METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE MIGRATION

• US 20070283348A1
• Filed: 08/15/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snow Software, Inc. (Snow Software AB)
• Original Assignee: Embotics Corp. (Snow Software AB)
• Inventors: White, Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1482 by means of middleware or OS functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• 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: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

Virtual machine (VM) technology allows multiple operating systems each deploying multiple applications to run on a single host. This invention presents an effective method and system for virtual machine migration from a source host to a target host. The method and system concern the migration of both the service VM and the element managing it. State of the migrating VM is preserved so that it can resume its execution on the target host.

Claims

1. A method for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising a VM managed element and its dependent elements including components providing a service, from a source host to a target host, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) migrating the service VM during its execution by using an autonomic element including a sensor interface, and an effector interface for managing the migration of the service VM;

(b) migrating policies managing the service VM in synchronization with the migrating of the service VM; and

(c) resuming execution of the service VM under control of the policies migrated in step (b).

2. A method of claim 1, wherein the step (a) further comprises:

(d) queueing events to be processed at the source host;

(e) sending information regarding a state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements from the source host to the target host;

(f) sending information regarding a state of the events queued in step (d) from the source host to the target host;

(g) sending components of the VM managed element that have changed during the execution of step (d)-step (f) from the source host to the target host;

(h) processing the information sent in step (e) at the target host; and

(i) processing the information sent in step (f) at the target host.

3. A method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) further comprises the steps of:

(v) storing policies within the autonomic element; and

(w) migrating the policies contained in the autonomic element prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

4. A method of claim 2, wherein the step (d) further comprises the steps of:

locating a sensor service; and

creating a queue of events and preventing further events to be forwarded to the VM managed element.

5. A method of claim 2, wherein the step (e) further comprises the steps of:

(j) serializing the state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements; and

(k) sending a message containing a serialized state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements generated in step (j) from the source host to the target host.

6. A method of claim 2, wherein the step (f) further comprises the steps of:

(l) serializing the queued events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the source host; and

(m) sending a message including a serialized queue of events generated in step (l) to the target host.

7. A method of claim 2, wherein the step (g) further comprises the steps of:

(n) serializing the components of the VM managed element and its dependent elements that have changed; and

(o) sending serialized components of the VM managed element produced in step (n) from the source host to the target host.

8. A method of claim 2, wherein the step (h) further comprises the step of:

deserializing the state of the VM managed element and extracting dependencies for its dependent elements at the target host.

9. A method of claim 2, wherein the step (i) further comprises the steps of:

(x) deserializing the queued events and creating queues of events at the target host; and

(y) locating a sensor service and inserting the queues of events created in step (x) into the sensor service.

10. A method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises the steps of:

(p) starting events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the target host; and

(q) destroying the VM managed element at the source host.

11. A method of claim 10, wherein step (p) further comprises the steps of:

locating the sensor service;

adding the events for the VM managed element to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service; and

adding the events the dependent elements of the VM managed element to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service.

12. A method of claim 10, wherein the step (q) further comprises the step of stopping the events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements.

14. A computer program product for migrating a service VM, comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing said computer to perform the steps of the method as described in claim 1.

13. A method for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising a VM managed element and its dependent elements including components providing a service, from a source host to a target host, the method comprising the steps of:

(r) migrating the service VM during its execution;

(s) migrating policies managing the service VM in synchronization with the migrating of the service VM; and

(t) resuming execution of the service VM on the target host under control of the policies migrated in step (s).

15. A system for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising a VM managed element and its dependent elements including components providing a service, from a source host to a target host, the system comprising:

(a) means for migrating the service VM during its execution by using an autonomic element including a sensor interface, and an effector interface for managing the migration of the service VM;

(b) means for migrating policies managing the service VM in synchronization with the migrating of the service VM; and

(c) means for resuming execution of the service VM under control of the policies migrated by the means (b).

16. A system of claim 15, wherein means (a) further comprises:

(d) means for queueing events to be processed at the source host;

(e) means for sending information regarding a state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements from the source host to the target host;

(f) means for sending information regarding a state of the events queued from the source host to the target host;

(g) means for sending components of the VM managed element that have changed during the processing performed by the means (d)-(f) from the source host to the target host;

(h) means for processing the information sent by the means (e) at the target host; and

(i) means for processing the information sent by the means (f) at the target host.

17. A system of claim 15, wherein the means (b) further comprises:

(v) means for storing policies within the autonomic element; and

(w) means for migrating the policies contained in the autonomic element prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

18. A system of claim 16, wherein the means (d) further comprises:

means for locating a sensor service; and

means for creating a queue of events within the sensor service and preventing further events to be forwarded to the VM managed element.

19. A system of claim 16, wherein the means (e) further comprises:

(j) means for serializing the state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements; and

(k) means for sending a message containing a serialized state of the VM managed element and its dependent elements generated by the means (j) from the source host to the target host.

20. A system of claim 16, wherein the means (f) further comprises:

(l) means for serializing the queued events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the source host; and

(m) means for sending a message including a serialized queue of events generated by the means (l) to the target host.

21. A system of claim 16, wherein the means (g) further comprises:

(n) means for serializing the components of the VM managed element and its dependent elements that have changed; and

(o) means for sending serialized components of the VM managed element produced by the means (n) from the source host to the target host.

22. A system of claim 16 wherein the means (h) further comprises means for deserializing the state of the VM managed element and extracting dependencies for its dependent elements at the target host.

23. A system of claim 16, wherein the means (i) further comprises:

(x) means for deserializing the queued events and creating queues of events at the target host; and

(y) means for locating a sensor service and inserting the queues of events created by the means (x) into the sensor service.

24. A system of claim 15, wherein the means (c) further comprises:

(p) means for starting events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements at the target host; and

(q) means for destroying the VM managed element at the source host.

25. A system of claim 24, wherein the means (p) further comprises:

means for locating the sensor service;

means for adding the events for the VM managed element to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service; and

means for adding the events the dependent elements of the VM managed element to a time-ordered queue of events stored within the sensor service.

26. A system of claim 24, wherein the means (q) further comprises means for stopping the events for the VM managed element and its dependent elements.

27. A system for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising a VM managed element and its dependent elements including components providing a service, from a source host to a target host, the system comprising of:

(r) means for migrating the service VM during its execution;

(s) means for migrating policies managing the service VM in synchronization with the migrating of the service VM; and

(t) means for resuming execution of the service VM on the target host under control of the policies migrated by the means (s).

28. A method for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising a VM managed element and its dependent elements including components providing a service, from a source host to a target host, the method comprising the steps of:

(x) migrating the service VM during its execution under control of a Management VM comprising one or more autonomic elements managing the Service VM;

(y) migrating the management VM in synchronization with the migrating of the service VM; and

(z) resuming execution of the service VM under control of the management VM migrated in step (y).

30. A method of claim 28, wherein the autonomic elements include respective sensor interfaces and effector interfaces for managing the migration of the service VM.

29. A method of claim 29, wherein the step (y) further comprises the steps of:

storing policies for managing the service VM within the autonomic elements; and

migrating the policies prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

31. A system for migrating a service Virtual Machine (VM), comprising a VM managed element and its dependent elements including components providing a service, from a source host to a target host, comprising:

(x) means for migrating the service VM during its execution under control of a management VM comprising one or more autonomic elements managing the service VM;

(y) means for migrating the management VM in synchronization with the migrating of the service VM; and

(z) means for resuming execution of the service VM under control of the management VM migrated in step (y).

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the means (y) further comprises:

means for storing policies for managing the service VM within the autonomic elements; and

means for migrating the policies prior to executing the service VM on the target host.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the autonomic elements include respective sensor interfaces and effector interfaces for managing the migration of the service VM.