Application of virtual servers to high availability and disaster recovery solutions

• US 7,933,987 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2006
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leidos Innovations Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Aidun, Mehrdad, Schwartz, Corey S., Brostek, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore; Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANG, KIET G
• Application Number:
  US11/534,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20070078982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,677 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709217-224, 709/250, 714/6
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2025 using centralised failover control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2058 using more than 2 mirrored copies
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2071 using a plurality of controllers
• 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

Abstract

Server virtualization technology is applied to virtualize and encapsulate all unique information of a server as an image that is stored on a storage area network at one site and replicated on a storage area network at another site to provide high availability of system resources and data recovery capabilities. In one embodiment, a virtualized server system (100) includes a primary site (110), a secondary site (130), and a computer executable control application (150). The primary site (110) includes a storage area network (112), at least one primary virtual server platform (114), and at least one primary virtual server stored as at least one image (116) on the storage area network (112). The control application (150) directs replication of the primary virtual server image (116) onto a storage area network (132) at the secondary site (130) to create a corresponding replicated virtual server image (138). The control application (150) also monitors operation of the primary virtual server platform (114) and associates the replicated virtual server image (138) with a secondary virtual server (134) at the secondary site (130) in the event that a problem is detected with the primary site virtual server (114).

Claims

1. A virtualized server system providing high availability of system resources and data recovery capabilities, said system comprising:

a primary site including a primary site storage area network, at least one primary virtual server platform including physical hardware and server virtualization software, and at least one primary site virtual server, said at least one primary site virtual server being implemented as a portable stateless server comprising an encapsulated package established by the server virtualization software, the encapsulated package including application software, operating system software, application data, and information tying the application software, the operating system software and the application data to particular physical hardware of the at least one primary virtual server platform including any NIC identifiers of the physical hardware and any MAC addresses associated therewith, said at least one primary site virtual server further including its own NIC identifier and MAC address and being stored as at least one primary virtual server image of the encapsulated package on said primary site storage area network, said at least one primary virtual server image being associated with said at least one primary virtual server platform;

a secondary site enabled for data transmission with said primary site, said secondary site including a secondary site storage area network and at least one secondary virtual server platform including physical hardware and server virtualization software;

at least one excess virtual server platform including physical hardware and server virtualization software, said at least one excess virtual server platform being located at one of said primary and secondary sites; and

a controller operable to direct replication of said at least one primary virtual server image from said primary site to said secondary site storage area network wherein a replicated virtual server image corresponding with said at least one primary virtual server image is stored on said secondary site storage area network;

said controller being further operable to monitor operation of said at least one primary virtual server platform and, in the event that a problem is detected with said at least one primary virtual server platform, to re-associate said at least one primary virtual server image with said at least one excess virtual server platform if said at least one excess virtual server platform is available or associate said at least one secondary virtual server platform with said at least one replicated virtual server image, and when said at least one secondary virtual server platform is associated with at least one secondary virtual server implemented as a portable stateless server and stored as at least one secondary virtual server image on the secondary site storage area network, said controller being further operable to shutdown a non-essential application associated with said at least one secondary virtual server image before associating said at least one replicated virtual server image with said at least one secondary virtual server platform in order to make said at least one secondary virtual server platform available to support execution of an application included in said at least one replicated virtual server image.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel interfacing said at least one primary virtual server platform with said primary storage area network; and

a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel interfacing said at least one secondary virtual server platform with said secondary storage area network.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel interfacing said at least one primary virtual server platform with a network; and

a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel interfacing said at least one secondary virtual server platform with a network.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said controller provides an IP address associated with said at least one secondary virtual server platform in place of an IP address associated with said at least one primary virtual server platform to one or more DNS servers.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said controller comprises a computer executable application including an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said primary site and an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said secondary site.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said control application directs replication of said at least one primary virtual server image to occur synchronously.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an intermediary site including an intermediary site storage area network, said intermediary site being enabled for data transmission with said primary site and with said secondary site, wherein said control application is operable to direct replication of said at least one primary virtual server image from said primary site to at least one intermediary virtual server image stored on said intermediary site storage area network and subsequent replication of said at least one intermediary virtual server image to said at least one replicated virtual server image on said secondary site storage area network.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said controller directs replication of said at least one primary virtual server image to said at least one intermediary virtual server image to occur synchronously and replication of said at least one intermediary virtual server image to said at least one replicated virtual server image to occur asynchronously.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said controller comprises a computer executable application including an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said primary site, an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said intermediary site, and an instance thereof executable on a computer system located at said secondary site.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of primary sites, each said primary site including a primary site storage area network, at least one primary site virtual server platform including physical hardware and server virtualization software, and at least one primary site virtual server, said at least one primary site virtual server at each primary site being implemented as a portable stateless server comprising an encapsulated package established by the server virtualization software, the encapsulated package including application software, operating system software, application data, and information tying the application software, the operating system software and the application data to particular physical hardware of the at least one primary virtual server platform including any NIC identifiers of the physical hardware and any MAC addresses associated therewith, each said at least one primary site virtual server including its own NIC identifier and MAC address and being stored at each primary site as at least one primary virtual server image of the encapsulated package on each said primary storage area network at each primary site, each said at least one primary virtual server image being associated with said at least one primary virtual server platform at each primary site;

wherein said secondary site is enabled for data transmission with each of said primary sites;

wherein said controller is operable to direct replication of each said at least one primary virtual server image from each said primary site to a corresponding replicated virtual server image stored on said secondary site storage area network; and

wherein said controller is further operable to monitor operation of each said primary virtual server platform at each primary site and, for each said primary site virtual server platform failure detected, associate a secondary site virtual server platform at said secondary site with said replicated virtual server image corresponding with the primary site virtual server image associated with the failed primary virtual server platform.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said controller comprises a computer executable application including instances thereof executable on computer systems at each said primary site and an instance thereof executable on a computer system at said secondary site.

12. A method of providing for high availability of information technology system resources and data recovery, said method comprising:

establishing at a primary site at least one primary site virtual server, the primary site having at least one primary virtual server platform including physical hardware and server virtualization software, the at least one primary site virtual server being implemented as a portable stateless server comprising an encapsulated package established by the server virtualization software, the encapsulated package including application software, operating system software, application data, and information tying the application software, the operating system software and the application data to particular physical hardware of the at least one primary virtual server platform including any NIC identifiers of the physical hardware and any MAC addresses associated therewith, the primary site virtual server further including its own NIC identifier and MAC address;

storing the at least one primary site virtual server as at least one corresponding image of the encapsulated package on a storage area network at the primary site;

associating the stored image with at least one primary virtual server platform at the primary site;

replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site on a storage area network at a secondary site, the secondary site including the secondary site storage area network and at least one secondary virtual server platform including physical hardware and server virtualization software;

monitoring operation of at least one primary site virtual server platform; and

when a problem is detected with the at least one primary site virtual server platform, performing one or more of the following steps;

re-associating the at least one primary virtual server image with at least one excess virtual server platform if the at least one excess virtual server platform is available, the at least one excess virtual server platform being located at one of the primary and secondary sites and including physical hardware and server virtualization software,

associating the at least one replicated image at the secondary site with the at least one secondary virtual server platform at the secondary site if the at least one excess virtual server platform is not available, and

when said at least one secondary virtual server platform is associated with at least one secondary virtual server implemented as a portable stateless server and stored as at least one secondary virtual server image on the secondary site storage area network, shutting down a non-essential application associated with the at least one secondary virtual server image before associating the at least one replicated virtual server image with the at least one secondary virtual server platform in order to make the at least one secondary virtual server platform available to support execution of an application included in the at least one replicated virtual server image.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

interfacing the at least one primary virtual server platform with the primary site storage area network by a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel; and

interfacing the at least one secondary virtual server platform with the secondary site storage area network by a physical storage input/output interface and a virtual input/output channel.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

interfacing the at least one primary virtual server platform with a network by a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel; and

interfacing the at least one secondary virtual server platform with the network by a physical network input/output interface and a virtual network input/output channel.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

providing an IP address associated with the at least one secondary virtual server platform in place of an IP address associated with the at least one primary virtual server platform to one or more DNS servers.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein said step of replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site on a storage area network at a secondary site is performed synchronously.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein said steps of the method are performed at the direction of a computer executable control application, instances of which are executing on computer systems located at the primary site and the secondary site.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein said step of replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site on a storage area network at a secondary site comprises:

synchronously replicating the at least one image stored on the storage area network at the primary site as at least one intermediary image on a storage area network at an intermediary site; and

asynchronously replicating the at least one intermediary image on the storage area network at the intermediary site as the at least one replicated image on the storage area network at the secondary site.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said steps of the method are performed at the direction of a computer executable control application, instances of which are executing on computer systems located at the primary site, the intermediary site, and the secondary site.

20. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

performing said steps of the method for each of a plurality of primary sites.