CROSS-CLOUD POLICY MANAGEMENT FOR HYBRID CLOUD DEPLOYMENTS

• US 20160105321A1
• Filed: 03/07/2015
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: THAKKAR, SACHIN, BASAK, DEBASHIS, MASKALIK, SERGE, BHAGWAT, ABHINAV VIJAY, SRINIVASAN, ARAVIND
• Granted Patent: US 10,530,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0883 Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks

Abstract

A method is provide for managing a migration of a virtual machine from a private data center managed by a first organization to a public cloud computing system by a second organization and where the first organization is a tenant. The configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine are determined, along with a corresponding match preference indicating a level of criticality for some corresponding configuration at the public cloud system. The configurations and match preferences generated as part of a migration package. The public cloud computing system instantiates a corresponding VM based on the determined configurations and corresponding match preferences.

Claims

1. A method for managing a hybrid cloud computing system, the method comprising:

receiving a request to migrate a virtual machine from a private data center managed by a first organization to a public cloud computing system, wherein the first organization is a tenant in the public cloud computing system managed by a second organization;

determining configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine;

determining a match preference associated with each of the configurations, wherein the match preferences indicate a level of criticality for some corresponding configuration at the public cloud system; and

transmitting, to the public cloud computing system, a migration package associated with the virtual machine and specifying the determined configurations and corresponding match preferences.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the match preference associated with a first configuration of the private data center is at least one of:

an indication that a second configuration at the public cloud computing system must match the first configuration; and

an indication that a best match between the first configuration and a second configuration at the public cloud computing system is permitted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machines further comprises:

discovering the configurations of the physical infrastructure using a link layer discover protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machines further comprises:

querying an infrastructure manager associated with a component of the physical infrastructure for policies specifying the configurations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating the migration package associated with the virtual machine, wherein the package comprises a metadata file indicating the configurations and corresponding match preferences.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the match preference associated with each of the configurations further composes:

receiving user input indicating the match preference associated with each of the configurations of the physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configurations of the physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine comprises at least one of network services settings, storage settings, and physical network interface settings.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed in a computing device, manage a hybrid cloud computing system, by performing the steps of:

receiving a request to migrate a virtual machine from a private data center managed by a first organization to a public cloud computing system, wherein the first organization is a tenant in the public cloud computing system managed by a second organization;

determining configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine;

determining a match preference associated with each of the configurations, wherein the match preferences indicate a level of criticality for some corresponding configuration at the public cloud system; and

transmitting, to the public cloud computing system, a migration package associated with the virtual machine and specifying the determined configurations and corresponding match preferences.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the match preference associated with a first configuration of the private data center is at least one of:

an indication that a second configuration at the public cloud computing system must match the first configuration; and

an indication that a best match between the first configuration and a second configuration at the public cloud computing system is permitted.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the determining the configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machines further comprises:

discovering the configurations of the physical infrastructure using a link layer discovery protocol.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the determining the configurations of physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machines further comprises:

querying an infrastructure manager associated with a component of the physical infrastructure for policies specifying the configurations.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the steps further comprise:

generating the migration package associated with the virtual machine, wherein the package comprises a metadata file indicating the configurations and corresponding match preferences.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the determining the match preference associated with each of the configurations further comprises:

receiving user input indicating the match preference associated with each of the configurations of the physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the configurations of the physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the virtual machine comprises at least one of network services settings, storage settings, and physical network interface settings.

15. A method for managing a hybrid cloud computing system, the method comprising:

receiving, at a public cloud computing system, a migration package associated with a first virtual machine at a private data center managed by a first organization, wherein the first organization is a tenant in the public cloud computing system managed by a second organization;

retrieving a plurality of configurations and corresponding match preferences from the migration package, wherein the match preferences indicate a level of criticality for some corresponding configuration at the public cloud system; and

responsive to determining availability for the plurality of configurations at the public cloud computing system based on the corresponding, match preferences, instantiating a second virtual machine based on the migration package.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the match preference associated with a first configuration of the plurality of configurations is at least one of:

an indication that a second configuration at the public cloud computing system must match the first configuration; and

an indication that a best match between the first configuration and a second configuration at the public cloud computing system is permitted.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of configurations at the public cloud computing system are determined at the private data center based on a discovery of configurations of the physical infrastructure using a link layer discovery protocol.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of configurations at the public cloud computing system are determined at the private data center based on a query to an infrastructure manager associated with a component of the physical infrastructure for policies specifying the configurations.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the migration package associated with the first virtual machine comprises a metadata file indicating the configurations and corresponding match preferences.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the configurations of the physical infrastructure of the private data center that underlies the first virtual machine comprises at least one of network services settings, storage settings, and physical network interface settings.