SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIRTUAL MACHINE MANAGEMENT

• US 20100332890A1
• Filed: 06/29/2010
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Wei, Xu, Jian, Meng, Xian Dong, Lan, Wen Long
• Granted Patent: US 8,578,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities

Abstract

A system and method are provided for virtual machine management. The system comprises a virtual machine manager, a blade server management module, at least one blade server, and a virtual machine manager. The virtual machine manager comprises an abnormal event receiving module for receiving information about a blade server having a hardware problem directly from the blade server management module and additionally a virtual machine management module for sending a processing command to a virtual machine hypervisor on the blade server having the hardware problem. The virtual machine management module receives the information about the hardware problem from the abnormal event receiving module. The processing command is determined in accordance with the information about the hardware problem and strategies for handling predefined hardware problems.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a virtual machine manager;

a blade server management module;

at least one blade server; and

a virtual machine manager comprising an abnormal event receiving module for receiving information about a blade server having a hardware problem directly from said blade server management module and a virtual machine management module for sending a processing command to a virtual machine hypervisor on said blade server having said hardware problem.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said virtual machine management module receives said information about said hardware problem from said abnormal event receiving module, and wherein said processing command is determined in accordance with said information about said hardware problem and strategies for handling predefined hardware problems.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said virtual machine manager manages resources of said at least one blade server as a virtual machine host, and wherein said virtual machine manager manages at least one virtual machine operating on said at least one blade server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said virtual machine manager is integrated into said blade server management module.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein said virtual machine management module comprises a storage module for storing a mapping relationship between said predefined hardware problems and said strategies for handling said predefined hardware problems.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein said virtual machine management module comprises:

an external service interface module for receiving a managing command and for returning an execution result with respect to said managing command;

a command processing module for processing said managing command;

a resource pool for storing properties with respect to resources of said system; and

a resource pool management module for updating one or more of said properties stored in said resource pool in response to one or more corresponding changes to said resources of said system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said properties with respect to said resources of said system comprise a number of resources and a number of available resources of said system, a number of resources and a number of available resources of said at least one blade server, and a number of resources, a configuration, and a state of said at least one virtual machine.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein in response to said managing command received by said external service interface module being from an external virtual machine manager, said external virtual machine manager manages said virtual machine manager as a virtual machine host, with said external virtual machine manager having a capability to inquire about said number of all resources and said number of available resources of said system, and said number of resources, said configuration, and said state of said at least one virtual machine, but not having a capability to inquire about said number of resources and said number of available resources of said at least one blade server.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein in response to said managing command received by said external service interface module being from a client of said virtual machine manager, said virtual machine manager manages said at least one blade server as a virtual machine host, with said client having a capability to inquire about said number of resources and said number of available resources of said at least one blade server as well as said number of all resources and said number of available resources of said system, and said number of resources, said configuration, and said state of said at least one virtual machine.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein in response to an association between said managing command and said resources of said system as indicated in said resource pool, said command processing module processes said managing command in accordance with said managing command and said resources of said at least one blade server.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein in response to an association between said managing command and said resources of said system as indicated in said resource pool, said command processing module processes said managing command in accordance with said managing command and said resources of said at least one blade server.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein said virtual machine management module comprises a strategy checker for determining the presence of any issue with respect to said strategies for handling said predefined hardware problems.

13. A method for processing with respect to a system including a virtual machine manager, a blade server management module, and at least one blade server, said method comprising:

receiving information about a blade server having a hardware problem directly from said blade server management module; and

sending a processing command to a virtual machine hypervisor on said blade server having said hardware problem.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said processing command is determined in accordance with said information about said hardware problem and strategies for handling predefined hardware problems.

15. The method of claim 13, said method further comprising:

managing resources of said at least one blade server as a virtual machine host; and

operating at least one virtual machine on said at least one blade server.

16. The method of claim 14, said method further comprising storing a mapping relationship between said predefined hardware problems and said strategies for handling said predefined hardware problems.

17. The method of claim 15, said method further comprising:

receiving a managing command;

processing said managing command; and

returning an execution result of said managing command.

18. The method of claim 17, said method further comprising:

storing properties with respect to resources of said system; and

updating one or more of said properties in response to one or more corresponding changes to said resources of said system.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said properties with respect to said resources of said system comprise a number of resources and a number of available resources of said system, a number of resources and a number of available resources of said at least one blade server, and a number of resources, a configuration, and a state of said at least one virtual machine.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein in response to said managing command being from an external virtual machine manager, said method further comprises managing said virtual machine manager as a virtual machine host via said external virtual machine manager, with said external virtual machine manager having a capability to inquire about said number of all resources and said number of available resources of said system, and said number of resources, said configuration, and said state of said at least one virtual machine, but not having a capability to inquire about said number of resources and said number of available resources of said at least one blade server.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein in response to said managing command being from a client of said virtual machine manager, said method further comprises managing said at least one blade server as a virtual machine host via said virtual machine manager, with said client having a capability to inquire about said number of resources and said number of available resources of said at least one blade server as well as said number of all resources and said number of available resources of said system, and said number of resources, said configuration, and said state of said at least one virtual machine.

22. A virtual machine management apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

an abnormal event receiving module for receiving information with respect to a blade server having a hardware problem directly from a blade server management module; and

a virtual machine management module for sending a processing command to a virtual machine hypervisor on said blade server having said hardware problem.