Effective Migration and Upgrade of Virtual Machines in Cloud Environments

• US 20140189677A1
• Filed: 01/02/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Curzi, Francesca, Ryan, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,459,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors

Abstract

A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for performing a system upgrade. Responsive to receiving selection of one or more virtual machines to upgrade with an upgrade package, the mechanism identifies a plurality of upgrade phases. The mechanism configures the plurality of upgrade phases and generates a pre-upgrade snapshot of each of the one or more virtual machines. The mechanism performs each upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases to form an upgraded virtual machine and performs one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded virtual machine. Responsive to the one or more upgrade validation tests succeeding, the mechanism reverts back to the pre-upgrade snapshot.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for performing a system upgrade, the method comprising.

responsive to receiving selection of a computing environment to upgrade with an upgrade package, configuring a plurality of upgrade phases;

generating a pre-upgrade snapshot of the computing environment;

performing each upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases to form an upgraded computing environment and performing one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded computing environment; and

responsive to a given upgrade validation test failing for a given virtual machine in the computing environment, reverting the given virtual machine back to the pre-upgrade snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more upgrade validation tests comprise one or more environment specific tests imported from a customer or administrator, wherein the one or more environment specific tests are specific for the selected computing environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving selection of the computing environment to upgrade comprises receiving a selection of a single virtual machine, a plurality of selected virtual machines, or an enterprise wide upgrade.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising responsive to receiving selection of an enterprise wide upgrade, connecting to a master image of all machines in the enterprise.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the plurality of upgrade phases comprises discovering pre-requisites for upgrades.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the plurality of upgrade phases comprises discovering products impacted by the upgrade.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the given upgrade validation test failing for the given virtual machine in the computing environment, sending a status notification to an administrator or interested party.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the given upgrade validation test failing for the given virtual machine in the computing environment, generating an upgrade snapshot of the upgraded given virtual machine to be diagnosed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein performing a given upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases comprises:

stopping application processes on a given virtual machine in the computing environment that must be stopped before the given upgrade phase can be performed;

performing an upgrade on one or more applications on the given virtual machine to form an upgraded virtual machine;

starting applications that must be started for validation; and

performing the one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded virtual machine.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein performing a given upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases further comprises:

responsive to the one or more upgrade validation tests passing, restarting the application processes; and

managing upgrade data and snapshots created during the given upgrade phase.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded computing environment comprises gathering test data for the one or more upgrade validation tests.

12. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

responsive to receiving selection of a computing environment to upgrade with an upgrade package, configuring a plurality of upgrade phases;

generate a pre-upgrade snapshot of the computing environment;

perform each upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases to form an upgraded computing environment and perform one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded computing environment; and

responsive to a given upgrade validation test failing for a given virtual machine in the computing environment, revert the given virtual machine back to the pre-upgrade snapshot.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the one or more upgrade validation tests comprise one or more environment specific tests imported from a customer or administrator, wherein the one or more environment specific tests are specific for the selected computing environment.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein receiving selection of the computing environment to upgrade comprises receiving a selection of a single virtual machine, a plurality of selected virtual machines, or an enterprise wide upgrade.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

responsive to a given upgrade validation test failing for a given virtual machine in the computing environment, send a status notification to an administrator or interested party.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein performing a given upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases comprises:

stopping application processes on a given virtual machine in the computing environment that must be stopped before the given upgrade phase can be performed;

performing an upgrade on one or more applications on the given virtual machine to form an upgraded virtual machine;

starting applications that must be started for validation; and

performing the one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded virtual machine.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein performing a given upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases further comprises:

responsive to the one or more upgrade validation tests passing, restarting the application processes; and

managing upgrade data and snapshots created during the given upgrade phase.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program is stored in a computer readable storage medium in a data processing system and wherein the computer readable program was downloaded over a network from a remote data processing system.

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program is stored in a computer readable storage medium in a server data processing system and wherein the computer readable program is downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage medium with the remote system.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

responsive to receiving selection of a computing environment to upgrade with an upgrade package, identify a plurality of upgrade phases;

configure the plurality of upgrade phases;

generate a pre-upgrade snapshot of the computing environment;

perform each upgrade phase in the plurality of upgrade phases to form an upgraded computing environment and perform one or more upgrade validation tests on the upgraded computing environment; and

responsive to a given upgrade validation test failing for a given virtual machine in the computing environment, revert the given virtual machine back to the pre-upgrade snapshot.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more upgrade validation tests comprise one or more environment specific tests imported from a customer or administrator, wherein the one or more environment specific tests are specific for the selected computing environment.