SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING LOCAL STORAGE TO EMULATE CENTRALIZED STORAGE

• US 20130125122A1
• Filed: 01/04/2013
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: HANSEN, Jacob Gorm
• Granted Patent: US 9,454,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2048 where the redundant components share neither address space nor persistent storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/188 Virtual file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

Methods and systems for utilizing local storage of host computers to emulate a centralized storage system comprise receiving a write operation from a virtual machine running on a first host computer, wherein the write operation corresponds to a disk image that is locally stored in a first host computer. The disk image and a second disk image is updated in accordance with the write operation, wherein (i) the second disk image is locally stored on a second host computer that is networked to the first host computer, (ii) the second disk image serves as a back-up to the disk image, and (ii) the second host computer is configured to support the running of other virtual machines that access other disks images that (a) are locally stored on the second host computer, and (b) are further backed-up on at least a third host computer.

Claims

1. A host computer configured to emulate accessing a centralized storage system, the host computer:

a local storage unit for storing a disk image;

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling the one or more computer processors to be configured to;

receiving a write operation from a virtual machine running on the host computer, wherein the write operation corresponds to the disk image, and

updating the disk image and a second disk image in accordance with the write operation, wherein (i) the second disk image is stored on a local storage of a second host computer that is networked to the host computer, (ii) the second disk image serves as a back-up to the disk image on the host computer, and (ii) the second host computer is configured to support the running of other virtual machines that access other disks images that (a) are locally stored on the second host computer, and (b) are further backed-up on at least a third host computer which is also configured to support the running of virtual machines.

2. The host computer of claim 1, wherein the third host computer is the same as the host computer.

3. The host computer of claim 1, wherein the third host computer is different from first host computer.

4. The host computer of claim 1, wherein, upon a failure of the host computer, the second host computer instantiates the virtual machine using the second disk image stored on the local storage of the second host computer.

5. The host computer of claim 1, wherein the second disk image is formatted as a log file of updates made to the disk image as a result of write operations made by the virtual machine to the disk image.

6. The host computer of claim 1, wherein the receiving and updating steps are performed by a hypervisor of the host computer.

7. The host computer of claim 1, wherein the receiving and updating steps are performed by a file system component of the hypervisor.

8. A method for utilizing local storage of host computers to emulate a centralized storage system, the method comprising:

receiving a write operation from a virtual machine running on a first host computer, wherein the write operation corresponds to a disk image that is stored on a local storage in the first host computer; and

updating the disk image and a second disk image in accordance with the write operation, wherein (i) the second disk image is stored on a local storage of a second host computer that is networked to the first host computer, (ii) the second disk image serves as a back-up to the disk image on the first host computer, and (ii) the second host computer is configured to support the running of other virtual machines that access other disks images that (a) are locally stored on the second host computer, and (b) are further backed-up on at least a third host computer which is also configured to support the running of virtual machines.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the third host computer is the same as the first host computer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the third host computer is different from the first host computer.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein, upon a failure of the first host computer, the second host computer instantiates the virtual machine using the second disk image stored on the local storage of the second host computer.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second disk image is formatted as a log file of updates made to the disk image as a result of write operations made by the virtual machine to the disk image.

13. The method of claim 8, performed by a hypervisor of the first host computer.

14. The method of claim 13, performed by a file system component of the hypervisor.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing unit of a first host computer causes the processing unit to utilize a local storage in the first host computer to emulate a centralized storage system by performing the steps of:

receiving a write operation from a virtual machine running on the first host computer, wherein the write operation corresponds to a disk image that is stored on the local storage in the first host computer;

updating the disk image and a second disk image in accordance with the write operation, wherein (i) the second disk image is stored on a local storage of a second host computer that is networked to the first host computer, (ii) the second disk image serves as a back-up to the disk image on the first host computer, and (ii) the second host computer is configured to support the running of other virtual machines that access other disks images that (a) are locally stored on the second host computer, and (b) are further backed-up on at least a third host computer which is also configured to support the running of virtual machines.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the third host computer is the same as the first host computer.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the third host computer is different from the first host computer.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 15, wherein, upon a failure of the first host computer, the second host computer instantiates the virtual machine using the second disk image stored on the local storage of the second host computer.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the second disk image is formatted as a log file of updates made to the disk image as a result of write operations made by the virtual machine to the disk image.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the steps are performed by a hypervisor of the first host computer.