SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PAAS LEVEL APP MOTION

• US 20150052218A1
• Filed: 08/14/2013
• Published: 02/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: ZHANG, Haining Henry, FENG, Figo, DAN, Cheng
• Granted Patent: US 9,705,965 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• 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: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Systems and methods described herein presents a PaaS level application or app motion system that manages and moves applications between multiple PaaS instances in a hybrid cloud that includes both private and public cloud instances. Specifically, the system performs an app motion operation on an application by cloning, moving, and/or scaling up the application from one PaaS instance to one or more other PaaS instances in the hybrid cloud. Since the system achieves application mobility and scalability at the PaaS level by only moving the application and its associated data between the PaaS instances without moving the virtual machines (VMs), it could greatly reduce the amount of data transmitted during the process and save both time and network resources. It also enables enterprises to extend their applications from a private cloud to a public cloud and uniformly manage the applications cross the boundaries of the clouds.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processing device programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method comprising;

selecting an application running on a source PaaS instance running in a first cloud instance and a destination PaaS instance running in a second cloud instance;

moving or copying data associated with the application from the source PaaS instance to the destination PaaS instance;

retrieving bits of the application from the source PaaS instance;

transmitting the retrieved bits of the application to the destination PaaS instance; and

binding the bits of the application and the data associated with the application to the destination PaaS instance.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the source PaaS instance and the destination PaaS instance are heterogeneous.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processing device is further programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of adjusting load distribution across the PaaS instances by determining which instance of the application should serve a client request for the application and directing the client request to the selected instance when a plurality of instances of the application has been created on the source and the destination PaaS instances following the app motion operation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processing device is further programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of providing an aggregated view of the PaaS instances to the administrator through a single or multiple panes of user interface (UI).

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processing device is further programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of moving or copying the data at the hardware or software level of hosts on which the source PaaS instance and the destination PaaS instance are running.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processing device is further programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of performing the app motion operation on the application at the PaaS layer without moving or copying one or more of virtual machines, operating system, middleware, runtimes and services required for running the application on the PaaS instances.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processing device is further programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of creating and managing a virtual federated identity of an owner of the application, wherein the federated identity enables the owner to move the application between the source and destination PaaS instances.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the processing device is further programmed with executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of adjusting load distribution across the PaaS instances by performing one or more of;

DNS rotation, URL redirection, and load balancing on the plurality of instances of the application.

9. A method, comprising:

selecting an application running on a source PaaS instance running in a first cloud instance and a destination PaaS instance running in a second cloud instance;

moving or copying data associated with the application from the source PaaS instance to the destination PaaS instance;

retrieving bits of the application from the source PaaS instance;

transmitting the retrieved bits of the application to the destination PaaS instance; and

binding the bits of the application and the data associated with the application to the destination PaaS instance.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

adjusting load distribution across the PaaS instances by determining which instance of the application should serve a client request for the application and directing the client request to the selected instance when a plurality of instances of the application has been created on the source and the destination PaaS instances following the app motion operation.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

providing an aggregated view of the PaaS instances to the administrator through a single or multiple panes of user interface (UI).

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

moving or copying the data at the hardware or software level of hosts on which the source PaaS instance and the destination PaaS instance are running.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

performing the app motion operation on the application at the PaaS layer without moving or copying one or more of virtual machines, operating system, middleware, runtimes and services required for running the application on the PaaS instances.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

creating and managing a virtual federated identity of an owner of the application, wherein the federated identity enables the owner to move the application between the source and destination PaaS instances.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising

adjusting the load distribution across the PaaS instances by performing one or more of:

DNS rotation, URL redirection, and load balancing on the plurality of instances of the application.

16. At least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein, when executed by at least one processor, the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to:

select an application running on a source PaaS instance running in a first cloud instance and a destination PaaS instance running in a second cloud instance;

move or copy data associated with the application from the source PaaS instance to the destination PaaS instance;

retrieve bits of the application from the source PaaS instance;

transmit the retrieved bits of the application to the destination PaaS instance; and

bind the bits of the application and the data associated with the application to the destination PaaS instance.

17. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to adjust load distribution across the PaaS instances by determining which instance of the application should serve a client request for the application and directing the client request to the selected instance when a plurality of instances of the application has been created on the source and the destination PaaS instances following the app motion operation.

18. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to provide an aggregated view of the PaaS instances to the administrator through a single or multiple panes of user interface (UI).

19. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to move or copy the data at the hardware or software level of hosts on which the source PaaS instance and the destination PaaS instance are running.

20. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to perform the app motion operation on the application at the PaaS layer without moving or copying one or more of virtual machines, operating system, middleware, runtimes and services required for running the application on the PaaS instances.

21. The at least one computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the at least one processor to create and manage a virtual federated identity of an owner of the application, wherein the federated identity enables the owner to move the application between the source and destination PaaS instances.

22. The at least one computer-readable storage medium if claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the at least one processor to adjust the load distribution across the PaaS instances by performing one or more of:

DNS rotation, URL redirection, and load balancing on the plurality of instances of the application.