System and method for managing virtual servers
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a plurality of physical resources;
a virtualization layer that maps the plurality of physical resources to one or more virtual resources, wherein the one or more virtual resources span at least two of the plurality of physical resources; and
an interface that represents the mapping of the plurality of physical resources to the one or more virtual resources.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A management capability is provided for a virtual computing platform. In one example, this platform allows interconnected physical resources such as processors, memory, network interfaces and storage interfaces to be abstracted and mapped to virtual resources (e.g., virtual mainframes, virtual partitions). Virtual resources contained in a virtual partition can be assembled into virtual servers that execute a guest operating system (e.g., Linux). In one example, the abstraction is unique in that any resource is available to any virtual server regardless of the physical boundaries that separate the resources. For example, any number of physical processors or any amount of physical memory can be used by a virtual server even if these resources span different nodes. A virtual computing platform is provided that allows for the creation, deletion, modification, control (e.g., start, stop, suspend, resume) and status (i.e., events) of the virtual servers which execute on the virtual computing platform and the management capability provides controls for these functions. In a particular example, such a platform allows the number and type of virtual resources consumed by a virtual server to be scaled up or down when the virtual server is running. For instance, an administrator may scale a virtual server manually or may define one or more policies that automatically scale a virtual server. Further, using the management API, a virtual server can monitor itself and can scale itself up or down depending on its need for processing, memory and I/O resources. For example, a virtual server may monitor its CPU utilization and invoke controls through the management API to allocate a new processor for itself when its utilization exceeds a specific threshold. Conversely, a virtual server may scale down its processor count when its utilization falls. Policies can be used to execute one or more management controls. More specifically, a management capability is provided that allows policies to be defined using management object'"'"'s properties, events and/or method results. A management policy may also incorporate external data (e.g., an external event) in its definition. A policy may be triggered, causing the management server or other computing entity to execute an action. An action may utilize one or more management controls. In addition, an action may access external capabilities such as sending notification e-mail or sending a text message to a telephone paging system. Further, management capability controls may be executed using a discrete transaction referred to as a “job.” A series of management controls may be assembled into a job using one or management interfaces. Errors that occur when a job is executed may cause the job to be rolled back, allowing affected virtual servers to return to their original state.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a plurality of physical resources;
a virtualization layer that maps the plurality of physical resources to one or more virtual resources, wherein the one or more virtual resources span at least two of the plurality of physical resources; and
an interface that represents the mapping of the plurality of physical resources to the one or more virtual resources. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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7. In a computer system comprising a plurality of resources and user interface having a display, a method of permitting configuration of the plurality of resources, comprising:
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displaying a representation of a virtual server on the display; and
providing for a user to select a resource and associate the resource with the virtual server. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. In a computer system including an interface and a plurality of resources, a method of allocating the plurality of resources comprising acts of:
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providing a selection of at least one virtual resource on the interface; and
allowing mapping of at least one resource of the plurality of resources to the virtual resource through a virtualization layer.
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10. A computer-based system for managing a virtual server system comprising a plurality of physical resources, at least one of which is associated with at least one of a plurality of virtual resources, the virtual server system comprising a virtualization layer that maps the at least one of the plurality of physical resources, the computer-based system comprising:
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an interface that provides a representation on the mapping; and
at least one control adapted to create and delete the mapping.
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11. A management infrastructure adapted to operate in a computer-based network environment to control allocation of a plurality of resources in the network environment, the management infrastructure comprising:
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a control interface;
a distributed virtual machine monitor program adapted to execute on at least one of the plurality of resources; and
at least one management agent adapted to communicate with the control interface to receive instructions and to forward results, and wherein the management agent is capable of communicating the instructions to the distributed virtual machine monitor program which is capable of implementing the instructions so as to allocate the plurality of resources and wherein the management agent forwards a result of the implementing of the instructions. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A system comprising:
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a virtual server system capable of executing at least one of a plurality of operating systems; and
a manager capable of mapping the at least one of the plurality of operating systems to the virtual server.
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14. A virtual computing system comprising:
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a plurality of physical resources;
a virtualization layer that maps the plurality of physical resources to one or more virtual resources; and
a manager that performs at least one of adding, moving, and removing at least one of the plurality of physical resources from the virtual computing system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification