MANAGING ACCESS OF MULTIPLE EXECUTING PROGRAMS TO NON-LOCAL BLOCK DATA STORAGE

• US 20170075606A1
• Filed: 11/29/2016
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Paterson-Jones, Roland, DeSantis, Peter N., Jorgensen, Atle Normann, Garman, Matthew S., Certain, Tate Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 10,824,343 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2046 where the redundant components share persistent storage G06F11/2043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Techniques are described for managing access of executing programs to non-local block data storage. In some situations, a block data storage service uses multiple server storage systems to reliably store network-accessible block data storage volumes that may be used by programs executing on other physical computing systems. A group of multiple server block data storage systems that store block data volumes may in some situations be co-located at a data center, and programs that use volumes stored there may execute on other physical computing systems at that data center. If a program using a volume becomes unavailable, another program (e.g., another copy of the same program) may in some situations obtain access to and continue to use the same volume, such as in an automatic manner in some such situations.

Claims

1-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing, by one or more computing systems of a network-accessible service, access over one or more computer networks from a first computing instance to a data storage volume on a storage system;

initiating performance of one or more first data access requests by the first computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system;

migrating, based at least in part on one or more maintenance events to be performed on the one or more computing systems and while the first computing instance is running, the executing of a program from the first computing instance to a second computing instance, and continuing the executing of the program on the second computing instance;

providing, by the one or more computing systems, access from the second computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system; and

initiating performance of one or more second data access requests by the second computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprising determining, by the one or more computing systems and before the migrating, to perform one or more maintenance operations for the one or more maintenance events.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprising identifying, by the one or more computing systems, one or more problems on the first computing instance, and wherein the migrating is further based at least in part on the identifying.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 further comprising determining, by the one or more computing systems, to conserve energy by shutting down at least some operations of the one or more computing systems, and wherein the migrating is based at least in part on the determining to conserve energy.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 wherein the migrating includes, by the one or more computing systems, stopping the executing of the program on the first computing instance, and starting the executing of the program on the second computing instance.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 wherein the executing of the program on the first computing instance includes executing a first copy of the program on the first computing instance, and wherein the migrating includes performing, by the one or more computing systems and while the executing of the first copy of the program on the first computing instance continues, a migration of the program from the first computing instance to the second computing instance, including executing a second copy of the program on the second computing instance concurrently with the executing of the first copy of the program on the first computing instance.

32. The computer-implemented method of claim 31 wherein the performing of the migration includes transferring execution state information from the executing first copy of the program to the executing second copy of the program.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 31 wherein the network-accessible service is a program execution service that executes programs for multiple users using a plurality of computing systems provided by the program execution service, and wherein the method further comprises selecting a second computing system from the plurality to provide the second computing instance, and performing the executing of the second copy of the program on the second computing instance for the user of the program execution service.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 wherein the network-accessible service is a program execution service that executes programs for multiple users using a plurality of computing systems provided by the program execution service, and wherein the method further comprises selecting, before the providing of the access from the first computing instance, a first computing system from the plurality to provide the first computing instance, and executing the program on the first computing instance for a user of the program execution service.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 34 wherein the executing of the program on the first computing instance includes using one of multiple virtual machines hosted on a first computing system to provide the first computing instance, and wherein the method further comprises storing information on the first computing system to, for software executing on the first computing system to manage the multiple virtual machines, configure the software to support the provided access from the first computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 34 wherein the data storage volume is provided by a data storage service that is separate from the program execution service and that operates the storage system, and wherein the data storage service provides an application programming interface (API) used by the program execution service for access to the data storage volume.

37. The computer-implemented method of claim 26 wherein the providing of the access from the first computing instance includes attaching the data storage volume to the first computing instance and providing a logical representation of the data storage volume for the first computing instance.

38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium with stored contents that cause one or more computing systems of a virtual compute service to perform operations including:

executing, by the one or more computing systems and for a user of the virtual compute service, a program on a first computing instance provided by the virtual compute service;

providing, by the one or more computing systems, access over one or more computer networks from the first computing instance to a data storage volume on a storage system;

initiating performance of one or more first data access requests by the first computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system;

performing one or more maintenance events on the one or more computing systems of the virtual compute service;

migrating, while the first computing instance is running, the program from the first computing instance to a second computing instance, and continuing the executing of the program on the second computing instance;

providing access over the one or more computer networks from the second computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system; and

initiating performance of one or more second data access requests by the second computing instance to the data storage volume on the storage system.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 38 wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed by the one or more computing systems, further cause the one or more computing systems to identify one or more problems on a first computing system providing the first computing instance, and to determine, before the executing of the program is complete, to perform one or more maintenance operations on the first computing system that correspond to the one or more maintenance events.

40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the determining to perform the one or more maintenance operations includes determining, by the one or more computing systems, to conserve energy by shutting down the first computing system.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 38 wherein the migrating includes stopping the executing of the program on the first computing instance, and after the stopping, starting the executing of the program on the second computing instance.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 38 wherein the executing of the program on the first computing instance includes executing a first copy of the program on the first computing instance, and wherein the migrating includes performing, while the executing of the first copy of the program on the first computing instance continues, a migration of the program from the first computing instance to the second computing instance, including executing a second copy of the program on the second computing instance concurrently with the executing of the first copy of the program on the first computing instance, and including transferring information from the executing first copy of the program to the executing second copy of the program.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 38 wherein the data storage volume stores block data, and wherein the first data requests and the second data access requests include one or more requests to store block data on the data storage volume and include one or more requests to access block data stored on the data storage volume.

44. A system comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

a memory having stored instructions that, when executed, cause the system to provide functionality of an online service by;

providing access from a first computing instance to a data storage disk provided on a storage system;

initiating performance of one or more first data access requests by the first computing instance to the data storage disk on the storage system;

migrating, while the first computing instance is running and based at least in part on one or more maintenance events to be performed on a first computing system providing the first computing instance, the executing of a program from the first computing instance to a second computing instance, and continuing the executing of the program on the second computing instance;

providing access from the second computing instance to the data storage disk on the storage system; and

initiating performance of one or more second data access requests by the second computing instance to the data storage disk on the storage system.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the online service is a program execution service executing programs for multiple users using a plurality of computing systems provided by the program execution service that include a first computing system providing the first computing instance and a second computing system providing the second computing instance, and wherein the stored instructions further cause the system to determine, while executing of the program on the first computing instance is ongoing as part of the running of the first computing instance, to perform the one or more maintenance events on the first computing system.

46. The system of claim 44 wherein the online service includes a data storage service providing data storage volumes for multiple users using a plurality of storage systems provided by the data storage service that include the storage system providing one of the data storage volumes used as the data storage disk by the first and second computing instances, and wherein the stored instructions further cause the system to:

receive the first data access requests and the second data access requests over one or more computer networks from the program executing on the first and second computing instances; and

perform the first data access requests and the second data access requests on the storage system, wherein the first data requests and the second data access requests include one or more requests to store data and include one or more requests to access previously stored data.