METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MIGRATE VIRTUAL MACHINES BETWEEN DISTRIBUTIVE COMPUTING NETWORKS ACROSS A WIDE AREA NETWORK

• US 20120054367A1
• Filed: 08/24/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), University Of Massachusetts
• Original Assignee: University Of Massachusetts
• Inventors: Ramakrishnan, Kadangode K., Van Der Merwe, Jacobus, Shenoy, Prashant, Wood, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 8,473,557 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/242
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to migrate virtual machines between distributive computing networks across a wide area network are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes establishing a data link across a wide area network between a first distributive computing network and a second distributive computing network, the first distributive computing network including a virtual machine operated by a first host communicatively coupled to a virtual private network via a first virtual local area network, communicatively coupling a second host included within the second distributive computing network to the virtual private network via a second virtual local area network, and migrating the virtual machine via the data link by transmitting a memory state of at least one application on the first host to the second host while the at least one application is operating.

Claims

1. A method to migrate virtual machines between distributive computing networks across a wide area network, the method comprising:

establishing a data link across a wide area network between a first distributive computing network and a second distributive computing network, the first distributive computing network including a virtual machine operated by a first host communicatively coupled to a virtual private network via a first virtual local area network;

communicatively coupling a second host included within the second distributive computing network to the virtual private network via a second virtual local area network; and

migrating the virtual machine via the data link by transmitting a memory state of at least one application on the first host to the second host while the at least one application is operating.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising operating the virtual machine at the second host at the second distributive computing network upon receiving at least a portion of the memory state.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining the second host by identifying available disk space within at least one server.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising transferring a final memory state of the at least one application after stopping the at least one application.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising using an address resolution protocol to update at least one router with an address associated with the second host to route data between the virtual private network and the second host.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein transferring the memory state includes:

iteratively transferring memory associated with the at least one application operating on the virtual machine at the first host and recording a number of pages remaining to be transferred for the at least one application in a sliding history buffer;

determining when a number of pages remaining is lower than any previous entry in the sliding history buffer;

pausing the at least one application; and

transferring a remaining memory state of the least one application to the second host.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein transferring the memory state includes transferring the memory state using content-based redundancy.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein transferring the memory state includes:

storing a cache of transmitted pages associated with the memory state of the at least one application;

determining a difference between portions of modified pages and the stored pages; and

transmitting the difference to the second host.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein migrating the virtual machine includes transferring a disk state of the at least one application to the host at the second distributive computing network.

10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein transferring the disk state includes:

transferring the disk state asynchronously until the second host is at a consistent state with the first host; and

upon the second host reaching the consistent state, synchronously propagating disk updates as they occur at the virtual machine on the first host to second the host.

11. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein transferring the disk state includes:

accessing a storage area network with the second distributive computing network; and

transmitting the disk state from the storage area network to the host.

13. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

aggregating the second host into a group with other hosts located at other distributive computing networks; and

allocating the hosts within the group among virtual machines.

14. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

determining an issue associated with the first distributive computing network; and

determining to mitigate the issue by migrating the virtual machine to the second distributive computing network.

12. (canceled)

15. An apparatus to migrate virtual machines between distributive computing networks across a wide area network, the apparatus comprising:

a distributive computing network manager to establish a data link across a wide area network between a first distributive computing network and a second distributive computing network, the first distributive computing network including a virtual machine operated by a first host communicatively coupled to a virtual private network via a first virtual local area network; and

a memory transferor to migrate the virtual machine via the data link to a second host included within the second distributive computing network by transmitting a memory state of at least one application on the first host to the second host while the at least one application is operating.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the distributive computing network manager is to communicatively couple the second host to the virtual private network via a second virtual local area network.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the memory transferor is to transfer the memory state by:

iteratively transferring memory associated with the at least one application operating on the virtual machine at the first host and recording a number of pages remaining to be transferred for the at least one application in a sliding history buffer;

determining when a number of pages remaining is lower than any previous entry in the sliding history buffer;

pausing the at least one application; and

transferring a remaining memory state of the least one application to the second host.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the memory transferor is to transfer the memory state by:

storing a cache of transmitted pages associated with the memory state of the at least one application;

determining a difference between portions of modified pages and the stored pages; and

transmitting the difference to the second host.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, further comprising a disk transferor to migrate the virtual machine by transferring a disk state of the at least one application to the host at the second distributive computing network.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 20, wherein the disk transferor is to transfer the disk state by:

transferring the disk state asynchronously until the second host is at a consistent state with the first host; and

upon the second host reaching the consistent state, synchronously propagating disk updates as they occur at the virtual machine on the first host to second the host.

17. (canceled)

22. A tangible machine-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

establish a data link between a first distributive computing network and a second

distributive computing network, the first distributive computing network including a virtual machine operated by a first host communicatively coupled to a virtual private network via a first virtual local area network; and

migrating the virtual machine via the data link by transmitting a memory state of at least one application on the first host to a second host included within the second distributive computing network while the at least one application is operating.