MECHANISM FOR PERFORMING ROLLING UPDATES WITH DATA UNAVAILABILITY CHECK IN A NETWORKED VIRTUALIZATION ENVIRONMENT FOR STORAGE MANAGEMENT

• US 20160203008A1
• Filed: 05/15/2014
• Published: 07/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: SCHWENZ, Robert William, CUI, Miao
• Granted Patent: US 9,733,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• 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 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method for performing rolling updates with data unavailability checks in a networked virtualization environment for storage management.

Claims

1. A method for performing rolling updates with data unavailability checks in a networked virtualization environment for storage management, comprising:

performing a leadership election amongst controller virtual machines distributed across a cluster of nodes in the networked virtualization environment to elect a master controller virtual machine, wherein controller virtual machines not elected are slave controller virtual machines, the controllers virtual machines managing access by the cluster of nodes to a global storage pool comprising a plurality of storage devices distributed across the cluster of nodes;

acquiring update data by the cluster of nodes in the networked virtualization environment;

determining whether a replication status at a node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable by the master controller virtual machine or a corresponding slave controller virtual machine; and

granting approval to complete installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment by the master controller virtual machine when the replication status at the node is acceptable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring update data comprises:

receiving the update data at a first node;

updating configuration data for the networked virtualization environment by the first node to indicate existence of the update data;

recognizing the existence of the update data by one or more other nodes in the networked virtualization environment; and

acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes comprises identifying a location of the update data by consulting the configuration data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes comprises iterating through the nodes in the networked virtualization environment until the update data is located.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the replication status at the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable is performed by the master controller virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the master controller virtual machine determines whether the replication status of the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable by checking metadata.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when a current replication factor for data at the node meets a desired replication factor.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when failure of the node is supportable.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the replication status at the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable is performed by the corresponding slave controller virtual machines.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the corresponding slave controller virtual machine determines whether a replication status of its corresponding node is acceptable by checking metadata.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when a current replication factor for data at the node meets a desired replication factor.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein granting approval to complete installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment by the master controller virtual machine comprises providing a token to the node for completing installation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein completing installation of the update data at a node at which the master controller virtual machine resides causes another leadership election process to be performed.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein completing installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment requires data residing at the node to be unavailable for a period of time.

15. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for performing rolling updates with data unavailability checks in a networked virtualization environment for storage management, comprising:

performing a leadership election amongst controller virtual machines distributed across a cluster of nodes in the networked virtualization environment to elect a master controller virtual machine, wherein controller virtual machines not elected are slave controller virtual machines, the controllers virtual machines managing access by the cluster of nodes to a global storage pool comprising a plurality of storage devices distributed across the cluster of nodes;

acquiring update data by the cluster of nodes in the networked virtualization environment;

determining whether a replication status at a node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable by the master controller virtual machine or a corresponding slave controller virtual machine; and

granting approval to complete installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment by the master controller virtual machine when the replication status at the node is acceptable.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein acquiring the update data comprises:

receiving the update data at a first node;

updating configuration data for the networked virtualization environment by the first node to indicate existence of the update data;

recognizing the existence of the update data by one or more other nodes in the networked virtualization environment; and

acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes comprises identifying a location of the update data by consulting the configuration data.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes comprises iterating through the nodes in the networked virtualization environment until the update data is located.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein determining whether the replication status at the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable is performed by the master controller virtual machine.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the master controller virtual machine determines whether the replication status of the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable by checking metadata.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when a current replication factor for data at the node meets a desired replication factor.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when failure of the node is supportable.

23. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein determining whether the replication status at the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable is performed by the corresponding slave controller virtual machine.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the corresponding slave controller virtual machine determines whether a replication status of its corresponding node is acceptable by checking metadata.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when a current replication factor for data at the node meets a desired replication factor.

26. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein granting approval to complete installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment by the master controller virtual machine comprises providing a token to the node for completing installation.

27. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein completing installation of the update data at a node at which the master controller virtual machine resides causes another leadership election process to be performed.

28. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein completing installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment requires data residing at the node to be unavailable for a period of time.

29. A system for performing rolling updates with data unavailability checks in a networked virtualization environment for storage management, comprising:

a computer processor to execute a set of program code instructions;

a memory to hold the set of program code instructions, in which the set of program code instructions comprises program code to perform;

performing a leadership election amongst controller virtual machines distributed across a cluster of nodes in the networked virtualization environment to elect a master controller virtual machine, wherein controller virtual machines not elected are slave controller virtual machines, the controllers virtual machines managing access by the cluster of nodes to a global storage pool comprising a plurality of storage devices distributed across the cluster of nodes;

acquiring update data by the cluster of nodes in the networked virtualization environment;

determining whether a replication status at a node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable by the master controller virtual machine or a corresponding slave controller virtual machine; and

granting approval to complete installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment by the master controller virtual machine when the replication status at the node is acceptable.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein acquiring the update data comprises:

receiving the update data at a first node;

updating configuration data for the networked virtualization environment by the first node to indicate existence of the update data;

recognizing the existence of the update data by one or more other nodes in the networked virtualization environment; and

acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes comprises identifying a location of the update data by consulting the configuration data.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein acquiring the update data by the one or more other nodes comprises iterating through the nodes in the networked virtualization environment until the update data is located.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein determining whether the replication status at the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable is performed by the master controller virtual machine.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the master controller virtual machine determines whether the replication status of the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable by checking metadata.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when a current replication factor for data at the node meets a desired replication factor.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when failure of the node is supportable.

37. The system of claim 29, wherein determining whether the replication status at the node in the networked virtualization environment is acceptable is performed by the corresponding slave controller virtual machine.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the corresponding slave controller virtual machine determines whether a replication status of its corresponding node is acceptable by checking metadata.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the replication status of the node is acceptable when a current replication factor for data at the node meets a desired replication factor.

40. The system of claim 29, wherein granting approval to complete installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment by the master controller virtual machine comprises providing a token to the node for completing installation.

41. The system of claim 29, wherein completing installation of the update data at a node at which the master controller virtual machine resides causes another leadership election process to be performed

42. The system of claim 29, wherein completing installation of the update data at the node in the networked virtualization environment requires data residing at the node to be unavailable for a period of time.