Providing on-demand capabilities using virtual machines and clustering processes

• US 20050289540A1
• Filed: 06/24/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nguyen, Lu, Larson, Jeffry Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 7,577,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• 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 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Techniques are provided for on-demand resource allocation in a cluster having at least one initial virtual machine. It is determined that resource requirements have changed. At least one new virtual machine is created on at least one physical machine based on the changed resource requirements. The at least one new virtual machine is added to the initial cluster. Transactions for the at least one initial virtual machine are failed over to the at least one new virtual machine.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture including program logic for providing on-demand resource allocation in a cluster having at least one initial virtual machine, wherein the program logic causes operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

determining that resource requirements have changed;

creating at least one new virtual machine on at least one physical machine based on the changed resource requirements;

adding the at least one new virtual machine to the initial cluster; and

failing over transactions for the at least one initial virtual machine to the at least one new virtual machine.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving initial resource requirements from a user; and

creating the at least one initial virtual machine based on the initial resource requirements by invoking a virtual machine process.

3. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

installing a clustering process on each virtual machine for managing cluster functions.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein determining that resource requirements have changed is automatically performed based on a business policy and on resource monitoring.

5. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein determining that resource requirements have changed is performed in response to receiving new resource requirements from a user.

6. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the at least one new virtual machine has fewer resources than the at least one initial virtual machine.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the at least one new virtual machine has more resources than the at least one initial virtual machine.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the operations for failing over transactions further comprise operations for:

shutting down the at least one initial virtual machine.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein the operations for failing over transactions further comprise operations for:

performing a resource move.

10. A system for providing on-demand resource allocation in a cluster having at least one initial virtual machine, comprising:

circuitry capable of causing operations to be performed, the operations comprising;

determining that resource requirements have changed;

creating at least one new virtual machine on at least one physical machine based on the changed resource requirements;

adding the at least one new virtual machine to the initial cluster; and

failing over transactions for the at least one initial virtual machine to the at least one new virtual machine.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving initial resource requirements from a user; and

creating the at least one initial virtual machine based on the initial resource requirements by invoking a virtual machine process.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

installing a clustering process on each virtual machine for managing cluster functions.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein determining that resource requirements have changed is automatically performed based on a business policy and on resource monitoring.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein determining that resource requirements have changed is performed in response to receiving new resource requirements from a user.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one new virtual machine has fewer resources than the at least one initial virtual machine.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one new virtual machine has more resources than the at least one initial virtual machine.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations for failing over transactions further comprise operations for:

shutting down the at least one initial virtual machine.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations for failing over transactions further comprise operations for:

performing a resource move.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the circuitry comprises:

means for determining that resource requirements have changed;

means for creating at least one new virtual machine on at least one physical machine based on the changed resource requirements;

means for adding the at least one new virtual machine to the initial cluster; and

means for failing over transactions for the at least one initial virtual machine to the at least one new virtual machine.

20. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for determining that resource requirements have changed based on a business policy and on resource monitoring.

21. A method for providing on-demand resource allocation in a cluster having at least one initial virtual machine, comprising:

determining that resource requirements have changed;

creating at least one new virtual machine on at least one physical machine based on the changed resource requirements;

adding the at least one new virtual machine to the initial cluster; and

failing over transactions for the at least one initial virtual machine to the at least one new virtual machine.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving initial resource requirements from a user; and

creating the at least one initial virtual machine based on the initial resource requirements by invoking a virtual machine process.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

installing a clustering process on each virtual machine for managing cluster functions.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein determining that resource requirements have changed is automatically performed based on a business policy and on resource monitoring.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein determining that resource requirements have changed is performed in response to receiving new resource requirements from a user.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one new virtual machine has fewer resources than the at least one initial virtual machine.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one new virtual machine has more resources than the at least one initial virtual machine.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein failing over transactions further comprises:

shutting down the at least one initial virtual machine.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein failing over transactions further comprises:

performing a resource move.