VIRTUALIZED FILE SERVER SPLITTING AND MERGING

• US 20170235763A1
• Filed: 02/01/2017
• Published: 08/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nutanix Incorporated
• Inventors: Sharpe, Richard James, Arikatla, Durga Mahesh, Sharma, Rishabh, Bafna, Kalpesh Ashok, Gopalapura Venkatesh, Anil Kumar, Deshmukh, Satyajit Sanjeev, Rathi, Shyamsunder Prayagchand
• Granted Patent: US 10,809,998 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0712 in a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1464 for networked environments
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/201 between storage system components
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2033 switching over of hardware resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2046 where the redundant components share persistent storage G06F11/2043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2058 using more than 2 mirrored copies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2069 Management of state, configuration or failover
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2092 Techniques of failing over between control units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/301 where the computing system is a virtual computing platform, e.g. logically partitioned systems virtual machines G06F9/45533; logical partitioning of resources G06F9/5077
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1727 Details of free space management performed by the file system saving storage space on storage systems G06F3/0608; management of blocks in storage devices G06F3/064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 : Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1774 : Locking methods, e.g. locking methods for file systems allowing shared and concurrent access to files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/183 : Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS network file access protocols H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1844 : Management specifically adapted to replicated file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 : Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45579 : I/O management, e.g. providing access to device drivers or storage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45583 : Memory management, e.g. access or allocation
• 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 21/53 : by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/56 : Computer malware detection or handling, e.g. anti-virus arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 : to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/78 : to assure secure storage of data address-based protection against unauthorised use of memory G06F12/14; record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings G06K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 : Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 : Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/825 : the problem or solution involving locking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 : Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 : Monitoring of transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/034 : Test or assess a computer or a system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 : Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 : Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 : Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 : in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 : Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 : Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0664 : at device level, e.g. emulation of a storage device or system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0665 : at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 : Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 : Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 : Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 : Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 : Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 : Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 : the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 : by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 : Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• 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: H04L 67/1095 : Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 : involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system for managing a virtualization environment includes a set of host machines, each of which includes a hypervisor, virtual machines, and a virtual machine controller, and a file server splitting system configured to split an existing virtualized file server (VFS) into a set of new virtualized file servers (VFSs), the splitting system configured to select one or more existing file server virtual machines (FSVMs) to be removed from the existing VFS. For each existing FSVM, the splitting system is configured to identify an available FSVM that is separate from the existing VFS, provide resources of the existing FSVM to the available FSVM, incorporate the available FSVM into one of the new VFSs, and remove the existing FSVM from the existing VFS. The splitting system may be further configured to re-direct requests to access storage items served by the existing FSVM to the available FSVM.

Claims

1. A system for managing a virtualization environment, the system comprising:

a plurality of host machines, wherein each of the host machines comprises a hypervisor, one or more user virtual machines (user VMs), and a virtual machine controller;

one or more virtual disks comprising a plurality of storage devices, the one or more virtual disks being accessible by the virtual machine controllers, wherein the virtual machine controllers conduct I/O transactions with the one or more virtual disks; and

a file server splitting system configured to split an existing virtualized file server (VFS) into a plurality of new virtualized file servers (VFSs), the splitting system configured to;

select one or more existing file server virtual machines (FSVMs) to be removed from the existing VFS;

for each existing FSVM;

identify an available FSVM that is separate from the existing VFS;

provide one or more resources of the existing FSVM to the available FSVM;

incorporate the available FSVM into one of the new VFSs; and

remove the existing FSVM from the existing VFS.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the resources comprise storage resources, and to provide one or more resources to the available FSVM, the file server splitting system is further configured to provide data stored on the storage resources to the available FSVM.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein to provide one or more resources of the existing FSVM to the available FSVM, the file server splitting system is further configured to perform a snapshot operation to provide data stored on the storage resources to the available FSVM.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the snapshot operation provides the data stored on the storage resources to the available FSVM without copying the data.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the data comprises one or more storage items located at the existing FSVM.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the storage items comprise shares, files, folders, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the file server splitting system is further configured to re-direct requests to access storage items served by the existing FSVM to the available FSVM.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the available FSVM is incorporated into one of the new VFSs identified by an FSVM-to-VFS mapping.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the resources comprise security credentials.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the available FSVM comprises a lightly-loaded FSVM.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the lightly-loaded FSVM comprises an FSVM located on a host machine having an average CPU utilization below a threshold value.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the lightly-loaded FSVM comprises an FSVM serving less than a threshold number of shares.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the available FSVM comprises a backup FSVM of the existing FSVM, and the backup FSVM has access to the resources of the existing FSVM.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a file server joining system configured to join a plurality of existing virtualized file servers (VFSs) into a new virtualized file server (VFS), the joining system configured to:

select a master VFS from the plurality of existing VFSs, wherein the new VFS comprises the master VFS;

for each existing VFS;

identify one or more available FSVMs that are separate from the existing VFSs;

provide one or more resources of one or more existing FSVMs of the existing VFS to one or more of the available FSVMs;

incorporate the available FSVMs into the master VFS; and

remove the existing FSVMs from the existing VFS.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the master VFS is selected from the existing VFSs by a leader election algorithm based on one or more characteristics of the existing VFSs.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the resources comprise storage resources, and to provide one or more resources to the available FSVM, the file server splitting system is further configured to provide data stored on the storage resources to the available FSVM.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein to provide one or more resources of the existing FSVM to the available FSVM, the file server joining system is further configured to perform a snapshot operation to provide data stored on the storage resources to the available FSVM.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the snapshot operation provides the data stored on the storage resources to the available FSVM without copying the data.

19. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software for managing a virtualization environment, the media comprising instructions operable when executed to:

provide a virtualization environment for a plurality of host machines, wherein each of the host machines comprises a hypervisor, one or more user virtual machines (user VMs), and a virtual machine controller;

provide one or more virtual disks comprising a plurality of storage devices, the one or more virtual disks being accessible by the virtual machine controllers, wherein the virtual machine controllers conduct I/O transactions with the one or more virtual disks;

split an existing virtualized file server (VFS) into a plurality of new virtualized file servers (VFSs) by;

selecting one or more existing file server virtual machines (FSVMs) to be removed from the existing VFS;

for each existing FSVM;

identifying an available FSVM that is separate from the existing VFS;

providing one or more resources of the existing FSVM to the available FSVM;

incorporating the available FSVM into one of the new VFSs; and

removing the existing FSVM from the existing VFS.

20. A method for managing a virtualization environment, the method comprising:

by one or more computing devices, providing a virtualization environment for a plurality of host machines, wherein each of the host machines comprises a hypervisor, one or more user virtual machines (user VMs), and a virtual machine controller;

by the one or more computing devices, providing one or more virtual disks comprising a plurality of storage devices, the one or more virtual disks being accessible by the virtual machine controllers, wherein the virtual machine controllers conduct I/O transactions with the one or more virtual disks;

by the one or more computing devices, splitting an existing virtualized file server (VFS) into a plurality of new virtualized file servers (VFSs) by;

selecting one or more existing file server virtual machines (FSVMs) to be removed from the existing VFS;

for each existing FSVM;

identifying an available FSVM that is separate from the existing VFS;

providing one or more resources of the existing FSVM to the available FSVM;

incorporating the available FSVM into one of the new VFSs; and

removing the existing FSVM from the existing VFS.