SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MIGRATING VIRTUAL MACHINES

• US 20140130040A1
• Filed: 11/02/2012
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Lemanski, Richard Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 9,262,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4862 the task being a mobile agent, i.e. specifically designed to migrate
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4868 with creation or replication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration

Abstract

A system includes a first computing device including a virtual machine (VM), a second computing device, and a third computing device coupled to the first computing device and to the second computing device. The third computing device includes a management module configured to create a backup image of the VM while the VM is executing on the first computing device, create at least one delta file for use in storing changes to the VM that occur after the backup image is created, and copy the backup image to the second computing device while the VM is executing. The management module is also configured to suspend the VM on the first computing device after the backup image has been copied to the second computing device, and execute the VM on the second computing device using the backup image and the at least one delta file.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first computing device comprising a virtual machine (VM);

a second computing device; and

a third computing device coupled to said first computing device and to said second computing device, said third computing device comprising a management module configured to;

create a backup image of the VM while the VM is executing on said first computing device;

create at least one delta file for use in storing changes to the VM that occur after the backup image is created;

copy the backup image to said second computing device while the VM is executing;

suspend the VM on said first computing device after the backup image has been copied to said second computing device; and

execute the VM on said second computing device using the backup image and the at least one delta file.

2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said third computing device executes a LINUX based operating system, said management module is a LINUX program executing within the LINUX based operating system.

3. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said management module is further configured to establish a secure connection with said first computing device using an asymmetric key exchange.

4. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said first computing device is a virtual host computing device executing on at least one physical computing device.

5. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said management module is further configured to:

receive at least one prompt from said second computing device; and

automatically respond to the at least one prompt without input from a user.

6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the VM is configured to execute at least one application, said management module further configured to cause a notification to be presented to a user of the at least one application to notify the user that the VM will be suspended at a predetermined time.

7. A system in accordance with claim 6, wherein said management module is further configured to enable the user to delay the suspension of the VM.

8. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said management module is further configured to transmit the at least one delta file to said second computing device after the VM is suspended.

9. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein said management module is further configured to suspend the VM for a time that includes a time required to transmit the at least one delta file to said second computing device but that does not include a time required to transmit the backup image to said second computing device.

10. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said management module is further configured to incorporate the at least one delta file into the backup image on said second computing device after the VM has been suspended on said first computing device.

11. A method of migrating a virtual machine (VM) from a first computing device to a second computing device, said method comprising:

creating, by a management module executing on a processor, a backup image of the VM while the VM is executing on the first computing device;

creating, by the management module, at least one delta file for use in storing changes to the VM that occur after the backup image is created;

copying, by the management module, the backup image to the second computing device while the VM is executing;

suspending, by the management module, the VM on the first computing device after the backup image has been copied to the second computing device; and

executing the VM on the second computing device using the backup image and the at least one delta file.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising executing the management module within a LINUX based operating system.

13. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising establishing a secure connection between the management module and the first computing device using an asymmetric key exchange.

14. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising executing the first computing device as a virtual host computing device that executes on at least one physical computing device.

15. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising:

receiving at least one prompt from the second computing device; and

automatically responding to the at least one prompt without input from a user.

16. A method in accordance with claim 11, wherein the VM is configured to execute at least one application, said method further comprising presenting, to a user of the at least one application, a notification that the VM will be suspended at a predetermined time.

17. A method in accordance with claim 16, further presenting the user with an option to delay the suspension of the VM.

18. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising transmitting the at least one delta file to the second computing device after the VM is suspended.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18, further comprising suspending the VM for a time that includes a time required to transmit the at least one delta file to the second computing device but that does not include a time required to transmit the backup image to the second computing device.

20. A method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising incorporating the at least one delta file into the backup image on the second computing device after the VM has been suspended on the first computing device.