COMPUTER SYSTEM AND AVAILABILITY METHOD THEREOF

• US 20120131379A1
• Filed: 03/05/2010
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Tameshige, Takashi, Takamoto, Yoshifumi, Hatasaki, Keisuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4.11
• 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: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

High availability computer system and fault correction method. If a fault occurs in the current-system physical device allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server, the virtualization mechanism of the physical server configures, for the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server, the standby-system physical device, as a physical device which is used at a high priority, and the virtualization mechanism distributes the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of another virtual server to a standby-system physical device, but, when such a standby-system physical device does not exist, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to a standby-system physical device configured for high priority usage.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising a physical server,

wherein the physical server comprises:

current-system and standby-system physical devices; and

a virtualization mechanism which provides a plurality of virtual servers each comprising a current-system virtual device obtained by virtualizing the current-system physical device, and a standby-system virtual device obtained by virtualizing the standby-system physical device,

wherein the virtualization mechanism comprises a function which allocates, for occupied usage, the current-system physical device to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server and which allocates, for shared usage, the virtual-system physical device to the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server, and which distributes a request issued from the current-system or standby-system virtual device of the virtual server to the current-system or standby-system physical device allocated to the current-system or standby-system virtual device,

wherein, if a fault occurs in the current-system physical device allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server,

the virtualization mechanism configures, for the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server, the standby-system physical device, which has not been configured as a physical device which is also used at high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers, as a physical device which is used by the standby-system virtual device at a higher priority than the other standby-system virtual devices, and

wherein the virtualization mechanism distributes the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server to the standby-system physical device configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server.

2. The computer system according to claim 1,

wherein the virtualization mechanism distributes the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of another virtual server to the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers, and

wherein, when the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical device which is configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers.

3. The computer system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a management server for managing the physical servers,

wherein, when the request is issued from the standby-system virtual device of the other virtual servers and the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist, the virtualization mechanism issues an inquiry to the management server to inquire after the standby-system physical device for distributing the request,

wherein the management server determines the standby-system physical device for distributing the request on the basis of the priority rankings of the tasks executed by each of the virtual servers, and notifies the virtualization mechanism of the determination result, and

wherein, on the basis of the determination result of the management server, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical device which is configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers.

4. The computer system according to claim 3,

wherein, when the request is issued from the standby-system virtual device of the other virtual server, if the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist and when there is a physical adapter in the standby-system which is capable of slotting in the request among the standby-system physical adapters configured as a physical adapter which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual adapter of any of the virtual servers, the virtualization mechanism causes the standby-system physical adapter to slot in the request and, when the standby-system physical adapter which is capable of slotting in the request does not exist, issues an inquiry to the management server to inquire after a physical device in the standby-system for distributing the request.

5. The computer system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a management server for managing the physical servers and/or a storage apparatus for providing a storage area for reading and writing data from the physical server,

wherein the current-system and standby-system physical devices are adapters for performing communications with the management server or the storage apparatus.

6. The computer system according to claim 1,

wherein the virtualization mechanism determines whether or not a fault has occurred in the current-system physical device which has been allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server on the basis of the type of request issued by the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server.

7. The computer system according to claim 6,

wherein, when the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers is a vital monitoring request or when the packet size of the request issued from the standby-system virtual device is less than a threshold, the virtualization mechanism determines that a fault has occurred in the current-system physical device allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server.

8. The computer system according to claim 7,

wherein, when the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers is a vital monitoring request and the standby-system physical adapter which has not been configured as a physical adapter which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers exists, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical adapter, and

wherein, when the standby-system physical adapter which has not been configured as a physical adapter which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical adapter which is configured as a physical adapter which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual adapter of the virtual server executing the task with the highest priority ranking, or to the standby-system physical adapter with the lowest load.

9. An availability method for a computer system comprising a physical server,

wherein the physical server comprises:

current-system and standby-system physical devices; and

a virtualization mechanism which provides a plurality of virtual servers each comprising a current-system virtual device obtained by virtualizing the current-system physical device, and a standby-system virtual device obtained by virtualizing the standby-system physical device,

the availability method comprising;

a first step in which the virtualization mechanism allocates, for occupied usage, the current-system physical device to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server and which allocates, for shared usage, the virtual-system physical device to the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server, and which distributes a request issued from the current-system or standby-system virtual device of the virtual server to the current-system or standby-system physical device allocated to the current-system or standby-system virtual device; and

a second step in which, if a fault occurs in the current-system physical device allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server,

the virtualization mechanism configures, for the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server, the standby-system physical device, which has not been configured as a physical device which is also used at high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers, as a physical device which is used by the standby-system virtual device at a higher priority than the other standby-system virtual devices, and in which the virtualization mechanism distributes the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server to the standby-system physical device configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server.

10. The availability method for a computer system according to claim 9,

wherein, in the second step,

the virtualization mechanism distributes the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of another virtual server to the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers, and

wherein, when the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical device which is configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers.

11. The availability method for a computer system according to claim 9,

wherein the computer system further comprises:

a management server for managing the physical servers, and

wherein the second step comprises;

an inquiry step in which, when the request is issued from the standby-system virtual device of the other virtual servers and the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist, the virtualization mechanism issues an inquiry to the management server to inquire after the standby-system physical device for distributing the request;

a determination step in which the management server determines the standby-system physical device for distributing the request on the basis of the priority rankings of the tasks executed by each of the virtual servers, and notifies the virtualization mechanism of the determination result; and

a distribution step in which, on the basis of the determination result of the management server, the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical device which is configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers.

12. The availability method for a computer system according to claim 11,

wherein, in the inquiry step,

when the request is issued from the standby-system virtual device of the other virtual server, if the standby-system physical device which has not been configured as a physical device which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist and when there is a physical adapter in the standby-system which is capable of slotting in the request among the standby-system physical adapters configured as a physical adapter which is used at a high priority by the standby-system virtual adapter of any of the virtual servers, the virtualization mechanism causes the standby-system physical adapter to slot in the request and, when the standby-system physical adapter which is capable of slotting in the request does not exist, issues an inquiry to the management server to inquire after a physical device in the standby-system for distributing the request.

13. The availability method of the computer system according to claim 9,

wherein the computer system further comprises:

a management server for managing the physical servers and/or a storage apparatus for providing a storage area for reading and writing data from the physical server,

wherein the current-system and standby-system physical devices are adapters for performing communications with the management server or the storage apparatus.

14. The availability method of the computer system according to claim 9,

wherein, in the second step,

the virtualization mechanism determines whether a fault has occurred in the current-system physical device allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server on the basis of the type of requests issued by the standby-system virtual device of the virtual server.

15. The availability method of the computer system according to claim 14,

wherein, in the second step,

the virtualization mechanism determines whether a fault has occurred in the current-system physical device allocated to the current-system virtual device of the virtual server when the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers is a vital monitoring request or at times except when the packet size of the request issued from the standby-system virtual device is less than a threshold.

16. The availability method of the computer system according to claim 15,

wherein, in the second step,

when the request issued from the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers is a vital monitoring request,

the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical adapter when the standby-system physical adapter which has not been configured as a physical adapter for high priority usage by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers exists, and

when the standby-system physical adapter which has not been configured as a physical adapter for high priority usage by the standby-system virtual device of any of the virtual servers does not exist,

the virtualization mechanism distributes the request to the standby-system physical adapter configured as a physical adapter for high priority usage by the standby-system virtual adapter of the virtual server which executes the task with the lowest priority ranking, or to the standby-system physical adapter with the lowest load.