Virtual Machine Infrastructure With Storage Domain Monitoring

• US 20110035620A1
• Filed: 08/04/2009
• Published: 02/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat Israel Ltd. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Elyashev, Vitaly, Frenkel, Omer
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual

Abstract

A computing device monitors multiple hosts. A first host that does not have access to a data store is identified. A determination is made as to whether other hosts have access to the data store. When the other hosts do have access to the data store, it is determined that the first host is malfunctioning. A host error notification may then be sent to an administrator.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of hosts by a computing device;

identifying that a first host of the plurality of hosts does not have access to a data store;

determining whether other hosts of the plurality of hosts have access to the data store; and

when the other hosts do have access to the data store, determining that the first host is malfunctioning and sending a host error notification to an administrator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

starting a timer upon identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store; and

determining whether the other hosts have access to the data store when the timer times out.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining that the first host is malfunctioning, performing the following;

migrating virtual machines hosted by the first host to the other hosts; and

shutting down the first host.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the other hosts do not have access to the data store, determining that the data store is malfunctioning and sending a data store error notification to the administrator.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store upon receiving a notification from the first host that the first host cannot communicate with the data store.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data store is a multi-path data store, the method further comprising:

identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store via a first path;

determining whether other hosts of the plurality of hosts have access to the data store via the first path;

when the other hosts do have access to the data store via the first path, determining that the first host is malfunctioning; and

when the other hosts to not have access to the data store via the first path, determining that the data store is malfunctioning.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether the first host has access to the data store via an additional path; and

migrating virtual machines hosted by the first host to other the hosts if the first host is malfunctioning and the first host does not have access to the data store via the first path or the additional path.

8. A computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:

monitoring a plurality of hosts by a computing device;

identifying that a first host of the plurality of hosts does not have access to a data store;

determining whether other hosts of the plurality of hosts have access to the data store; and

when the other hosts do have access to the data store, determining that the first host is malfunctioning and sending a host error notification to an administrator.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

starting a timer upon identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store; and

determining whether the other hosts have access to the data store when the timer times out.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

upon determining that the first host is malfunctioning, performing the following;

migrating virtual machines hosted by the first host to the other hosts; and

shutting down the first host.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

when the other hosts do not have access to the data store, determining that the data store is malfunctioning and sending a data store error notification to the administrator.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store upon receiving a notification from the first host that the first host cannot communicate with the data store.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the data store is a multi-path data store, the method further comprising:

identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store via a first path;

determining whether other hosts of the plurality of hosts have access to the data store via the first path;

when the other hosts do have access to the data store via the first path, determining that the first host is malfunctioning; and

when the other hosts to not have access to the data store via the first path, determining that the data store is malfunctioning.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, the method further comprising:

determining whether the first host has access to the data store via an additional path; and

migrating virtual machines hosted by the first host to other the hosts if the first host is malfunctioning and the first host does not have access to the data store via the first path or the additional path.

15. A computing apparatus comprising:

a memory to store instructions for a high availability manager; and

a processor, connected to the memory, the processor to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the processor to;

monitor a plurality of hosts;

identify that a first host of the plurality of hosts does not have access to a data store;

determine whether other hosts of the plurality of hosts have access to the data store; and

when the other hosts do have access to the data store, determine that the first host is malfunctioning and send a host error notification to an administrator.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 15, the instructions further to cause the processor to:

start a timer upon identifying that the first host does not have access to the data store; and

determine whether the other hosts have access to the data store when the timer times out.

17. The computing apparatus of claim 15, the instructions further to cause the processor to perform the following upon determining that the first host is malfunctioning:

migrate virtual machines hosted by the first host to the other hosts; and

shut down the first host.

18. The computing apparatus of claim 15, the instructions further to cause the processor to:

determine that the data store is malfunctioning when the other hosts do not have access to the data store and send a data store error notification to the administrator.

19. The computing apparatus of claim 15, the instructions further to cause the processor to:

identify that the first host does not have access to the data store upon receiving a notification from the first host that the first host cannot communicate with the data store.

20. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data store is a multi-path data store, the instructions further to cause the processor to:

identify that the first host does not have access to the data store via a first path;

determine whether other hosts of the plurality of hosts have access to the data store via the first path;

determine that the first host is malfunctioning when the other hosts do have access to the data store via the first path; and

determine that the data store is malfunctioning when the other hosts to not have access to the data store via the first path.

21. The computing apparatus of claim 20, the instructions further to cause the processor to:

determine whether the first host has access to the data store via an additional path; and

migrate virtual machines hosted by the first host to other the hosts if the first host is malfunctioning and the first host does not have access to the data store via the first path or the additional path.