Managing replication of computing nodes for provided computer networks

• US 10,601,909 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2016
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brandwine, Eric Jason, Miller, Kevin Christopher, Doane, Andrew J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US15/154,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20160255144A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: 709221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2007 using redundant communication media
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/85 Active fault masking without idle spares
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/668 Internet protocol [IP] address subnets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 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]

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing managed computer networks, such as for managed virtual computer networks overlaid on one or more other underlying computer networks. In some situations, the techniques include facilitating replication of a primary computing node that is actively participating in a managed computer network, such as by maintaining one or more other computing nodes in the managed computer network as replicas, and using such replica computing nodes in various manners. For example, a particular managed virtual computer network may span multiple broadcast domains of an underlying computer network, and a particular primary computing node and a corresponding remote replica computing node of the managed virtual computer network may be implemented in distinct broadcast domains of the underlying computer network, with the replica computing node being used to transparently replace the primary computing node in the virtual computer network if the primary computing node becomes unavailable.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by an online service implemented by one or more configured computing systems, a request from a client of the online service to provide a first computing node for the client in a first geographical location, and to provide a replicated copy of the first computing node in second geographical location distinct from the first geographical location;

implementing, by the online service, the first computing node using a first virtual machine having a first volatile memory in the first geographical location, including executing one or more software programs for the client on the first computing node and associating a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address with the first computing node for use in communicating with other computing nodes, and executing a first communication manager on a first physical host hosting the first virtual machine to manage communications for the first virtual machine;

implementing, by the online service, a second computing node using a second virtual machine having a second volatile memory in the second geographical location as the replicated copy of the first computing node, including executing a second communication manager on a second physical host hosting the second virtual machine to manage communications for the second virtual machine;

sending, from the first communication manager to the second communication manager;

state data of the first computing node to update the second volatile memory of the second computing node to reflect changes in a state of the first volatile memory of the first computing node based at least in part on executing the one or more software programs on the second computing node at a same time while the one or more software programs are executing on the first computing node, and

heartbeats of the first computing node;

tracking, by the second communication manager, the heartbeats of the first computing node, wherein the first computing node is determined to be no longer available if a heartbeat is not received by the second communication manager for a threshold amount of time;

identifying, by the online service, a problem with use of the first computing node based at least in part on the tracking of the heartbeats; and

replacing, by the online service and in response to the problem identified with use of the first computing node, the first computing node with the second computing node for further use on behalf of the client that includes continued execution of the one or more software programs on the second computing node, including associating the virtual IP address with the second computing node.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the further use includes using the virtual IP address as part of managing one or more further communications for the second computing node.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising providing, by the online service, a virtual computer network for the client that includes the first computing node and one or more other computing nodes separate from the second computing node, and wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes using the second computing node to replace functionality in the virtual computer network that was previously provided by the first computing node.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the providing of the virtual computer network includes generating and using an initial version of mapping information for the virtual computer network that provides an association of first information with the first computing node, and wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes updating the mapping information to change the association of the first information to be with the second computing node instead of with the first computing node.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the providing of the virtual computer network includes generating and using an initial version of mapping information for the virtual computer network that provides an association of first information with the first computing node, and wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes updating the mapping information to use different second information associated with the second computing node.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the second information includes one or more of a location of the second computing node in an underlying network on which the virtual computer network is overlaid, or a substrate network address for the underlying network corresponding to a computer system providing the second computing node.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the updating of the second computing node to reflect the changes in the state of the first volatile memory of the first computing node includes copying contents of the first volatile memory of the first computing node to the second computing node.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising providing, by the online service, the first computing node with access to a storage volume, and performing data storage actions by the first computing node on the storage volume that modify contents of the storage volume, wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes providing the second computing node with access to the modified contents of the storage volume, and wherein the further use includes performing additional data storage actions by the second computing node that further modify the contents.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the storage volume is implemented on one or more storage devices separate from the first computing node and from the second computing node, wherein the performing of the data storage actions by the first computing node includes sending one or more first communications from the first computing node to the one or more storage devices over one or more computer networks, and wherein the performing of the additional data storage actions by the second computing node includes sending one or more second communications from the second computing node to the one or more storage devices over at least one computer network.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the implementing of the first computing node includes selecting, by the online service, one or more computer systems from a plurality of computer systems at a data center in the first geographical location that are provided by the online service for use by clients, and using the selected one or more computer systems to provide the first computing node for the client.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the implementing of the first computing node includes configuring the first communication manager to store the virtual IP address for the first computing node.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the problem with use of the first computing node comprises determining, by the online service, that the first computing node has become unavailable.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the problem with use of the first computing node comprises determining, by the online service, that an activity on the online service will stop operations of the first computing node.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that cause one or more computing systems of an online service to:

receive, from a client of the online service, a request to provide a first computing node for the client in a first geographical location, and to provide a replicated copy of the first computing node in a second geographical location distinct from the first geographical location;

implement, by the online service and using one or more computer systems provided by the online service, the first computing node using a first virtual machine that has a first volatile memory in the first geographical location for the, including executing one or more software programs for the client on the one or more computer systems and associating a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address with the first computing node for use with communications involving other computing nodes, and executing a first communication manager on a first physical host hosting the first virtual machine to manage communications for the first virtual machine;

implement, by the online service, a second computing node using a second virtual machine that has a second volatile memory in the second geographical location as the replicated copy of the first computing node, including executing a second communication manager on a second physical host hosting the second virtual machine to manage communications for the second virtual machine;

sending, from the first communication manager to the second communication manager;

state data of the first computing node to update the second volatile memory of the second computing node to reflect changes in a state of the first volatile memory of the first computing node from the executing of the one or more software programs based at least in part on executing the one or more software programs on the second computing node simultaneously with the first computing node executing the one or more software programs, and

heartbeats of the first computing node;

track, by the second communication manager, the heartbeats of the first computing node, wherein the first computing node is determined to be no longer available if a heartbeat is not received by the second communication manager for a threshold amount of time;

identify, by the online service, a problem with use of the first computing node based at least in part on the tracking of the heartbeats; and

replace, by the online service and in response to the identifying of the problem, the first computing node with the second computing node, including associating the virtual IP address with the second computing node for use with further communications, and continuing execution of the one or more software programs on the second computing node.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the stored contents further cause the one or more computing systems to provide the first computing node with access to a storage volume and to send one or more first communications from the first computing node over one or more computer networks to the storage volume to modify contents of the storage volume, wherein the updating of the second computing node to reflect the changes in the state of the first volatile memory of the first computing node includes copying contents of the first volatile memory of the first computing node to the second computing node, and wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes providing the second computing node with access to the storage volume with the modified contents and sending one or more second communications from the second computing node to the storage volume over the one or more computer networks to further modify the contents.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the stored contents further cause the one or more computing systems to provide, by the online service, a virtual computer network to the client that includes the first computing node and one or more other computing nodes separate from the second computing node, and wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes using the second computing node to replace functionality in the virtual computer network that was previously provided by the first computing node.

17. A system, comprising:

one or more processors of one or more computing systems; and

one or more memories with stored instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the at least one processor to;

receive one or more requests from a client to provide a virtual computer network having multiple nodes that include a first computing node, and to provide a replicated copy of the first computing node in a geographical location different from that of the first computing node;

implement the virtual computer network for the client, including implementing the first computing node using that has a first volatile memory in a first geographical location and associating with the first computing node a first virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address from multiple virtual network addresses used with the virtual computer network, wherein the first computing node is implemented using a first virtual machine on a first physical host and configured to perform operations to provide functionality for the virtual computer network;

implement a second computing node that has a second volatile memory in a second geographical location as the replicated copy of the first computing node, wherein the second computing node is implemented using a second virtual machine on a second physical host;

sending, from a first communication manager executing on the first physical for the first computing node to a second communication manager executing on the second physical for the second computing node;

state data of the first computing node to update the second volatile memory of the second computing node to reflect changes in a state of the first volatile memory of the first computing node by causing the second computing node to also perform at least some of the operations, and

heartbeats of the first computing node;

track, by the second communication manager, the heartbeats of the first computing node, wherein the first computing node is determined to be no longer available if a heartbeat is not received by the second communication manager for a threshold amount of time; and

replace, based at least in part on a problem of the first computing node detected based at least in part on a tracking of the heartbeats, the first computing node with the maintained second computing node for the virtual computer network, including continuing, by the second computing node, the operations to provide the functionality for the virtual computer network, and associating the first virtual IP address with the second computing node for use with further operations of the virtual computer network.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the stored instructions include software instructions that further cause the at least one processor to implement at least some functionality of a configurable network service that provides multiple computer networks to multiple clients, wherein the implementing of the first computing node includes performing data storage actions by the first computing node that modify contents of a provided storage volume, wherein the replacing of the first computing node with the second computing node includes providing the second computing node with access to the modified contents of the provided storage volume, wherein the updating of the second computing node to reflect the changes in the state of the first volatile memory of the first computing node includes copying contents of the first volatile memory of the first computing node to the second computing node, and wherein the further operations include performing additional data storage actions by the second computing node that further modify the contents.