Systems and methods for migrating a server from one physical platform to a different physical platform

• US 20060010176A1
• Filed: 06/16/2004
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Armington, John P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,769,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system and a method for migrating a server from one physical platform to a different physical platform pertain to converting a first server for use on a first physical platform into a virtual server and converting the virtual server into a second server for use on a second physical platform, the second physical platform being different than the first physical platform such that the conversions effectively migrate the first server from the first physical platform to the second physical platform.

Claims

1. A method for migrating a server, the method comprising:

converting a first server for use on a first physical platform into a virtual server; and

converting the virtual server into a second server for use on a second physical platform, the second physical platform being different than the first physical platform such that the conversions effectively migrate the first server from the first physical platform to the second physical platform.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein converting a first server into a virtual server comprises converting an image of the first server into an image of the virtual server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein converting an image of the first server comprises applying a physical-to-virtual (P2V) script to the first server image that transforms it into a virtual server image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the virtual server into a second server comprises converting an image of the virtual server into an image of the second server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein converting an image of the virtual server comprises applying a virtual-to-physical (V2P) script to the virtual server image that transforms it into a second server image.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising migrating the first server from the first physical platform to a virtual platform to produce a virtual server image that can be compared to an image of the first server.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising creating a physical-to-virtual (P2V) script based on differences between the first server image and the virtual server image that converts the first server into the virtual server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising migrating the second server from the second physical platform to a virtual platform to produce a virtual server image that can be compared to an image of the second server.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising creating a virtual-to-physical (V2P) script based on differences between the virtual server image and the second server image that converts the virtual server into the second server.

10. A system for migrating a server, the system comprising:

means for converting an image of a server for use on a first physical platform into a virtual server image; and

means for converting the virtual server image into an image of a server for use on a second physical platform, the second physical platform being different than the first physical platform.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the means for converting an image of a server comprise a physical-to-virtual (P2V) script.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the physical-to-virtual (P2V) script is generated through comparison of the image of the server for use on the first physical platform and the virtual server image.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the means for converting the virtual server image comprise a virtual-to-physical (V2P) script.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the virtual-to-physical (V2P) script is generated through comparison of the virtual server image and the image of the server for use on the second physical platform.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for comparing the image of the server for use on the first platform and the virtual server image and for creating a script that converts the image of the server for use on the first platform into the virtual server image based upon the differences between the compared images.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for comparing the virtual server image and the image of the server for use on a second platform and for creating a script that converts the virtual server image into the image of the server for use on the second platform based upon the differences between the compared images.

17. A server migration system stored on a computer-readable medium, the system comprising:

logic configured to identify differences between physical server images and corresponding virtual server images;

logic configured to convert a first server for use on a first physical platform into a virtual server; and

logic configured to convert the virtual server into a second server for use on a second physical platform, the second physical platform being different than the first physical platform.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the logic configured to identify differences comprises a comparator that is further configured to generate conversion scripts that comprise commands used to convert physical servers into virtual servers and virtual servers into physical servers.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the logic configured to convert a first server is configured to modify an image of the first server to transform it into an image for a virtual server that is configured to operate in a virtual environment.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the logic configured to modify an image of the first server comprises a physical-to-virtual (P2V) script that is configured to transform servers that operate on the first physical platform into servers that operate on a virtual platform.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the logic configured to convert a virtual server is configured to modify an image of the virtual server to transform it into an image for a server that is configured to operate on the second physical platform.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the logic configured to modify an image of the virtual server comprises a virtual-to-physical (V2P) script that is configured to transform servers that operate on a virtual platform into servers that operate on the second physical platform.

23. The system of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to migrate a server from a physical platform to a virtual platform.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the logic configured to migrate a server comprises a physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration tool.

25. A computer, comprising:

a processing device; and

memory that includes a platform migration manager, the platform migration manager being configured to identify differences between physical server images and corresponding virtual server images, to generate conversion scripts in view of the identified differences that are configured to transform virtual server images into physical server images and transform physical server images into virtual images; and

to convert physical servers into virtual servers and convert virtual servers into physical servers using the conversion scripts, wherein the platform migration manager effects migration of a server on a first physical platform to a second physical platform by first converting the server into virtual server and then converting the virtual server into a server for use on the second physical platform.

26. The computer of claim 25, wherein the conversion scripts include separate physical-to-virtual (P2V) scripts and virtual-to-physical (V2P) scripts.

27. The computer of claim 26, wherein the platform migration manager includes a script library that comprises a physical-to-virtual (P2V) script and virtual-to-physical (V2P) script for each of multiple physical platforms.

28. The computer of claim 25, wherein the platform migration manager includes a physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration tool that is configured to migrate servers from physical platforms to virtual platforms.