HANDOFF OF VIRTUAL MACHINES BASED ON SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

• US 20160350150A1
• Filed: 06/16/2016
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Marquardt, Ronald R., Paczkowski, Lyle Walter, Rajagopal, Arun
• Granted Patent: US 10,019,281 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: G06F 2009/45587 Isolation or security of virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A computer system transitions a virtual machine from a host computer to a target computer having a security key. The host computer transfers a security phrase to the target computer. The target computer applies the security key to the security phrase to generate a security response. That target computer transfers the security response to the host computer. The host computer determines whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the security response from the target computer. If the target computer is capable of supporting the virtual machine, then the host computer initiates a transition of the virtual machine from the host computer to the target computer. The determination of whether the target computer can support the virtual machine may be further based on resource availability, time-slice availability, and the other virtual machines executing on the target computer.

Claims

1. A method of transitioning a virtual machine from a host computer to a target computer having a security key, the method comprising:

the host computer transferring a security phrase to the target computer;

the target computer applying the security key to the security phrase to generate a security response and transferring the security response to the host computer; and

the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the security response from the target computer, and if the target computer is capable of supporting the virtual machine, then the host computer initiating a transition of the virtual machine from the host computer to the target computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the host computer transferring a security phrase to the target computer comprises the host computer transferring the security phrase to a hypervisor in the target computer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the target computer applying the security key to the security phrase to generate the security response comprises a hypervisor in the target computer applying the security key to the security phrase to generate the security response.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the target computer transferring the security response to the host computer comprises a hypervisor in the target computer transferring the security response to the host computer.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the host computer initiating the transition of the virtual machine to the target computer comprises the host computer initiating the transition of the virtual machine to a hypervisor in the target computer.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine comprises a hypervisor in the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the host computer transferring a processing resource availability request to the target computer;

the target computer transferring a processing resource availability response to the host computer; and

the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine further comprises determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the processing resource availability response from the target computer.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the host computer transferring a memory resource availability request to the target computer;

the target computer transferring a memory resource availability response to the host computer; and

the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine further comprises determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the memory resource availability response from the target computer.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the host computer transferring a time-slice request to the target computer to identify a time-slice for the virtual machine on the target computer;

the target computer transferring a time-slice response to the host computer that identifies the time-slice for the virtual machine on the target computer; and

the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine further comprises determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the time-slice for the virtual machine on the target computer.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

the host computer transferring a virtual machine request to the target computer to identify executing virtual machines on the target computer;

the target computer transferring a virtual machine response to the host computer that identifies the executing virtual machines on the target computer; and

the host computer determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine further comprises determining whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the executing virtual machines on the target computer.

11. A computer system to transition a virtual machine from a host computer to a target computer having a security key, the computer system comprising:

the host computer configured to transfer a security phrase to the target computer;

the target computer configured to apply the security key to the security phrase to generate a security response and transfer the security response to the host computer; and

the host computer configured to determine whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the security response from the target computer, and if the target computer is capable of supporting the virtual machine, then the host computer is configured to initiate a transition of the virtual machine from the host computer to the target computer.

12. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the host computer is configured to transfer a security phrase to a hypervisor in the target computer.

13. The computer system of claim 11 wherein a hypervisor in the target computer is configured to apply the security key to the security phrase to generate the security response.

14. The computer system of claim 11 wherein a hypervisor in the target computer is configured to transfer the security response to the host computer.

15. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the host computer is configured to initiate the transition of the virtual machine to a hypervisor in the target computer.

16. The computer system of claim 11 wherein a hypervisor in the host computer is configured to determine whether the target computer can support the virtual machine.

17. The computer system of claim 11 wherein:

the host computer is further configured to transfer a processing resource availability request to the target computer;

the target computer is further configured to transfer a processing resource availability response to the host computer; and

the host computer is further configured to determine whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the processing resource availability response from the target computer.

18. The computer system of claim 11 wherein:

the host computer is further configured to transfer a memory resource availability request to the target computer;

the target computer is further configured to transfer a memory resource availability response to the host computer; and

the host computer is further configured to determine whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the memory resource availability response from the target computer.

19. The computer system of claim 11 wherein:

the host computer is further configured to transfer a time-slice request to the target computer to identify a time-slice for the virtual machine on the target computer;

the target computer is further configured to transfer a time-slice response to the host computer that identifies the time-slice for the virtual machine; and

the host computer is further configured to determine whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the time-slice for the virtual machine in the target computer.

20. The computer system of claim 11 wherein:

the host computer is further configured to transfer a virtual machine request to the target computer to identify executing virtual machines on the target computer;

the target computer is further configured to transfer a time-slice response to the host computer that identifies the executing virtual machines on the target computer; and

the host computer is further configured to determine whether the target computer can support the virtual machine based on the executing virtual machines on the target computer.