APPLICATION OF VIRTUAL SERVERS TO HIGH AVAILABILITY AND DISASTER RECOVERY SOULTIONS

• US 20070078982A1
• Filed: 09/22/2006
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leidos Innovations Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Aidun, Mehrdad, Brostek, Matthew, Schwartz, Corey
• Granted Patent: US 7,933,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2058 using more than 2 mirrored copies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• 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

Abstract

Server virtualization technology is applied to virtualize and encapsulate all unique information of a server as an image that is stored on a storage area network at one site and replicated on a storage area network at another site to provide high availability of system resources and data recovery capabilities. In one embodiment, a virtualized server system (100) includes a primary site (110), a secondary site (130), and a computer executable control application (150). The primary site (110) includes a storage area network (112), at least one primary virtual server platform (114), and at least one primary virtual server stored as at least one image (116) on the storage area network (112). The control application (150) directs replication of the primary virtual server image (116) onto a storage area network (132) at the secondary site (130) to create a corresponding replicated virtual server image (138). The control application (150) also monitors operation of the primary virtual server platform (114) and associates the replicated virtual server image (138) with a secondary virtual server (134) at the secondary site (130) in the event that a problem is detected with the primary site virtual server (114).

Claims

1. A virtualized server system providing high availability of system resources and data recovery capabilities, said system comprising:

a primary site including a primary site storage area network, at least one primary virtual server platform, and at least one primary site virtual server, said at least one primary site virtual server comprising application software, operating system software, and data, said at least one primary site virtual server being stored as at least one primary virtual server image on said primary site storage area network, said at least one primary virtual server image being associated with said at least one primary virtual server platform;

a secondary site including a secondary site storage area network and at least one secondary virtual server platform, said secondary site being enabled for data transmission with said primary site; and

a controller operable to direct replication of said at least one primary virtual server image from said primary site to said secondary site storage area network wherein a replicated virtual server image corresponding with said at least one primary virtual server image is stored on said secondary site storage area network;

said controller being further operable to monitor operation of said at least one primary virtual server platform and to associate said at least one secondary virtual server platform with said at least one replicated virtual server image in the event that a problem is detected with said at least one primary virtual server platform.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one primary site virtual server further comprises a NIC identifier and a MAC address.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel interfacing said at least one primary virtual server platform with said primary storage area network; and

a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel interfacing said at least one secondary virtual server platform with said secondary storage area network.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel interfacing said at least one primary virtual server platform with a network; and

a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel interfacing said at least one secondary virtual server platform with a network.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said controller is further operable to shut down non-essential applications using said at least one secondary virtual server platform.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said controller provides an IP address associated with said at least one secondary virtual server platform in place of an IP address associated with said at least one primary virtual server platform to one or more DNS servers.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said controller comprises a computer executable application including an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said primary site and an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said secondary site.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said control application directs replication of said at least one primary virtual server image to occur synchronously.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an intermediary site including an intermediary site storage area network, said intermediary site being enabled for data transmission with said primary site and with said secondary site, wherein said control application is operable to direct replication of said at least one primary virtual server image from said primary site to at least one intermediary virtual server image stored on said intermediary site storage area network and subsequent replication of said at least one intermediary virtual server image to said at least one replicated virtual server image on said secondary site storage area network.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said controller directs replication of said at least one primary virtual server image to said at least one intermediary virtual server image to occur synchronously and replication of said at least one intermediary virtual server image to said at least one replicated virtual server image to occur asynchronously.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein said controller comprises a computer executable application including an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said primary site, an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said intermediary site, and an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said secondary site.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of primary sites, each said primary site including a primary site storage area network, at least one primary site virtual server platform, and at least one primary site virtual server, said at least one primary site virtual server at each primary site comprising application software, operating system software, and data, each said at least one primary site virtual server being stored at each primary site as at least one primary virtual server image on each said primary storage area network at each primary site, each said at least one primary virtual server image being associated with said at least one primary virtual server platform at each primary site;

wherein said secondary site is enabled for data transmission with each of said primary sites;

wherein said controller is operable to direct replication of each said at least one primary virtual server image from each said primary site to a corresponding replicated virtual server image stored on said secondary site storage area network; and

wherein said controller is further operable to monitor operation of each said primary virtual server platform at each primary site and, for each said primary site virtual server platform failure detected, associate a secondary site virtual server platform at said secondary site with said replicated virtual server image corresponding with the primary site virtual server image associated with the failed primary virtual server platform.

13. The system of claim 13 wherein said controller comprises a computer executable application including instances thereof executable on computer systems at each said primary site and an instance thereof executable on a computer system at said secondary site.

14. A method of providing for high availability of information technology system resources and data recovery, said method comprising:

establishing at a primary site at least one primary site virtual server comprising application software, operating system software, and data;

storing the at least one primary site virtual server as at least one corresponding image on a storage area network at the primary site;

associating the stored image with at least one primary virtual server platform at the primary site;

replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site on a storage area network at a secondary site;

monitoring operation of at least one primary site virtual server platform; and

associating the at least one replicated image at the secondary site with at least one secondary virtual server platform at the secondary site in the event that a problem is detected with the at least one primary site virtual server platform.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of establishing at least one primary site virtual server further comprises:

including a NIC identifier and a MAC address in the at least one primary site virtual server.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

interfacing the at least one primary virtual server platform with the primary site storage area network by a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel; and

interfacing the at least one secondary virtual server platform with the secondary site storage area network by a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

interfacing the at least one primary virtual server platform with a network by a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel; and

interfacing the at least one secondary virtual server platform with the network by a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

identifying any non-essential applications executing on the at least one secondary virtual server platform; and

shutting down any identified non-essential applications.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

providing an IP address associated with the at least one secondary virtual server platform in place of an IP address associated with the at least one primary virtual server platform to one or more DNS servers.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site on a storage area network at a secondary site is performed synchronously.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein said steps of the method are performed at the direction of a computer executable control application, instances of which are executing on computer systems located at the primary site and the secondary site.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site on a storage area network at a secondary site comprises:

synchronously replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site as at least one intermediary image on a storage area network at an intermediary site; and

asynchronously replicating the at least one intermediary image on the storage area network at the intermediary site as the at least one replicated image on the storage area network at the secondary site.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said steps of the method are performed at the direction of a computer executable control application, instances of which are executing on computer systems located at the primary site, the intermediary site, and the secondary site.

24. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

performing said steps of the method for each of a plurality of primary sites.

25. A virtualized server system providing high availability of system resources and data recovery capabilities, said system comprising:

means for establishing at a primary site at least one primary site virtual server comprising application software, operating system software, and data;

means for storing the at least one primary site virtual server as at least one corresponding image at the primary site;

means for associating the stored image with at least one primary virtual server platform at the primary site;

means for storing at least one replicated image at a secondary site;

means for transmitting information between the primary site and the secondary site;

means for replicating the at least one image stored at the primary site on said means for storing at least one replicated image at a secondary site;

means for monitoring operation of the at least one primary virtual server platform; and

means for associating the at least one replicated image at the secondary site with at least one secondary virtual server platform at the secondary site in the event that a problem is detected with the at least one primary site virtual server platform.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein said means for establishing comprise server virtualization software executable by a computer system located at the primary site.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein said means for storing comprise a storage area network.

28. The system of claim 25 wherein said means for storing at least one replicated image at a secondary site comprise a storage area network.

29. The system of claim 25 wherein said means for replicating, said means for monitoring, and said means for associating comprise a computer executable control means.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein said computer executable control means comprise instances of a software control program executable on computer systems at the primary site and the secondary site.

31. The system of claim wherein said means for transmitting information between the primary site and the secondary site comprise a data network.