the SVM from the active state to the dormant state.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

specify that the second computing environment is a non-temporary owner of the storage aggregate, the SVM, and the replicated SVM.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

maintain non-disruptive client access to data through the storage aggregate during switchover of ownership of the storage aggregate, the SVM, and the replicated SVM.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions cause the machine to:

permanently change ownership of one or more storage aggregates and one or more storage virtual machines between the first computing environment and the second computing environment utilizing zero-copy ownership change operations based upon load balancing metrics associated with the first computing environment and the second computing environment.

15. A computing device comprising:

a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the machine executable code to cause the processor to;

determine that a first operational load of a first computing environment comprising a storage virtual machine (SVM) associated with a storage aggregate is a threshold amount greater than a second operational load of a second computing environment hosting a replicated SVM, wherein the SVM is owned by the first computing environment that locally controls operation of the SVM and the replicated SVM is owned by the first computing environment that remotely controls operation of the replicated SVM over a network connection to the second computing environment; and

switch ownership of the storage aggregate, the SVM, and the replicated SVM from the first computing environment to the second computing environment, wherein ownership of the SVM and the replicated SVM is switched such that the second computing environment remotely controls operation of the SVM over the network and locally controls operation of the replicated SVM for providing client access to data within the storage aggregate, wherein the replicated SVM is switched from a dormant state to an active state for facilitating the client access via the second computing environment to the data within the storage aggregate.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the computing device is remote from the first computing environment and the second computing environment.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the first computing environment and the second computing environment are hosted within a cloud computing environment.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the first computing environment is implemented as software configured to host virtual machines.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the second computing environment is implemented as software configured to host virtual machines.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the machine executable code to cause the processor to:

utilize a zero-copy ownership change operation to switch the ownership of the storage aggregate based upon replicated data within local mirror storage of the second computing environment.